The Ojibway members of the Lac La Croix First Nation village are allowed special privileges to use motorized boats on certain lakes within Quetico Provincial Park, and to use float planes to access certain lakes in Quetico. These designated lakes may vary annually. The 2011 season lakes the Ojibway guides may use motors on in…
These are just some of the examples of amazing snow sculptures exhibited by some wonderfully talented artists in the park in Ely now as part of the Ely Winter Festival.
We celebrate winter in Ely, Minnesota. The Ely Winter Fest is February 3 – 13. I snapped this photo in 20 below Fahrenheit temps this morning. The massive snow cubes are set up in the park in Ely. The next step is for the snow carvers to start there work beginning on Feb. 3. …
The ice road on Shagawa Lake has been shut down due to slush, and advanced dogsled camping trips are making major reroutes due to severe slush on Ely area lakes. While guiding dogsled trips, I am virtually always staying on previously used trails to avoid the slush. This photo shows an example of what happens…
Lily the black bear, one of the research bears studied by the Wildlife Research Institute near Ely, MN, gave birth to two cubs on Friday. This is the second year in a row that Lily gave birth on the Institute’s live webcam. To see what’s going on in Lily’s den and try to spy a…
I’m wrapping up guiding a four-night dogsled trip and Jan, with utmost sincerity, says, “We’ve had very nice weather this week.” You’d never know Jan experienced the coldest week this year – with lows dipping to 38 below zero Fahrenheit. That’s actual air temp. Another morning hit 27 below. While this wasn’t a camping trip,…
I spied this moon halo last night as I drove home from our canoe trip outfitting shop in Ely. Moon halos are created when millions of tiny ice crystals high in the atmosphere reflect light. The shape of the ice crystals results in a focusing of the light into a ring around the moon. Because the…
Our winter traveling world varies dramatically from summertime. During summer, paddling and portaging in the wilderness, we mostly avoid wetlands – for they harbor masses of mosquitoes. Plus, the prospect of stepping into a particularly mucky spot and going in up to your knees or (gasp!) waist is not most peoples’ idea of summer fun. However, the onset of winter means the mucky…
After almost a foot of snow in the last several days, many lakes are mired in slush. This pic shows the bottom of my skis slushed/iced up after trying to ski across White Iron Lake today.
Above average temps in the fifties today allowed me to do some maintenance on “Lilly,” a cedar strip canoe I built several years back. She took the 2010 season off while I worked on some fiberglass and epoxy repairs to the turn of the bilge. I put the first coat of varnish on the hull…