View allAll Photos Tagged OnlyInMN
This is a scan of a film shot I took in 1990 with my old Honeywell Pentax Spotmatic 35mm SLR using a Pentacon 29mm wide angle lens.
Palisade Head is part of a rhyolitic lava flow on Lake Superior's North Shore. The flow is estimated to have been formed 1.1 billion years ago during the time that the Midcontinent Rift was active. It is about 300 feet at its highest, and the cliffs are about 200 feet high.
It's a popular place for rock climbers and hikers, as well as North Shore visitors who stop on their way up or down the shore. The latest "thing" is Slacklining, a sort of tightrope walking feat (not for me!)
Shovel Point, formed at the same time, is visible a few miles up the shore. On a clear day, if you look up the shore you can see the teeth of the saw on the Sawtooth Mountains and on an extremely clear day you can supposedly see Split Rock Lighthouse if you look down the shore. According to the Minnesota Historical Society, you can even see the Apostle Islands which are about 30 miles away across the lake. It is a spectacular place, though lives have been lost here. If you are careful, you need not worry, however.
Palisade Head is now a non-contiguous part of Tettegouche State Park and is located at milepost 57 on Minnesota Highway 61 (formerly US 61) just a few miles north of Silver Bay, Minnesota.
Heading towards the southwest end of the beautiful Six Hundred Road (Forest Road 166) in the Superior National Forest in Northeastern Minnesota. FR 166 is one of the premium fall colors roads in the state. — at Superior National Forest. #ONLYinMN #upnorth
Looking up the trunk of a huge old poplar tree growing in Seminary Fen Scientific & Natural Area in Chanhassen/Chaska, Minnesota.
This was originally the site of the Mudcura Sanitarium, a world-famous spa that was opened in 1909 and operated until 1951.
Per MNOpedia, in 1951, the sanitarium was sold to the Black Franciscans, Order of Friars Minor Conventual, from Louisville, Kentucky. They named it Assumption Seminary and the site became linked with both the Colleges of St. Catherine and St. Thomas in St. Paul.
The Seminary remained in operation until 1970 and then sat vacant for many years, becoming a popular hangout for teens and other thrill seekers. The main building burned and was demolished in 1997.
The land is now home to a Minnesota DNR Scientific & Natural Area that protects the rare calcareous fen that is now the star of the show here.
Sky and Autumn trees reflecting on Pike Lake in Prior Lake/Shakopee Minnesota. #ONLYinMN #Minnesota #MN
October 1980 shot of Forest Road 166 (Six Hundred Road) as it goes over Heartbreak Hill in the Superior National Forest.
The US Forest Service says that the hill got its name during the days when the horses pulling the rigs hauling logs out of the forest couldn't make it up the grade in the winter.
My brother Dave, his friend Sean and I found out the hard way that a Ford Econoline Van doesn't make it up the hill in glare ice either. It also doesn't like to stay on the road when you're trying to back it down.
Minnehaha Falls
Minnehaha Falls is located near the confluence of Minnehaha Creek and the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The creek starts its journey to the Mississippi at Lake Minnetonka. Including the famous lake, the Minnehaha Creek watershed covers 181 square miles, winding its way through several west suburban communities for 22 miles before it falls over the 53 foot ledge at Minnehaha Falls and then enters the Mississippi. The falls are rich in geologic and human history.
Minnehaha Falls are only about 10,000 years old (very young in geological time). St. Anthony Falls on the Mississippi River, which have now eroded to a point about six miles upriver in downtown Minneapolis, used to be downstream of the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnehaha Creek.
The events that led up to the way the falls look today are complex, but a simple explanation is that when St. Anthony Falls reached and passed Minnehaha creek, a new waterfall formed on the creek, and the force of the water altered the route of the creek and the river. The part of Minnehaha Creek between the falls and the Mississippi began to flow through the old Mississippi river bed, and the Mississippi cut a new course.
Erosion within the last century has resulted in a waterfall that is fairly narrowly channeled and vigorous, especially after a heavy rain or during spring runoff. Photographs of the falls from the 1800's and early 1900's show a much wider, curtain-like character to the falls. When the falls are dry, the older, much-broader ledge can be seen.
The falls are ever-changing; sometimes just a trickle, sometimes a torrent. A plaque in the park explains that during a drought in 1964 when President Lyndon Johnson and Vice President Hubert Humphrey paid a visit to the park, the city had to open up several fire hydrants upstream on Minnehaha Creek to increase water flow over the falls and ensure a good photo op.
The falls area has long been an important site to the native Dakota people. "Minnehaha" means "falling water" or "curling water" in Dakota, not "laughing water" as it is often translated. The "laughing water" translation erroneously came from Mary Eastman's book "Dacotah", published in 1849. The name comes from the Dakota language elements "mni", meaning water, and "ȟaȟa", meaning waterfall. The Dakota called Minnehaha Creek "wakpa cistinna", meaning "little river".
