Category Archives: Year 4

In Between Gigs!

Year 4

This afternoon I arrived home in Duluth after two days in the car driving back from Kentucky. Helping to lead the bike tour was fun, but that long a period in the car demanded exercise upon reaching home. Thankfully northern Minnesota did not disappoint and my I was presented with bright sunny skies, and stiff winds off Lake Superior.  After unpacking the car I hopped on my bike and headed up the shore.

My first impression was “juncos have arrived”! Yes, more northern birds have dropped down from Canada. It won’t be long before migration is over with except for late arriving hawks and early winter owls.  It was nice to give my camera a workout. While on bike tour I did not have time to take many photographs. Our garden’s one Woods Pink Aster which is still blossoming was a major attraction for Painted Lady butterflies.

It is good to be home, if only for  a couple of days. Soon it will be time to head off to the other end of Lake Superior for Molly and my lighthouse keeping gig.

Painted Ladies on Woods Pink Aster

Slate Colored Junco Enjoying the Fall Colors

Crisp Point Lighthouse Keeper

Year 4

Although the primary focus of my camera may be birds, as an outdoorsman I love varied experiences which provide me the opportunity to enjoy nature’s beauty. Today as I find my planned bike touring rained out by Hurricane Nate, I am looking forward to Molly and my upcoming service as lighthouse keepers on a remote Lake Superior shore. In eight days we will find ourselves at Crisp Point Lighthouse , which is fifteen miles shy of Whitefish Point near the eastern end of Lake Superior.

Our duties are not difficult. During the day we greet guests, serve as impromptu tour guides, provide security for the site, perform housekeeping chores, and run the small gift shop. Unlike many lighthouses, there is no keeper’s residence. However, far from being a negative, having one’s own private campsite 20 miles from the nearest building of any kind is fantastic!

From a photography vantage point hanging out at a lighthouse is great. Having the combination of the largest lake in the world, Gitchi Gumi, and a lighthouse only 10 yards from the water makes for a great photo subject. My image taken last Fall and shown below is now used by the United States Lighthouses web site as the featured photo for Crisp Point. In total we will serve as keepers for just under a week, but as there is no connectivity of any kind … posts about the experience will have to wait till our return to civilization.

One final note … the Edmund Fitzgerald sank seven miles off Crisp Point … as noted in the lyrics of the song by Gordon Lightfoot.

The searches all say they’d have made Whitefish Bay
If they’d put fifteen more miles behind her