Tag Archives: MN North: Mouth of the Lester River

Lake Superior Sunrise!

Year 7

40 minutes before sunrise while enjoying a morning read in front of the fireplace, I realized the light starting to appear through the pine trees heralded a beautiful sunrise. I quickly threw on some warm clothes and drove down to the Lake Superior shoreline near my house. The big lake did not disappoint!

Lester River Lake Superior Sunday Serenity Sunrise

The Lester River Bridge Twenty Minutes Before Dawn

For my birding friends, I then explored for over an hour the inland area between Duluth and Two Harbors. Nothing. It appears we will not have any owls setting up hunting territories this year on the North Shore. Sax-Zim Bog is ground zero for in that respect.

Surfing … Lake Superior Style

Year 6

Another day … another storm, but the 25 to 30 mph winds out the NE meant waves on the Duluth end of Lake Superior. Our local surfers were quite aware of that situation, and were surfing this afternoon off the mouth of Lester River on Lake Superior. It may not be quite the same as sunny southern California … air temperature: 33F; water temperature: 35F

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Last night before the rains came overnight I visited Glensheen with my wife, my youngest son and his wife. It was a Winter Wonderland with about 5 inches of new snow which had fallen in about four hours. Happy New Year!

A Fox’s Winter Wonderland

Year 6,

Winter has arrived in the Northland. You may be thinking … hey wait, it is only November 7th! However when the overnight lows for the last week have been 10F, and the highs only reach to the mid 20’s, it’s winter. The calendar is not important.

Today I moved up the shore of Lake Superior, and then inland on the Gunflint Trail. When I say I was remote and in the wilderness today, most folks can have no conception of what this really means. Only on the Gunflint Trail would moose give my car the tongue licking car wash … see my post from last March!

I actually started the day viewing the seasmoke over Wisconsin. Given the cold air temperatures Lake Superior was steaming up a storm. My local mallards were all down on the big lake because all the inland water is already frozen solid. However, the real treat of the day was watching “Red” hunt not once, but twice. During my explorations of the Gunflint this afternoon, I found my Red Fox hunting in the same exact spot fifty minutes apart. At this time of the year, mammals and birds start to hunt the roadside areas. There is more likelihood of catching a meal, and the snow is not quite as deep. I saw the fox make one successful kill during the 15 minutes I watched it hunt.

In total I moved 100 miles up the shore of Lake Superior today. Molly is attending a Northwoods writer’s conference, which allows me to escape into the woods!!!

Red Fox Hunting on the Gunflint Trail near the Canadian Border

Sunrise SeaSmoke Mallards off the Lester River on Lake Superior

Sunset at Grand Marias on Lake Superior