Canada Geese on Lake Superior

I watched and photographed several families of Canada Geese on Lake Superior this past weekend. These are my favorite photos from the outing. 

A great day for a hike

 

It sure was a beautiful weekend! On Saturday a friend and I went for a hike in Pigeon River Provincial Park, Ontario. We did the Lookout Trail and High Falls Trail. I've been to the Lookout before, but it never fails to "wow" with its incredible views of the forest, Pigeon River, and Lake Superior. We only hiked about 3.5 miles but were on the trail for 4 hours, as we like to take our time and really take in everything around us. We also met a couple of super nice guys, one from Columbia that came to Thunder Bay to study at Confederation College, and his friend from Halifax, Nova Scotia. They were the only other two people that we saw on the trail. While our main goal was to hike to the Lookout and back, of course we had to do the High Falls loop on our return. While I see High Falls all the time from U.S. side of the river, the view from the Canadian side is just as impressive. 

Sandhill Cranes and Canada Geese Out for a Stroll

 

Definitely a highlight of this weekend was being out on a drive through the forest and coming across this pair of Sandhill Cranes and pair of Canada Geese, just hanging out together slowly walking down a remote logging road. Not something you see every day, that's for sure!

April New Moon over Lake Superior

 

Since I haven't been able to get out during this month's new moon phase, here is a photo that I made a month ago during April's new moon. It shows the Milky Way over Lake Superior at 3:57 AM. Even though I haven't been sharing much online these days, that doesn't mean I haven't been getting out to enjoy the sky and make some images. My priorities are different nowadays and I'm focusing more on the process of making images than the practice of sharing them online. And its been a very rewarding and fulfilling shift. 

Signs of Spring

 

Seasonal changes are finally well underway here at the northeast tip of Minnesota. This past week we've seen some warmer temperatures and a steady increase in animal sightings of all kinds. The world is waking up again after a long winter and a spring that seemed reluctant to arrive. 

Portals to the Upside Down

 

Channeling one of my favorite shows... these images of thaw patterns in the spring lake ice made me think of the portals or passageways between the Upside Down and the Right Side Up from the Stranger Things series. 

Pelican Layover

A small group of pelicans was hanging out in front of the house this morning. We often see them for very brief periods this time of year as they stop for a quick rest on their way further north. They're always very interesting to see. 

The Milky Way, Lake Superior, and Starlink

 

The Milky Way was awesome over Lake Superior last night. The Starlink satellites... not so much. 

March Forest - Northeast Minnesota

 

Saturday was a beautiful day for a snowshoe hike in the forest. Sunny skies and temps in the upper 20's made for perfect conditions to be outside. The trees looked so cool as they were still blanketed in snow from the winter storm we experienced on Thursday/Friday. 

Dreams of Summer

All this snow, wind and cold weather the past month or so has me daydreaming of warmer days. Of explorations deep in the forest... of wanderings along rivers where lush green foliage drapes the canyon walls. Places where the only thing you'll hear is the sound of the water as it finds its way over and around the rocks that litter the stream bed. I absolutely love winter, but sometimes I long for summer too. 

Lake Superior Ice Formations

 

I am so glad to have a more "normal" winter this year, with colder temps and LOTS of ice along the Lake Superior shoreline!  Of course, as I type this we are currently experiencing a warm spell and its sunny and 40 degrees out...

It feels like way too long since we've had nice piles of ice along the shoreline. I look forward to it every year and when we don't get it... it makes winter a lot less interesting and a lot less beautiful. I think I will always find the ice fascinating. I always have, and that feeling has not diminished one bit over the years. 

Desert Solitaire

 

I don't think it's any big secret that I love to go to the desert in search of solitude. Probably the thing I enjoy the most about my southwest trips is getting away from people and all the "noise"... in the seemingly endless forms that it can come in. Our health, both mental and physical, is challenged each and every day and every one of us needs a way to recover from those challenges. For me, recovery has always come in the from of escape... escape for a morning, afternoon or a full day into the woods on foot or on a bike, or onto the water in a canoe or kayak. Or, on longer multi-week trips to the desert. Getaways, both big and small, are essential to maintain our health. It is on these outings where I am able to escape the noise and reground/recenter myself. 

As Edward Abbey wrote in his book Desert Solitaire:

"But for the time being, around my place at least, the air is untroubled, and I become aware for the first time today of the immense silence in which I am lost. Not a silence so much as a great stillness - for there are few sounds: the croak of some bird in a juniper tree, an eddy of wind which passes and fades like a sigh, the ticking of the watch on my wrist - slight noises which break the sensation of absolute silence but at the same time exaggerate my sense of the surrounding, overwhelming peace. A suspension of time, a continuous present. If I look at the small device strapped to my wrist the numbers, even the sweeping second hand, seem meaningless, almost ridiculous. No travelers, no campers, no wanderers have come to this part of the desert today and for a few moments I feel and realize that I am very much alone."

"... I watch the sky and the desert dissolve slowly into mystery under the chemistry of twilight. Dark clouds come sailing overhead across the fields of the stars. Stars which are unusually bold and close, with an icy glitter in their light - glints of blue, emerald, gold."

"...the mighty stillness embraces and includes me; I can see the stars again and the world of starlight. I am twenty miles or more from the nearest fellow human, but instead of loneliness I feel loveliness. Loveliness and a quiet exultation." 

I couldn't have said it better myself... 

My new favorite way to camp!

 

I truly love this setup. Jeep Gladiator Rubicon with a James Baroud "Space" rooftop tent. I gave it a good test on my November trip to the southwest, and I have to say that it is so nice to not be sleeping in a tent on the ground anymore. Yeah, its a little bit of a pain to have to climb up and down the ladder to access the tent. But that is a minor thing compared to the benefits. 

I love waking up in the morning and opening the tent windows to a nice elevated view of the landscape around me. Never again do I have to worry about the tent being level... the off-road pitch-and-roll gauges in the Jeep's instrument cluster make leveling super easy. Never again do I have to deal with the tent getting dirty by being set up on wet/muddy ground. Perhaps the best thing, though, is how easy and fast it is to set up. It literally takes less than a minute to have the tent popped up and ready for use. Closing it up takes a little more time, but nowhere near as long as taking down and packing a ground tent. 

Being that its mounted to a Jeep Gladiator Rubicon, I can get to some pretty rugged, remote and awesome places that many other vehicles would struggle to get to, if they can get there at all. As I enter my 50th year of life on this planet, I never would have guessed that I would have so much fun discovering a new way to camp! Here's to many more adventures with the Jeep, James Baroud tent, and my camera gear. 

Ice Sandwich

 

Another ice photo from February, 2015, this one taken on Lake Superior near Hovland, MN. The layers and lines within this slab of ice made me thing of a sandwich. And the pyramid shape on top quite random and intriguing. Ice is endlessly fascinating.

Happy New Year!

 

Happy New Year everyone!  Here's to hoping that your year is packed full of adventures!