Falling Snow on the Sawbill Trail

 

A couple of forest scenes today from a drive along the Sawbill Trail in Northeast Minnesota. It was snowing beautifully all afternoon!

A nice drive and a Great Gray Owl sighting!

 

Today was a surprisingly nice day!  We had glorious sunshine, which has been a rarity this winter. January has (seemingly, at least) been much warmer than usual which means we've had a LOT of cloudy days. We just had to get out and enjoy the sunshine today. We decided to take a drive up into the woods on a local logging road.  Luckily for us no one else had driven on the road since it was last plowed. An unplowed road is a joy to drive as you can easily see all the signs of animal activity since the last time a vehicle passed by.  We found a fun rodent trail that was running right down the middle of the road and were fascinated by its tracks. The highlight of the day by far, however, was spotting a Great Gray Owl on our way home. He was nice enough to stop and perch where the light of the setting sun was shining on him.  It was the perfect end to a fun afternoon of exploring!

Lake Superior Icicles

 

Long, slender icicles work their way down the side of a rock on the Lake Superior shoreline in Grand Portage, MN. 

Ice Abstracts, Part 2

 

A couple more abstract ice images for your viewing enjoyment!

Ice Abstracts

 

We found a lot more frozen Lake Superior shoreline puddles this weekend!  The patterns in these puddles were very well preserved. It's so easy to lose track of time when photographing ice. Before you know it you've been hunched over looking for compositions for an hour or more!  

Orion on a hazy winter night

 

We had rare clear skies yesterday so we decided to head up into the woods after dark to try and do some stargazing.  Of course, as soon as we arrived at our first location the clouds had already started to move in.  At first it wasn't really clouds but more of a haze and at times we could still see the stars through the haze. Orion kept playing peekaboo with us.  We would see it for a minute then the haze would get so thick that the stars would disappear from view.  A minute or two later they would be visible again.  

Another notable quality of last night was the quietness. The air was so incredibly calm that when we stood still and just listened it seemed like if an ant was walking across the snow a hundred yards away we would have been able to hear it. Nights like this are one of the main reasons why I love living where I do!

Ice Galaxies

 

Coming across these frozen bubbles was such an intriguing find.  It's actually kind of comical how much time I will spend photographing something like this.  I spent probably close to 30 minutes getting these two photos.  One reason is the composition... it takes a while to find a pleasing composition within so much chaos.  Another reason, in this case, was the focus.  I literally had my camera sitting on the surface of the ice, pointed straight down, resting on the lens hood.  This normally easily allows the camera to focus.  This time, however, it was very tricky.  

I was starting to get really frustrated when finally I realized the surface of the ice had a very slight layer of frost on it.  After about 10 seconds of rubbing the frost off with my gloved hand, the camera easily focused.  Out of about 30 images that I made, these two were my favorite.  Each one represents an area of only about 3 or 4 inches across.  So these bubbles were pretty small!  

Dusk from the cobble beach

 

Another view from Saturday's sunset. This one is taken from the beach shown in the previous sunset photo I posted. I've lived in Grand Portage pretty much my entire life and I'm still finding places that I've never photographed before. This was my first time seeing this beach but it certainly won't be my last. 

Saturday Afternoon Sky

 

The sky yesterday afternoon was pretty surreal.  It had been flat and gray but later in the afternoon the clouds started to break up a little and by the time sunset rolled around things were looking really beautiful. We spent the first part of the afternoon in Grand Marais doing some shopping and on the way home we enjoyed these awesome scenes along the lakewalk section of the Superior Hiking Trail. 

Serene January Sunset over Lake Superior

 

This evening's sunset was pretty sweet.  So calm and peaceful.  And warm!  I can't believe how many days we've had temps in the low 30's.  It sure has been nice for the first week of January.   

Icy Spruce Tree

 

A frozen paradise found beneath a spruce tree along the Lake Superior shoreline. 

Frozen Cedar

 

A cedar tree covered in ice from Lake Superior wave splashes makes for a beautiful scene.  Usually this type of photo is rather lacking in color but in this one the cedar colors bring a welcome sort of warmth to an otherwise "cold" photo!

Ice Drops

 

The other day while watching the waves crash thunderously into the Lake Superior shoreline, I was drawn in by the details of the ice and the way the water was dripping down after the ice got smothered by a wave. 

Frosted Forest

 

A recent blanket of fresh snow dresses up the forest in northeast Minnesota. 

Sunset - Christmas Eve 2020

 

One more shot from Christmas Eve.  The beauty of that evening was very welcome to see after so many cloudy, gray days.  

Early Winter Ice Cookies

 

These photos are from Christmas Eve, I just didn't get around to posting them until now.  Early season ice cookies on Grand Portage Bay of Lake Superior.  Christmas Eve was such a calm, beautiful day and seeing these ice cookies really made our day!

Changing Sky over Mt. Josephine

 

The sky and the light got pretty interesting yesterday afternoon.  The morning was nice and sunny then in the afternoon this sort of cloud/fog/haze cover moved in and made the light very flat and gray.  Before it had completely moved in, however, some diffused sunlight was still hitting the Mt. Josephine ridge in Grand Portage and it really made for an interesting view of the shoreline. 

Mini Snow Mountains

 

Grand Portage State Park, MN

Snow-covered rocks along the banks of the Pigeon River make for a mountainous-looking miniature landscape. Once this scene caught my eye I was fascinated by it!