This post is a bit different as it shows some of my favorite “hang outs” in northern Minnesota, including the Toomey Williams Forest Road. However, the DNR has now locked the gate at the beginning of the road in the middle of the Pine Island State Forest wilderness. Our recent spell of temperatures above freezing had softened up the ground making the road very rutted. When the weather returns to “the norm” and the ground refreezes the gate will be reopened.

I spent two glorious days (Wednesday and Thursday) this past week in this remote area. I arrived on Toomey Williams long before sunrise. After all, owling requires one to get up long before sunrise. This was my view as I started owling

30 minutes later when the sun was finally making its presence know I took these pictures with my cell phone. My Subaru Outback is my trusty backwoods steed. It now has 216,000 miles on the car, and is going strong. These images also show why I love Toomey Williams … remote, with Boreal forest bog. I saw zero other cars or people during my morning.

More and more cell towers have changed the back country. Occasionally a person will actually have mobile phone coverage. Most of the time I had no signal, but after 35 miles of driving on various forest roads (all dirt … successively more remote), I arrived at Phone Box Corner. In my younger days this box would have had a satellite phone. No more!

Phone Box Corner

And yes, I did see some birds! (Pine Grosbeak, Bald Eagles, Rough-Legged Hawks, Spruce Grouse)