winter spring summer fall

A rock breakwater coated in ice at a boat landing near Iona's Beach, an hour's drive up the North Shore from Duluth. Lake Superior rolls and boils all winter, and it's very rare for large portions of it to freeze over.

A frozen tentacle rock. Ice, wind and water can take all sorts of crazy forms.

Ice nuggets on Iona's Beach. Yum.

A frosted cliff, looking out across Lake Superior at Iona's Beach. On clear days you can see the Apostle Islands over in Wisconsin, floating on the horizon.

Long morning shadows on a porch at YMCA Camp Du Nord, north of Ely, Minnesota on Burntside Lake. Wuda Wooch!, the outdoor club at the University of Minnesota Duluth, takes a trip up here every winter before finals week to let off some steam.

Looking skyward from the porch.

Some Wooch! members on a day hike across the lake. Where could they possibly going? What could possibly be so cool that it inspires a bunch of college kids to trek a couple miles across frozen lakes in the dead of winter? How cool could it be?

This cool. Near Burntside Lake is a rock cliff with some old pictographs. They sit about ten feet above lake level, and are accessible only by canoe in the summer, and by foot, skis or snowshoes in the winter.

The devil is in the details, as they say. A pinecone and stone at Amnicon Falls in Wisconsin.

Some people opt to stay indoors on cold winter nights. Sir Benedict's Tavern has a great beer selection and live Celtic music every Thursday.

Trudge forth into spring.