One of my favorite places to visit in the fall is Crex Meadows Wildlife Area in Grantsburg, Wisconsin. The main reason for this is because there are a lot of Sandhill Cranes that stop here in the fall and I love cranes! There are lots of other birds as well, but the cranes tend to steal the show. Since Crex is a bit of a drive from Grand Portage, I drove to Duluth the night before and crashed at my brother's place. I woke the next morning at 4:30 to make the almost 2 hour drive from Duluth to Crex. I arrived with plenty of time to scope out a nice spot for sunrise.
I found this nice pond along Main Dike Road that was just the right angle for sunrise. And, there were cranes in the pond :-) Once I found this spot I sat and waited for the sun to rise. About 20 minutes later the sky began to glow with beautiful colors. As the light got brighter and warmer I could start to see the cranes moving around in the water. They were a beautiful sight to see with the water reflecting the colors of the sunrise!
Last night's sunset over Eagle Marsh in Grand Portage, MN. It sure was a beautiful one!
A beautiful afternoon on one of my recent hikes in the Gunflint Trail area of northeast Minnesota. This was taken along the Daniels Lake Trail, accessed from Clearwater Road. I made this photo on the return leg of a long 15-mile hike. It had been pretty cloudy for the majority of the hike with minimal sunshine, but that changed on the last few miles of the hike. When I got back along the Daniels Lake shoreline the clouds were beautiful. Hard to believe this photo was taken in mid October; it looks more like summer!
Another nice close-up find on one of my recent hikes. It seems like the thimbleberry leaves have been extra colorful this year. When I saw this one laying on the ground surrounded by cedar sprigs I knew I had to photograph it.
Now that most of the leaves have fallen from the trees I enjoy wandering through the forest and looking for beauty on a smaller scale. Such as this fallen maple leaf that I saw floating in a puddle recently.
Last night while hiking on the Grand Portage Trail I saw this aspen leaf on one of the boardwalks. It was completely covered with droplets of water. I was mesmerized by it and couldn't pass it by without making a photograph. I love little finds like this!
Last week I was driving home via the backroads after a long full-day hike when I came across these burning slash piles in an area that had been logged earlier this year. It was after sunset and starting to get pretty dark so the fires really stood out. Even though I was super tired I stopped and spent a good 45 minutes photographing the fires. I mostly shot video of the dancing flames but I also shot a few stills. Fire is really interesting to photograph. I had a hard time pulling myself away to continue the drive home. Logged areas make for really good night photography locations, as the mature trees that are left as seed trees stand out against the night sky. This area will also provide good habitat for moose in the coming years.
