LHR Images BLOG

On Thursday morning, I hooked up with a kayak tour group from Trek & Trail Outfitters. Destination; the sea caves along the mainland near Meyer’s Beach. The 10 of us, including 2 guides, were shuttled out to Meyer’s Beach, had some quick instruction, and then started getting our boats ready.

About an half-hour later, we were at the cliffs.

The cliffs were awesome!

This is the first tunnel we spotted.

A large crevasse lured us to explore its dank, dark depths.

The colors, patterns and shapes were fantastic.

Someone mentioned that it was like being at Arches National Park, only with water. I had to agree. It was definitely fun paddling through the arches…

…to find out what was on the other side.

Threading the needle… Scott, one of our guides, pulls himself through a particularly narrow arch.

We stopped on a sand beach for lunch. There was definitely more than enough to go around!

Lots of smiles to go around too, on the way back.

Did I mention the fantastic scenery?

That’s all, for now, from day 1. I’ll try to have the photos from day 2 (my solo trip) ready soon. Eventually, I also plan to have a slideshow on my site that will include more photos.

Sometimes, I go paddling at Chester Woods and hardly see any wildlife. Last night was definitely not one of those nights! It was a gorgeous evening and many creatures were out and about enjoying it.

When I first got to the lake, there were a few, puffy clouds.

Even they soon disappeared though. Further cloudscapes were out of the question and I paddled down the bay to the eagles’ nest. This particular evening, I was able to see both adults and this year’s eaglet. The latter was still hunkered down in the nest and I didn’t manage to get a good shot. The adults posed very nicely for me though…

Near where I was shooting the eagles, a large flock of geese and goslings hid in the grass along the shoreline.

Nearby, a deer browsed in the meadow

While a beaver chowed down on some vegetation in the lake… allowing me to drift quite close!

Turkeys were making a lot of noise near where I photographed the geese but never came out in the open. On my way back to the landing, owls were hooting and I saw a cormorant roosting in a dead tree. The nearly full moon was also tempting me. But I had to head for home.

Last night, I took advantage of a break in the weather to go paddling at Chester Woods. First time since we lost Frodo so it was definitely a bittersweet event.

Thanks to all our recent rain, the lake was about 10 feet higher than usual. I paddled past sunken fishing piers, picnic tables and trash cans. The dock at the boat launch was a few yards from shore.

Fantastic cloud formations reflected in the calm water.

The bow of my canoe sure was empty without Frodo sitting there.

There was an eaglet on the nest I’ve been observing for the last several years. I took a bunch of obligatory shots but none worth sharing. Mostly, I just concentrated on the clouds. And, searching, in vain, for the turkeys gobbling along the shoreline.

With the clouds, I was expecting a spectacular sunset. While definitely nice, it didn’t live up to expectations.

Although I stayed fairly late, I wasn’t anywhere near the last one off the water. It was such a nice evening, it was tough to leave. Yes, Frodo was missed but I definitely still enjoyed the paddle.

Well, we had temps in the mid-60’s today and quite a bit of sunshine. Quite a bit of wind too. I headed up to Camp Victory, about 1/2 hour’s drive north of Rochester. Last year, in April, I did some wildflower photography at the camp. I was interested to see what I’d find this year.

What I found was a strong indication that spring 2008 is lagging at least 2 weeks behind spring 2007. Last year, I visited on April 21 and found Spring Beauties at their peak. A few Anenomes were out at that time too. I even found some Virginia cowslips in bud. I returned a week later and found the beauties just about finished, a lot more anenomes around, and the cowslips blooming along with Dutchman’s Breeches and Jack-in-the-Pulpit.

What I found today, May 4: Loads of Spring Beauties in full bloom. Also, a few anenomes and violets. Not a sign — not even buds — of the cowslips. No sign of the Breeches or Jacks either. Like I said, we’re at least 2 weeks behind last year. But, at least we’re finally making some progress.

I had a good time, in the sunshine and warmth, shooting the wildflowers though. It was a bit challenging. Did I mention the wind? And then, there were the clouds which engaged the sun in a game of hide and seek. Exposures kept fluctuating, flowers kept moving. A real tough day in the “office”. I still managed a few decent shots.

Here’s one of the Spring Beauties.

An anenome (or, maybe a false anenome?)

Some more beauties.

A wood violet

Another Spring Beauty

A Spring Beauty with a visitor

Another Anenome

And, another one…

And one final Beauty.

Due to a couple of cancellations, there is now room for one more person on the 2008 Boundary Waters Journal, Boundary Waters Photo Tour. For under $1000, spend a week exploring the Boundary Water’s with guides Stu Osthoff (BWJ Editor) and photographers David Morlock and ME :). All meals, canoeing and camping equipment are supplied. The tour is designed to take you to some of the Boundary Water’s best scenery and will allow for plenty of shooting time during the golden hours.

Tour begins July 27. Contact Stu at 1-800-548-7319 for more details and to sign up!