White settlers discovered the falls around 1820, not long after arriving in Minnesota. The site of Minnehaha Falls is only a couple of miles from Fort Snelling, one of the first places in the region inhabited by white Europeans. On the Fort map of 1823, the falls were named "Brown's Falls" in honor of United States Army commander Jacob Brown, who had been commander-in-chief of the army since 1814.
The American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow made the falls famous in "The Song of Hiawatha" (1855), a poem based on Indian legend. A Jakob Fjelde sculpture of the Indian leader Hiawatha and his wife stands on an island in the creek, a short way above the falls. The falls began to become a tourist destination after the publication of the poem. Though Longfellow never visited the falls himself, he was reportedly inspired by the stories of Mary Eastman and Henry Rowe Schoolcraft and images of the falls.
Minnehaha Park
Beginning in 1885, the Minnesota State Legislature began acquiring the land to become the first Minnesota State Park, but in 1889 it was turned over to the city of Minneapolis for a city park. Park visitors could fish, swim, picnic, and visit the Longfellow Zoological Gardens. The park also featured a carnival, horse-racing and a campground through the 1930s.
Today, the park is part of the National Park System's Mississippi National River and Recreation Area. It is basically divided into two main portions; an upper section above the falls which is kept trimmed and maintained like many other city parks, and the lower section which is largely left in a natural state, with trails following the creek down to the Mississippi.
There are WPA-built stairways and retaining walls along the edges of the glen and creek bed. The park has picnic areas for large or small gatherings, a playground, and an off-leash dog park. A bike rental company operates at the falls in the summer months.
The Pergola Garden overlooks the falls and is a popular wedding location. There is a seafood restaurant and a bandstand at the park at the old picnic pavilion, both open in the summer. The park also boasts several historic buildings including the Minnehaha Depot (AKA "the Princess Depot") built in 1875, and sculptures including the Hiawatha sculpture mentioned above and a mask of Chief Little Crow (Taoyateduta) who was murdered after the 1862 Dakota conflict. The location of the statue is in an area sacred to Native Americans.
If you ever get to the Minneapolis area, Minnehaha Park is a "must see" destination!
The above information was obtained and paraphrased from several online sources including WIkipedia, Minnehaha Park, Minneapolis: The Complete Guide and the former AllExperts website.
"Explored" on Flickr, June 24, 2019.
Watch the behind the scenes video! This was an extremely fun light painting collaboration at the oldest standing stone arch bridge in Minnesota. Good times with our friend and talented artist Stan Stalewski.
when you are ready for a golden sunset and then a dry cool front comes through scouring away the clouds? Well, that can be good too!
Minnesota Postcard showing the Middle Falls at Gooseberry Falls State Park in Castle Danger, Minnesota (north of Two Harbors). The card likely dates from the 1940's or earlier.
The shoreline at Gooseberry Falls State Park has many geological features, as do most places on Lake Superior's North Shore.
Lava flows, the remnants of massive volcanic activity during the time that the Midcontinent Rift was active, are the stars of the show up here. They are beautiful, interesting, and varied in their shape, color, size and condition.
For me, personally, the rock formations on Superior's shore also contain a spiritual energy that I can tap into whenever I come up. The ones here at Gooseberry have been an oft-used source of that energy for me.
Gooseberry Falls State Park is located in Castle Danger, Minnesota (north of Two Harbors) on Lake Superior's North Shore.
Split Rock Lighthouse, Lake Superior North Shore, Minnesota
After a storm on Nov. 28, 1905 had damaged 29 ships, Congress authorized $70,000 to build a lighthouse and fog signal at Split Rock. The light station was completed in 1910.
The light was taken out of service in 1969 when modern navigation methods made it obsolete, but the 1,000 watt 3rd-order bivalve Fresnel lens beacon is lit once a year on November 10th to commemorate the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
I have made the beacon lighting ceremony the last two years, and I plan on going every year for as long as I can still make it. Yes, it's cold on the North Shore in November, but if you have a love of history, beauty, and a need for an unexplainable sense of something unexplainable, the trip is well worth it!
Learn More about the history of the Split Rock light.
The view heading down to the lakeshore from the Lakeview Shelter at Gooseberry Falls State Park.
The park is located on Lake Superior in Castle Danger, north of Two Harbors, Minnesota.
Shot from the boat launch on the Sagamore Mine Pit Lake. This lake was once the Sagamore open pit mine on Minnesota's Cuyuna Iron Range near Ironton.
