Sunday, September 25, 2011

Minnesota Fall color chasing 2011

On Friday, I took a day trip up to northern Minnesota to take in some of the fall colors that are now occurring.

dnrcolors

My destination for this day was Bear Head Lake State Park, located about 15 miles southwest of Ely.  It is right on the fridge of where the best colors are being indicated by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

parkmap

Here are some of the sights as I walked along the park’s Norberg hiking trail: (Click photos for larger images)

002

006

010

014

018

020

023

027

041

044

045

052

069

I ended the day by stopping at Split Rock Lighthouse State Park in Two Harbors along the north shore to grab some pictures of the lighthouse near sunset.  Unfortunately, the clouds were pretty thick, but took some photos nonetheless:

111

074

098

149

157

088

119

I spent nearly 10 hours in car this day, but it was worth it to capture some of the best that nature has to offer.  This only happens once in a year.  With a quick peak color season possible this year, there is just the slightest window to get out and take it all in!

RS

6 comments:

  1. Great photos Ryan. I especially like the vertical photo of the lighthouse (3rd from last).

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ryan great pics, really like the vertical of the cliff face and the light house. My favorite places for pics on the North Shore.

    1) In (that's right) the Baptism River very near the High Falls in Tettegouche State Park, it is a 1.5 mile hike from the Information Center, fairly easy, best done in mid August when it's warm, wear your swim wear under your hiking clothes, and pack a small floatation device in your back pack...you won't regret it.

    2) the vertical shot you got of the light house.

    3) the Suzie Islands overlook at Mt. Josephine, 2 miles south of the border. On a clear day you can see Isle Royal in the distance, it's about 21 miles out in the lake, with a zoom lens on the camera you can see the light house out there. I believe it's called the Rock of Ages light house.

    4)The highest spot on Shovel Point (Tettegouche State Park) looking south.

    5) Palisade Head, just south of Tettegouche State Park, I believe it is the highest cliff overlooking the lake on the north shore. ( a side note here: if any one has seen the Macaulay Culkin film the "The Good Son", even though the film was set off the coast of the NE US, it was mostly filmed along the north shore, the last seen was actually filmed here)

    I wished I had digital pics that I could share, but they are all on film, after all, I am a bit older than most of those that read this!! LOL

    ReplyDelete