Deer, Deer, and more Deer

When I went to town yesterday, on one of the side roads in Grand Marais there was a whole herd of deer.

Then I drove down to the board walk and saw there was another herd of deer on the beach.

Grand Marais First Creek Snowshoe

To get exercise yesterday I parked at the end of Woodland Park and snowshoed up the hill located just west of First Creek.  This is a deer trail, so it was pretty rugged with the hoof prints making the snow surface very uneven.

The woods west of Woodland Park is called Donahey Woods.

Top of the steps.  Ice is hugging the Lake Superior shore for around a half mile off shore.

Up, up, up!

Looking back down the slope...

After snowshoeing up on top of the bluff in the woods, I headed back down to the beach.  I was surprised to see that First Creek is starting to break through the ice and snow.

Looking west....

Looking east….

Zoom into the outer harbor lighthouse.

Zoom to the west....

Then, back up the steps to my car.

New Book is Available

This post is to inform people that my newest book is now available.  The shipment delivery of Geology Basics: A Laminated Activity Book has arrived!

Each book comes with a dry-erase marker, which is shrink wrapped with the book. In the next week or so I will have my webmaster add the new book to the museum webpage's online gift shop (www.agatelady.com). In the meantime, if anyone wants to purchase a copy, please send me either a personal message or an email to karen@agatelady.com. For Michigan residents the price with sales tax and s/h is $29.39; the price for domestic non-Michigan residents the price is $27.95.

Winter Shelf Ice Sunset on Grand Marais Beach

Last night after UofM won their round two game in the NCAA men's basketball tournament, I was energized.  Plus, I needed exercise so I headed down to the beach.  I parked at the end of Coast Guard Point and hiked west.  t was an absolutely beautiful evening with temperatures in the 40s and just a slight wind.

The channel was mostly ice covered, except for the north end.

I could not believe it.  Three people walked out the ice on the breakwall all the way to the lighthouse.  Dangerous.

More snow and ice melted on the beach than I expected.  There are a lot of rocks!

Ice berg poops (piles of rocks where ice chunks with embedded rock melted).

Sunset over the shelf ice mounds....

Walking back to my car I realized you could barely see the top of the outer harbor lighthouse due to the height of the shelf ice mounds.

Still More Winter Grand Marais Scenes

Still catching up.....here are some more winter scenes.  First, some photos during a cross country ski in the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.

Next a snowshoe in the Grand Sable Dunes.

As I rested at the end of the trek, the snowmobile trail groomer went by.

I had my snowplow service cut a path into the museum so I could carry in the shipment of the new book.

Beach snowshoe with my friend, Renee.

After some rain, the snow slid down my metal roof.

Here are a few photos I took in my yard.

And a couple of UP 200 photos.