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"The sky takes on shades of orange during sunrise and sunset, the colour that gives you hope that the sun will set only to rise again."
- Ram Charan
Early morning light on the south pier of the Duluth, Minnesota ship canal. This ship canal, located on Lake Superior at the "Head of the Lakes," is the main entrance to the Duluth/Superior harbor, one of the busiest ports in the United States.
This natural harbor handles mainly iron ore from Minnesota's iron mines bound for steel mills on the Great Lakes to the east, and various grains from U.S. farms bound for countries abroad.
The south pier lighthouse in this photo is partially obscuring the Victoriaborg, a "salty" flying the flag of the Netherlands, anchored and waiting to take on a load of wheat at Riverland Ag.
"Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky."
- Rabindranath Tagore
Eerie sky just before sunset on Lake Superior from the awesome picnic area at Cascade River State Park near Grand Marais, Minnesota.
"To ancient Chinese fancy, the Milky Way was a luminous river, - the River of Heaven, - the Silver Stream."
- Lafcadio Hearn
View of the Milky Way over the tops of old-growth spruce trees in Grand Portage State Forest near Hovland, Minnesota. This spot is about seven miles from the Canadian border.
It is like a fairyland up here, day or night, because of all the stars and the old growth trees that surround you. 200+ year old white pines, red pines, spruce, balsam fir and cedar are everywhere you look.
"Nature unfolds her treasure at the first ray of sunrise."
- Kishore Bansal
Sunrise over Flood Bay on Lake Superior in Two Harbors, Minnesota.
Photo taken from the Flood Bay Wayside along Minn Hwy 61 (formerly US 61) after a night of driving. I was trying to get to a campground, but I had to stop and sleep. I got a couple of hours of sleep and woke up just as a little red started showing on the horizon. I put a camera on my tripod, and took pictures until my hands were numb (a November morning on Lake Superior is a bit nippy, though with almost no wind, this one wasn't bad).
Unfortunately, the camera couldn't record exactly what I saw that morning, but fortunately it was able to come close on a few of the hundreds of pics that I took.
"Climb up on some hill at sunrise. Everybody needs perspective once in a while, and you'll find it there."
- Robb Sagendorph
Unbelievable sunrise that I just happened to stumble upon in Duluth, Minnesota when I was on my way home from the north woods.
I took several shots on the Lake Superior shore in Canal Park, most of which I still haven't gone through.
When I continued on my way I thought I was done, but as I was going up the big hill that climbs out of Duluth, the sun was even more spectacular.
I pulled off at the Thompson Hill Rest Area at the top of the hill and took this and several more photos.
Photographer's dream. 😃
"How beautiful the leaves grow old. How full of light and color are their last days."
- John Burroughs
Early fall colors at Flandrau State Park in New Ulm, Minnesota.
"Autumn that year painted the countryside in vivid shades of scarlet, saffron and russet, and the days were clear and crisp under harvest skies."
- Sharon Kay Penman
Sun setting behind a half harvested corn field just outside of the campground at Split Rock Creek State Park near Pipestone, Minnesota.
"Dark and light
striking
each other,
vividly etching wild colors
through the horizon.
The charm of sunset
makes me want
to scurry home."
- Tara Estacaan, "Eventide"
Sunset over Ellingson Island on Lake Superior. The shot was taken during the annual November 10th beacon lighting of the Split Rock Lighthouse. The lighting memorializes the sailors that went down with the ore boat, Edmund Fitzgerald in 1975.
The historic light station is one of Minnesota's most popular and iconic landmarks. It is located in Split Rock Lighthouse State Park on the North Shore of Lake Superior along Minnesota Highway 61 (formerly US 61) about 40 miles north of Two Harbors, Minnesota.
Learn More about the history of the Split Rock light.
“Once again the pine-tree sung:—
'Speak not thy speech my boughs among;
Put off thy years, wash in the breeze;
My hours are peaceful centuries...'”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
Old-growth white (near left) and red (farther right) pines near each other along the path in the Lost Forty forest.
This section of forest lies within the Chippewa National Forest near Bigfork, Minnesota. A Minnesota DNR Scientific and Natural Area, the 32 acre Lost Forty SNA, is also part of this beautiful site.
Due to a surveying error back in 1882, this 144 acre section was never logged. As a result, there are numerous 300-400 year old magnificent old-growth red and white pines in this special place.
The sight of these incredible trees isn't the only thing you experience here. The smell of this forest is unique. The sound is also unique. The breeze blowing through the crowns of these old pines make this piece of the north woods sing a totally different tune than most other sections of forest up here. You have to experience it to understand what I am saying.
