Winter hike and other Photos

Winter has arrived in the U.P. -- at least in Alger County. The lake effect snow machine has turned on, due to the brisk Northwest winds, cold ambient temperatures, and warm Lake Superior temperatures. We received 3 or 4 inches over the Thanksgiving weekend. Snow started yesterday again and before tomorrow we are expected to receive up to a foot of snow.

Last Sunday the snow was not deep enough for skiing or snowshoeing, so Wendy and I decided to go on a couple of hikes. The photos below are from the first hike down the Masse Homestead Trail (half way between Sable Lake and the Log Slide). I just love taking pictures of white birch trees in the winter. It is also nice that some of the trees still hold their leaves, adding color contrast to the white snow.




The wind was quite fierce, so Wendy and I didn't get too far into the dunes.



We drove to the log slide for the second hike. I'll feature most of those photos tomorrow, but here is a snow angel made by some unknown person as well as a cool fungi tree.




I did open the museum for Starry Starry Night on Black Friday. When this Grand Marais event started a couple of decades ago there were a lot of shoppers. This year I had less than ten people show up. I had to unpack everything from the previous show, and now I have to repack for my last show this coming weekend. Although the two people that purchased something were quite happy to have the museum open, it is probably not a good business decision to open next year. However, while I was trying to stay warm, I used my new camera to take some photos of rocks. I selected this new Cannon camera because of its zoom and macro lens features. Here are a couple of macro lens shots of Moroccan shadow agates.