Exploration here started in 1911, and strip (or open pit) mining started in 1919. I was unable to find out when this mine closed, but it was likely in the mid-1980's. The last ore shipped out of the Cuyuna Range in 1984.
The area has since been revitalized, becoming a popular Northern Minnesota recreation area.
Geese enjoying a calm and peaceful morning at Flood Bay on Lake Superior near Two Harbors, Minnesota. The lake here isn't always this calm. It was almost like a pond.
Nice backlighting in the woods on Loon Island on Big Lake on the Echo Trail about 45 minutes from Ely. This island is one of two that the Big Lake Wilderness Lodge rents out in the summer. It's basically a way to get Boundary Waters beauty and relax at the same time. #ElyMN #EchoTrail #SuperiorNationalForest #BigLake #Minnesota #MN #island #camping #wilderness #outdoors #nature #ONLYinMN
Closer look at the Highway Concourse & Retaining Wall (now affectionately known as the "Castle") at Gooseberry Falls State Park.
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built this, and other major and minor park features in the 1930's as part of the New Deal that was designed to get men back to work during the Great Depression.
Gooseberry Falls State Park is located in Castle Danger, north of Two Harbors, Minnesota on Scenic Highway 61.
Lake Superior shoreline rock formations and waves - we love 'em up here. We get excited when the lake gets "all riled up."
At Gooseberry, the rocks in this area near Agate Beach are in a state of major erosion. The seem to me to get more "crumbly" every time I come up here. It's cool, though, because it alters them, giving them a little different "look" as time goes on.
Gooseberry Falls State Park is located in Castle Danger, Minnesota (north of Two Harbors) on Lake Superior's North Shore.
Postcard, probably from the 1950's or 60's showing a view looking across the Upper Falls towards the Highway 61 bridge at Gooseberry Falls State Park in Castle Danger, Minnesota (north of Two Harbors).
Miners Lake in Ely, Minnesota started to fill up when the Pioneer Mine closed in 1967 and water was no longer being pumped out of the pit. It gradually filled to the level it is today.
The Pioneer mine was opened in 1889 and was part of Minnesota's Vermilion Iron Range.
Overlook for viewing the Upper Falls at Gooseberry Falls State Park.
The park is located in Castle Danger, north of Two Harbors, Minnesota.
Viewing Agate Beach on Lake Superior at Gooseberry Falls State Park in Castle Danger, north of Two Harbors, Minnesota.
Wide look at the Highway Concourse & Retaining Wall (now affectionately known as the "Castle") at Gooseberry Falls State Park.
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built this, and other major and minor park features in the 1930's as part of the New Deal that was designed to get men back to work during the Great Depression.
Gooseberry Falls State Park is located in Castle Danger, north of Two Harbors, Minnesota on Scenic Highway 61.
View of the Lakeview Shelter at Gooseberry Falls State Park from the edge of the rocky Lake Superior shoreline.
The park is located in Castle Danger, north of Two Harbors, Minnesota.
A picnic table, the Lakeview Shelter (originally Lakefront Refectory), some trees, Lake Superior, and the first snow at Gooseberry Falls State Park.
The park is located in Castle Danger, north of Two Harbors, Minnesota.
In 1935, the "CCC Boys" built 30 of these stone and log picnic tables in what was to become Gooseberry Falls State Park.
The CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) had a work camp near the Upper Falls on the Gooseberry River. They built all of the beautiful stone and log historic buildings in the park as well as small projects like these tables.
The park is located in Castle Danger, Minnesota (north of Two Harbors) on Lake Superior's North Shore.
This Laurentian Divide Overlook is located on the Gunflint Trail, a road that runs for 67 miles through the Superior National Forest out of Grand Marais, Minnesota, heading north and then west to Saganaga Lake.
The divide separates the Hudson Bay and the St. Lawrence watersheds. Water from here flows either north via several rivers to Hudson Bay or east to Lake Superior and the St. Lawrence Seaway. There are several markers on the highways, trails and roads in this part of Minnesota marking where the Laurentian Divide runs.
To the west of here in the middle of the Hill Annex mine in Hibbing, Minnesota there is a triple divide, one of only about five that occur in the United States. Water from the triple divide flows north to Hudson Bay, east to the St. Lawrence Seaway and south via the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico. The Native Americans called it the "Hill of Three Waters" and held it as a sacred place.
Minnesota Landscape Arboretum
Chanhassen, MN
@mn_arb
#nikon_nofilter
#OnlyinMN
#ON1
#sky
#flowers
Nikon Z 6 + NIKKOR Z 14-30mm f/4 S
Looking at Split Rock Point on the North Shore of Lake Superior from Gooseberry Falls State Park, about five miles away.