For more information about the Lost Forty, go to the Chippewa National Forest's Lost Forty Website or the Minnesota DNR's Lost Forty SNA Website.
"a red-winged blackbird
quiescent as a flower
until he's riled up"
- Kim Rodrigues, "A Flower With Wings"
Two male red-winged blackbirds having a lively conversation about whose territory this dock is.
This shot was taken at Mascot Resort on Webb Lake near Hackensack, Minnesota.
My wiener dog, Goldie guarding a bone she had just buried at our campsite on North Star Lake in the Chippewa National Forest near Marcell, Minnesota.
"To go into solitude, a man needs to retire as much from his chamber as from society. I am not solitary whilst I read and write, though nobody is with me. But if a man would be alone, let him look at the stars."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nature and Selected Essays
Milky way and stars reflected in Esther Lake in the Grand Portage State Forest near Hovland, Minnesota. This spot is about seven miles from the Canadian border.
"Butterflies... flowers that fly and all but sing."
- Robert Frost
Swallowtails sunning themselves on the rocks at the Cascade Lake boat launch off of USFS Road 170 (The Grade) in the Superior National Forest in Northeastern Minnesota, inland from Lutsen.
The Middle Falls at Gooseberry Falls State Park. The falls are beautiful, but the thing that I love here is that cedar tree root.
The root is cool anyway, but add the fact that it looks almost the same as it did in the 1993 photo that I took from almost the same angle, and that is really far out (as some of us used to say in the 1970's).
The park is located in Castle Danger, north of Two Harbors, Minnesota.
Thimbleberry leaf turning red in early July off of the Arrowhead Trail in Grand Portage State Forest near Hovland, Minnesota.
“The Thimbleberry plant (Rubus Parviflorus), from the rose (Rosaceae) family of plants, is a wonderful wild-growing plant that berry foragers can enjoy. Other names for this plant and its fruit are the Western Thimbleberry, the Western Thimble Raspberry, the Mountain Sorrel and the Salmonberry.
The Thimbleberry is a deciduous perennial shrub, and it’s also an invasive species, because it spreads through its rhizomes and through its seeds found within bird droppings.
Its fruit, similar to raspberries, doesn’t hold up well to packaging and shipping, so any forager who stumbles upon a Thimbleberry patch can enjoy a unique fruit that simply isn’t available in supermarkets or farmer’s markets.
More recently, it has been used in landscaping as an ornamental shrub, as it’s the largest shrub of its family and genus and produces beautiful, wild-rose-like flowers. Due to this plant’s unique features, and its history of uses in Native medicine, it’s arguably the most versatile and useful berry plant found in nature today.”
"Find a calm lake and wait for the twilight in silence! There, existence will visit you with all its magnificence! The existence of the Existence can best be felt in the presence of dimness and in the absence of crowds and noises!"
- Mehmet Murat Ildan
The sunshine of the day gives way to the "Sunshine of the Night" on the shores of Esther Lake in Grand Portage State Forest near Hovland, Minnesota.
Middle Falls at Gooseberry Falls State Park from the River View Trail.
The park is located in Castle Danger, north of Two Harbors, Minnesota.
"I can think of no other edifice constructed by man as altruistic as a lighthouse. They were built only to serve."
- George Bernard Shaw
Colorful November low sun angle lighting on the Split Rock Lighthouse as she continues to stand watch, fifty years after she was taken out of commission.
This iconic Minnesota and Great Lakes landmark is located near Two Harbors, Minnesota on Lake Superior's North Shore.
Learn More about the history of the Split Rock light.
Small waterfall at Pipestone National Monument in Pipestone, Minnesota.
These rocks are about 1.6 billion years old. Several layers of Sioux quartzite, which is harder than ordinary steel, overlay the soft, red pipestone (aka catlinite) layer. This catlinite isn't found anywhere else in the world.
Native American tribes from near and far have been coming to quarry this pipestone for thousands of years. The site is very sacred to them.
“The ineffable has shuddered itself into the soul. It has entered our consciousness like a ray of light passing into a lake.”
—Abraham Joshua Heschel
Early morning light playing on the rocks and woods around Esther Lake in Grand Portage State Forest near Hovland, Minnesota.
"Explored" on Flickr, August 1, 2020
Viewing the sunset on Esther Lake in Grand Portage State Forest in northern Minnesota about 7 miles from the Canadian border.
The lantern pictured is a Coleman Model 228F, manufactured in July 1970. It runs like a top!
