WINTER
2010
February
8, 2010
With a good winter storm bearing down on the state and the
state patrol reporting over 400 vehicles in the ditch between 6:00 AM and
6:00 PM, I couldn’t resist the urge, so I loaded up my truck and headed south
to the Twin Cities. I hate rush hour in the Cities, factor in ice and snow,
and it was almost enough to make me turn around and drive back home. I got
to Stillwater and found a bluff overlooking downtown Stillwater. Next I headed
over the Minneapolis and photographed the Stone Arch Bridge.
January
29-30, 2010
My good friend
from high school, who was also my best man in my wedding, came with me this
time on my winter North Shore excursion. The forecast called for clear skies
so my chances of seeing the full moon were pretty good. The full moon was
27,000 miles closer to the earth, this happens only once a year. It is always
a special treat to see the full moon at the lighthouse after months of seeing
only clouds. That night we hiked up the Caribou River and camped at the base
of the frozen waterfall. We built a fire on the ice from some drift wood
we found. In the morning it was a chilly -5 with clear skies. We drove up
to Grand Marais for the sunrise and then went to the Blue Water Cafe for
a hot breakfast. That night I photographed the full moon again at the lighthouse,
this time the moon came up an hour after sunset.
December 30, 2009 - January 2, 2010
This year my wife and I decided
to spend New Years on the North Shore. We stopped in Duluth the first night
to see the Bentleyville Tour of Lights and to do a little ice skating. The
next day we went cross country skiing north of Silver Bay and that evening
we watched the full moon rise over the Split Rock Lighthouse. The following
morning it was -15 so I headed back to the lighthouse to photograph the
steam coming off the lake. I have been wanting to do a self portrait
of myself taking a picture of the lighthouse.
December 23-26, 2009
A massive low pressure system rolled
out of the Rockies earlier this week and drew a ton of moisture up from
the south, I dubbed it “the perfect storm.” Blizzard warnings were posted
for the North Shore and I was already packed and heading down the road ahead
of the storm. This blizzard was suppose to last three days with high winds
and twenty inches of snow forecasted. The first morning there were six inches
of new snow and wind gusts of 30 mph. It was difficult shooting in the
blinding snow, but by mid-afternoon the snow stopped briefly and I was able
to get a few images. I had a hearty supper and found a place to camp for
the night. The second morning I was greeted to sleet, rain, and winds now
over 50 mph. As I hiked towards the lake it went from a distant rumbling
to a deafening roar. Keeping the front of the lens dry was a challenge with
driving head winds and horizontal rain. I shot at the lighthouse for a hour
then headed up to Tettegouche State Park. I needed to find locations where
the wind and rain was on my backside and away from my camera lens. I found
such a vantage point where twenty foot waves pummeled the shoreline sending
spray fifty feet in the air. By mid-day I decided to head back to the lighthouse.
The rain never changed back to snow, so there was no twenty inches of snow
like they forecasted, but the high winds and the pounding waves made up for
it. The next morning it was lightly raining and the winds were not as strong,
so I decided to pack it in and head home.