A little beyond the point is where 3M (Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing) was born. A little further beyond that is the Split Rock Lighthouse, a Minnesota icon. In between are the "Twin Points" at Iona's beach. All are places of breathtaking beauty.
Gooseberry Falls State Park is located in Castle Danger, Minnesota (north of Two Harbors) on Lake Superior's North Shore.
Chippewa National Forest sign pointing the way to the Lost Forty, a forest near Bigfork, Minnesota that was never logged due to a surveying error.
This is essentially the same photo that has been taken of Minnehaha Falls in Minneapolis, Minnesota by thousands of falls visitors. If you look at all of those thousands of photos, though, every one is unique in its own way.
This is one of my favorite places in the Twin Cities. #MinnehahaFalls #Minneapolis #Mpls #Minnesota #MN #waterfall #ONLYinMN
World Snow Sculpture Championship
"Daydreamer"
United States, Wisconsin, Team Sculptora Borealis
Annual competition along the banks of the [frozen] St Croix River
#sculptoraborealis
#nikon_nofilter
#shotwithhoya
#OnlyinMN
#captureone
Nikon Z 6 + NIKKOR Z 24-70mm f/4 S
Last night's storm (actual colors of the clouds)
#nikon_nofilter
#shotwithhoya
#OnlyinMN
#captureonepro
#sky
#storm
#lightning
Self portrait of me and some of my friends in 1995 at White Pine Lake campground in the Superior National Forest near Lutsen, Minnesota.
A peaceful Saturday evening walk down to one of the beaches on the lake in Prior Lake, MN to see the fall colors.
I liked the pathway leading to the reflections in the water of the sunlight that was now making its way into the gorge.
After spending time near the base of the lower falls I was heading back to the bridge that would get me to the stairs out of the gorge. By this time the sun was lighting up the leaves which added some nice warmth to this scene.
#OnlyinMN
Different view of the Split Rock Lighthouse from southbound Minnesota Highway 61 (formerly US 61).
The lighthouse is on Lake Superior's North Shore not far from Two Harbors, Minnesota.
Good view of part of the CCC-built guardrail in Gooseberry Falls State Park on Lake Superior's North Shore in Castle Danger, north of Two Harbors, Minnesota..
The guardrail originally consisted of 20 stone piers connected by heavy chains. I think that all of the piers are still there, but at least one has been moved for whatever reason and there is at least one chain missing.
The stone pier guardrail is an unique and iconic part of the park. I am hoping that they will eventually restore it to CCC standards.
November view, ten days after the previous image. "Lakewood Shelter" (originally known as "Lakefront Refectory") overlooking the Lake Superior shoreline at Gooseberry Falls State Park in Castle Danger, north of Two Harbors, Minnesota.
The historic solid stone and timber building was constructed in 1935-36 by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) at a cost of $2,049.72.
The CCC had a work camp here at Gooseberry and they built the buildings, blazed the trails and basically developed the park. Most of their handiwork is still here and much of it is still in use.
“Fall has always been my favorite season. The time when everything bursts with its last beauty, as if nature had been saving up all year for the grand finale.”
― Lauren DeStefano, Wither
In this last image, from the series of the park gorge, I liked the repeating nature of the tree trunks as they lean out towards the shore of the stream.
#OnlyinMN
Looking over a CCC-built stone and log picnic table at the stone pier and chain guardrail that was made at Gooseberry Falls State Park in the 1930's.
The park is located in Castle Danger, Minnesota (north of Two Harbors) on Lake Superior's North Shore.
1950's postcard of the Gooseberry River between the Upper and Middle Falls, ready to go under the highway bridge.
The card is from Gooseberry Falls State Park in Castle Danger, Minnesota (north of Two Harbors).
November view of the "Lakewood Shelter" (originally known as "Lakefront Refectory") overlooking the Lake Superior shoreline at Gooseberry Falls State Park in Castle Danger, north of Two Harbors, Minnesota.
The historic solid stone and timber building was constructed in 1935-36 by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) at a cost of $2,049.72.
The CCC had a work camp here at Gooseberry and they built the buildings, blazed the trails and basically developed the park. Most of their handiwork is still here and much of it is still in use.
The first winter storm of the season hit the Twin Cities this afternoon and has brought with plenty of snow!
Enjoying some lantern light and a campfire at the campground in Gooseberry Falls State Park.
The park is located in Castle Danger, Minnesota (north of Two Harbors) on Lake Superior's North Shore.
Lady Slipper Lodge (originally the Kitchen Shelter) was the first shelter built by the CCC in 1935 at Gooseberry Falls State Park.
It was built as an open shelter, but in 1939 three sides of the building were enclosed to protect against the cold Lake Superior breezes.
The park is located in Castle Danger, north of Two Harbors, Minnesota.