Zoar Moravian Church was built in 1863 by a group of German immigrants from Hopedale, Pennsylvania who came to the new Territory of Minnesota to homestead in 1853. The oldest grave in the cemetery here is that of Mrs. Fritz Ruediger, who died in 1856, and whose family gave two acres of land for the building of the church and cemetery. The congregation, established in 1858, chose its name from the Bible as Zoar was the name of the city where Lot and his daughters sought refuge after fleeing Sodom and Gomorrah.
Church records were kept only in German until the early 1900's. In 1908, the steeple was moved forward to form a bell tower. The church was used regularly until the 1930's, and the congregation finally disbanded in the 1940's. It is still maintained and used by the Waconia Moravian Church congregation, mainly for Easter Sunday worship. The Waconia Moravian Church congregation celebrated the Zoar Church's 150th Anniversary in August 2013.
This church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on January 4, 1980 (NRHP Reference # 80001985) as a part of the Carver County MRA. Per the Minnesota Historical Society, it reflects the Greek Revival style of architecture typical of many early public buildings in Minnesota.
The Moravian Church is one of the few Protestant groups that predate Martin Luther's 1517 revolt against the Catholic Church. Moravians and Bohemians, then known as the Hussites, were persecuted for many years.
Persistent roots of a cedar (I believe) tree growing beside the Gooseberry River in Gooseberry Falls State Park.
The park is located in Castle Danger, north of Two Harbors, Minnesota.
My wiener dog, Goldie catching some of the crisp forest air along USFS Road 177 (Mitawan Road) in the Superior National Forest near Isabella, Minnesota.
"Now she's lit by the warm orange spreading from the horizon as not-quite-day, becomes not-quite-night"
- David Levithan, Every Day
Beautiful sunset over North Star Lake in the Chippewa National Forest near Marcell, Minnesota.
Photo was taken from my campsite at the North Star Lake National Forest Campground on Minnesota Highway 38, aka the Edge of the Wilderness Scenic Byway.
This stretch of highway is one of the most scenic in the state. The Highway 38 road bed still retains a fair amount of its original upsy-downsy curvyness. It goes north out of Grand Rapids and runs until it intersects Minnesota Highway 1 in Effie.
"Forests, lakes, and rivers, clouds and winds, stars and flowers, stupendous glaciers and crystal snowflakes - every form of animate or inanimate existence, leaves its impress upon the soul of man."
- Orison Swett Marden
Mist rising from Willow Creek after periods of rain and sun.
This photo was taken in the Superior National Forest on USFS Road 170 ("The Grade") near Lutsen, Minnesota.
Note that Google Maps has the USFS Road number here as being 165, even though quite a few years ago, the Forest Service renumbered the entire length of "The Grade" to be USFS 170.
An old-growth white pine stands in front of a youngster, while an expired pine looks on in the Lost Forty forest.
This section of forest lies within the Chippewa National Forest near Bigfork, Minnesota. A Minnesota DNR Scientific and Natural Area, the 32 acre Lost Forty SNA, is also part of this beautiful site.
Due to a surveying error back in 1882, this 144 acre section was never logged. As a result, there are numerous 300-400 year old magnificent old-growth red and white pines in this special place.
The sight of these incredible trees isn't the only thing you experience here. The smell of this forest is unique. The sound is also unique. The breeze blowing through the crowns of these old pines make this piece of the north woods sing a totally different tune than most other sections of forest up here. You have to experience it to understand what I am saying.
For more information about the Lost Forty, go to the Chippewa National Forest's Lost Forty Website or the Minnesota DNR's Lost Forty SNA Website.
"No sight is more provocative of awe than is the night sky."
- Llewelyn Powys
Slightly obscured view of the night sky over a lake in Grand Portage State Forest near Hovland, Minnesota.
On clear nights up here, the sky is unbelievably awesome.
"And as the evening darkens, lo! how bright,
Through the deep purple of the twilight air,
Beams forth the sudden radiance of its light
With strange, unearthly splendour in its glare!"
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, "The Lighthouse"
2016 annual beacon lighting of the Split Rock Lighthouse that commemorates the 1975 wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
The light station is located on Lake Superior's North Shore, between Two Harbors and Beaver Bay, Minnesota.
Learn More about the history of the Split Rock light.
"Every creature is better alive than dead, men and moose and pine trees, and he who understands it aright will rather preserve its life than destroy it."`
- Henry David Thoreau
Photo taken through the windshield of a female moose running in front of the car on Forest Road 152 in the Superior National Forest in Northeastern Minnesota. She was booking - we clocked her at a little over 25 mph!
