Wall of Ice

A sheer wall of ice coats the side of Hollow Rock on Lake Superior in Grand Portage, MN.  Taken just before sunset.  

Black-backed Woodpecker

Earlier this week while out on a bike ride I saw this beautiful woodpecker.  To the best of my knowledge, I think it's a Black-backed Woodpecker.  From what I could find the Three-toed Woodpecker looks very similar but has white specks/spots on its back.  This guy didn't have those, his back was very black.  It sure was a cool sighting on a cold winter day!

Sunset on the Maple Loop

Sugarbush Trails - Cook County, MN

Nearing the end of an almost 27 kilometer ski today and this happened.  Came around a corner in the trail and the sun was just blazing through the trees.  The perfect ending to a great day in the woods!

Brighton Beach Ice

A beautiful sunny day shines down on a pile of ice that got pushed up onto the shores of Brighton Beach in Duluth, Minnesota. 

Lake Superior Sunset Ice

This evening's sunset over the icy Lake Superior shoreline in Grand Portage, MN.

Cross Country Paradise

I've been on the road much of the past week and a half for meetings and trainings and haven't been able to spend as much time out in the woods as I'd like.  During these stretches I'm lucky to have lots of memories of great outings on the skis or the bike and  photos to accompany those memories.  This photo conveys what my daydreams consisted of over the past week or so... 

Otter Trail on Sixmile Creek

It was a beautiful day for a ski yesterday in the Superior National Forest near Tofte, MN.  The temperature was right around 5 degrees and a light snow was falling all day.  We saw a lot of animal tracks throughout the day in the fresh snow, but the highlight was seeing this otter trail going right down the middle of Sixmile Creek.