Early Winter Scenes

At this time of year I should be posting mid-Winter scenes.  However, our lack of snow makes the scenery look more like what would usually occur in late October or early November.  Today I will post a few photos I took the other day when exercise partner and I hiked from the Sable Visitors' Center to the foot bridge near Sable Falls.  Then there are a few more pictures I took yesterday in the sunshine on a snowshoe we took on a hike from Sable Lake, down the north country trail toward the cross country ski trails.

Sable River....

 

We went into the first section of dunes and then turned back.

Yesterday we were going to go into the dunes, but the wind was gusting up to 40 mph, so we decided to instead head down the trail that starts at the Sable Lake parking lot.

We carefully walked across the footbridge and headed toward the cross country ski trails, which have not yet been groomed due to lack of snow.

First Creek Bluff and Beach Snowshoe

Yesterday was the first sunny day we have had in over three weeks!  Although the temperature was in the teens, there was little to know wind so it was actually very nice outside!  I decided to test my knee with elevation change so Lois and I snowshoed up the bluff at First Creek, walked along the bluff most of the way toward Sable River, and then headed back and down the beach.  The knee did fine (thanks to a knee brace), but I did have some issues with my ankle not bending the way i would like. 

After picking up Lois, I snapped a couple of pictures documenting the first ice on the bay.  We are a long way from ice fishing, though!

First Creek trail....

Up the bluff past First Creek....

Walking west along the bluff....

Back across the bridge at First Creek....

 

...and down the beach!

 

Ice coated everything for a couple of dozen feet up the beach.

Baby shelf ice....

Then we headed up the center steps in Woodland Park and back to the car.

First Snowshoe Adventures of the Year

According to the local (Marquette) news, last year at this point of the winter we had received 150 inches of snow.  This year the official total is only 30 inches, most of which either melted or condensed with the intermittent periods of warm weather.  Since there are some drifts and other icy areas, the last couple of days my exercise partner, Lois, and I have been snowshoeing in the school forest.  

 

One of the days we snowshoed the ski trail.

It was snowing quite hard....

I love the red pine forests....

Sucker River....

The Chimney....

The chamber has this new grooming machine.  Rather than track the cross country ski trail with the two tracks, they are grooming a wide flat trail that can be used for snowshoeing, skiing, or fat (snow) tire biking.

 
As we got back to the road, logging trucks stormed by.

During the second snowshoe, I only took a couple of photos.  Sucker river from the bridge.....ice is starting to form.

Below is a huge 10 foot high root ball.

Head Lamp New Years Eve Hike

Happy New Year!  To celebrate last night, I had a great dinner with friends, Jamey and Lois, and then we went on an adventure.  We put on our head lamps and headed up into the Grand Sable Dunes.  The ridges were too windy so we found a calm area in the pines on the east side of the dunes, put down our old shower curtain and towels, and shared a bottle of champagne.  I didn't take any photos, but afterwords we went back to my house and had a bonfire.   At midnight, the Grand Marais chamber set off their fireworks.  We could not see the actual fireworks since I live more than two miles from town, but the glow in the snow and the boom-booms made it look and sound like a war zone!

It is nice to see everything coated with snow!

Champagne time!

I took this photo a few minutes ago out my front window.  It is snowing hard!