Peeking (as opposed to peaking) early fall colors along the Cottonwood River at Flandrau State Park in New Ulm, Minnesota.
"... the great Mississippi, the majestic, the magnificent Mississippi, rolling its mile-wide tide along, shining in the sun ..."
- Mark Twain
View from a scenic overlook high above the Mississippi River in Great River Bluffs State Park near Winona, Minnesota.
Looking at the Lower Falls, one of 4 sets of falls at Gooseberry Falls State Park. The park is located on Highway 61 in Castle Danger, north of Two Harbors, Minnesota on Lake Superior's North Shore.
Gooseberry History (from the Minnesota DNR website)
"The area known as Gooseberry Falls State Park is intricately tied to human use of Lake Superior. At different times, the Cree, the Dakotah, and the Ojibwe lived along the North Shore. As early as 1670, the Gooseberry River appeared on explorer maps. The river was either named after the French explorer Sieur des Groseilliers or after the Anishinabe Indian name, Shab-on-im-i-kan-i-sibi; when translated, both refer to gooseberries. In the 1870s, commercial and sport fishermen began to use this area.
By the 1890s, logging became the principle use of the land around the Gooseberry River. In 1900, the Nestor Logging Company built its headquarters at the river mouth and a railway was used to carry the pine to the lake for rafting to the sawmills. Because of fires and intensive logging pressures, the pine disappeared by the early 1920s.
With the rise of North Shore tourism in the 1920s, there was a concern that the highly scenic North Shore would be accessible only to the rich. As a result the Legislature authorized preservation of the area around Gooseberry Falls in 1933. The following year, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) began to develop the park. CCC crews built the park's stone and log buildings and the 300-foot long "Castle in the Park" stone retaining wall. They also laid out the original campground, picnic grounds and trails. The area officially became Gooseberry Falls State Park in 1937. The CCC camps closed in 1941, but the park's CCC legacy lives on."
Gooseberry features a campground (book a year ahead for the summer months), a fantastic picnic area with CCC-built picnic tables still in place, several historic buildings, interpretive boards at all of the significant spots in the park, an interpretive center and gift shop, miles of hiking trails and more.
It's a "must stop" place if you are going anywhere on the North Shore.
"Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower."
- Albert Camus
Flashy maple leaf getting ahead of the autumn color-changing crowd.
Photo was taken off of West River Parkway along the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
“Many a calm river begins as a turbulent waterfall, yet none hurtles and foams all the way to the sea.”
- Mikhail Lermontov
Blue sky mirrored in the Minnesota River off of MN Hwy 41, officially in Shakopee but closer to downtown Chaska. The spot where I'm standing is an abandoned part of MN Hwy 41.
Different perspective looking up the trunk of an old-growth white pine in the Lost Forty forest.
This section of forest lies within the Chippewa National Forest near Bigfork, Minnesota. A Minnesota DNR Scientific and Natural Area, the 32 acre Lost Forty SNA, is also part of this beautiful site.
Due to a surveying error back in 1882, this 144 acre section was never logged. As a result, there are numerous 300-400 year old magnificent old-growth red and white pines in this special place.
The sight of these incredible trees isn't the only thing you experience here. The smell of this forest is unique. The sound is also unique. The breeze blowing through the crowns of these old pines make this piece of the north woods sing a totally different tune than most other sections of forest up here. You have to experience it to understand what I am saying.
For more information about the Lost Forty, go to the Chippewa National Forest's Lost Forty Website or the Minnesota DNR's Lost Forty SNA Website.
"A little tranquil lake is more significant to my life than any big city in the world"
- Munia Khan
Looking out over Esther Lake from a remote rocky point of land. The lake is located in Grand Portage State Forest near Hovland, Minnesota.
"Give me the clear blue sky above my head, and the green turf beneath my feet, a winding road before me..."
- Henry Hazlitt
The Caribou Trail (County Road 4, and yes, there once were Caribou in Minnesota) runs from Highway 61 in Lutsen, Minnesota for a little over 17 miles into the Superior National Forest, ending at "The Grade" (USFS Road 170). Note that Google Maps still calls "The Grade" USFS Road 153 at this spot, but it was renumbered years ago).
Caribou Trail is a gorgeous road that is half and half paved and dirt. It intersects with several other gorgeous forest roads with fishing lakes and campsites along the way. It is one of several roads-named-trails that run up into the forest from Lake Superior.
"The Grade" at the end of the Trail is a major USFS road that connects you to dozens of National Forest Campgrounds and lakes. The trailhead for Eagle Mountain (the highest point in Minnesota) is also on "The Grade" and is very close to where the Caribou intersects.
Hiking the trail in the Lost Forty forest. Funny (and rather ironic) thing is, is that I did get lost for a short time while I was hiking the Lost Forty trail.
This section of forest lies within the Chippewa National Forest near Bigfork, Minnesota. A Minnesota DNR Scientific and Natural Area, the 32 acre Lost Forty SNA, is also part of this beautiful site.
Due to a surveying error back in 1882, this 144 acre section was never logged. As a result, there are numerous 300-400 year old magnificent old-growth red and white pines in this special place.
The sight of these incredible trees isn't the only thing you experience here. The smell of this forest is unique. The sound is also unique. The breeze blowing through the crowns of these old pines make this piece of the north woods sing a totally different tune than most other sections of forest up here. You have to experience it to understand what I am saying.
For more information about the Lost Forty, go to the Chippewa National Forest's Lost Forty Website or the Minnesota DNR's Lost Forty SNA Website.
Early spring view of the Mississippi River from the Chippewa Lookout at Crow Wing State Park. The park is off of MN Hwy 371 (formerly US 371), a couple of hours north of the Twin Cities near Brainerd, Minnesota.
"Explored" on Flickr, January 18, 2021
“My recollection of a hundred lovely lakes has given me blessed release from care and worry and the troubled thinking of our modern day. It has been a return to the primitive and the peaceful.”
— Hamlin Garland
Rickety old Minnesota DNR Dock at the Little John Lake Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Entry Point. Little John is located across the road from McFarland Lake at the end of the Arrowhead Trail.
The Arrowhead Trail runs from Lake Superior at Hovland, Minnesota for about 18 miles into Grand Portage State Forest and the Superior National Forest.
"Explored" on Flickr, May 29, 2022.
"The sky is dense with light, so many stars crowded against one another, it looks like the night is too small for them. How will they get out? I imagine they will hold hands to become morning."
- Nora Pierce, The Insufficiency of Maps
Stars to infinity seen among the old-growth pines at Esther Lake, off of the Arrowhead Trail in Grand Portage State Forest near Hovland, Minnesota. Is that some kind of nebula on the right side?
Taken with an Asahi Pentax/Takumar 28mm screw-mount prime lens. I am amazed at how differently this lens handles the stars than the other lenses I have, even the 50mm and 55mm prime lenses.
"A lake carries you into recesses of feeling otherwise impenetrable."
- William Wordsworth
Mirrored pines on a small cove in Esther Lake in Grand Portage State Forest near Hovland, Minnesota. This idyllic spot is about seven miles from the Canadian border.
Sun and sky revealing what's around the next bend on Highway 61 near Grand Marais, Minnesota on the North Shore of Lake Superior.
Maple of many colors and nice gnarly branches in Lakewood Cemetery in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
The cemetery is situated in a beautiful part of the city next to Lake Calhoun, one of several Minneapolis lakes. It has been around since 1871. In 1899 my great grandfather purchased a 6-person plot for $99. A plot that big now would cost thousands of dollars.
Several famous people are buried here - former US Senator and Vice President Hubert Humphrey, former US Senator Paul Wellstone, first man to fly across the Atlantic, Charles Lindbergh, creator of the Milky Way candy bar Franklin C. Mars, founder of the Carlson Companies and Gold Bond Stamps Curt Carlson, wildlife painter Les Kouba, former entertainer Tiny Tim, plus a host of former Minnesota governors and other city and state dignitaries.
My mom and dad are buried there, and most recently my oldest sister Barb was a new addition after she was killed in a head-on collision in November 2017. Lakewood is a special place, indeed.
This site was once a bustling international border crossing between the US/Minnesota and Canada. It was also the northern terminus of U.S. Highway 61. The crossing and the highway were both moved in 1963, closer to Lake Superior and Grand Portage. The distant road you see is the old highway on the Canadian side.
This abandoned site might seem like a good place to party or do things that might be a little questionable, but watch out - the trees here have eyes and ears. If you look around carefully, you can see that you're being monitored by cameras and who knows what else.
If you'd like more information about this highway buff's gem, check out the following web page: Old Border Road (Old Hwy 61).
Day's end at the Two Harbors, Minnesota light station on Lake Superior's North Shore. #TwoHarborsMN #sunset #lighthouse #harbor #photography #outdoors #history #Historical #Minnesota #MN #ONLYinMN #MarthaDecker #Pentax