It took until February before we had any nice snow. We headed out to the After Hours Ski Trails after the first good snowfall of the year. The groomers were still out working when we arrived and the tracks had not been set. We did a little trail breaking before returning to the groomed trails.
There had been some nice snow along the South Shore of Lake Superior so we decided to head up to Duluth. On the way we stopped at the After Hours Ski Trails in Brule, Wisconsin. It was some of the best conditions that we had seen at After Hours. The trees were covered with heavy snow. More photos from the After Hours Ski Trails can be found on my website.
When we arrived the groomer was still working. Some of the trails had not yet been tracked but the groomer passed us a had laid a nice clean track just before we reached some nice hills.
The snow of the bushes looked like cotton balls.
Last year was a disaster in terms of cross country skiing. I think we made out to the ski trails three times all winter. This year we happened to be in Duluth when it snowed for three days. We had planned to drive over to Ironwood and ski at ABR but as we drove past the After Hours Ski Trails we decided to stop and check on conditions. The trails had been packed but no track had been set. We decided that was good enough so we spent about three hours skiing. We came back the next day on our way home and skied for another three hours. Overnight the tracks had been set so it was even better. We had a chance to use the new ski hut for the first time.
After a bitterly cold day on Friday things warmed up a bit so my wife and I drove over to the After Hours Ski Trails for a morning of cross country skiing. Conditions were outstanding.
Cross country skiing has been hit or miss this year with all of the warm weather. We have managed several trips to the After Hours Ski Trails in Brule, Wisconsin. They have some beautiful trails. These were taken in a large Birch forest. I suspect it would be really beautiful during the fall colors.
Apostle Islands Ice Caves:
Normally I’m complaining about the lack of a good winter but this year we have had a fantastic winter. Every winter I look forward to photographing the Apostle Island Ice Caves but this is the first year since 2009 that they have been accessible from the ice on Lake Superior. I was very surprised when I checked  the middle of January and found that the ice caves were already open. Normally they don’t open until January but with the cold weather they were early this year.
We immediately drove up to Cornucopia to visit the caves. This was followed by two other visits to the caves. We weren’t the only ones visiting the caves. Thanks to social media more than 140 thousand people visited the caves before they closed in mid March.
In-spite of the large number of people visiting the caves I was able to get some great photos and, for the first time, my wife was able to visit the caves. As you can see by the number of blogs I wrote on the subject this was my favorite winter activity.
Bald Eagle Watching:
The cold weather has been a boon for Bald Eagle watching since it concentrated the eagles in areas where there was open water. This winter we spent time visiting three locations along the Mississippi River to watch Eagles. Our most productive location was Covill Park in Red Wing, Minnesota where we always saw eagles. There were also a large number of ducks that provided entertainment when the eagle watching slowed down. The water is always open below the heating plant above Covill Park so the eagles and ducks hang out in this area.
The second best location was Reads Landing in Minnesota. On three occasions we saw large numbers of Eagles at this location. We also saw Trumpeter Swans that were hanging out in this section of the river. Viewing at this location slowed down as the winter progressed.
Alma, Wisconsin was the least productive area we visited. We only saw a significant number of eagles on one visit. On several other visits we didn’t see any eagles or only saw a few. I found this a difficult area to photograph eagles because you are usually looking into the sun.
I wrote a number of blogs describing our visits to these locations.
Trumpeter Swans Watching:
We made a number of trips to Hudson, Wisconsin to watch the Trumpeter Swans. Several people had mentioned that Trumpeter Swans hung out on the St. Croix river but didn’t know the exact location. We eventually found them in downtown Hudson.
Because of the very cold weather they were hanging out it a very small area of open water close to shore during the coldest part of the winter. You could walk down along the shore and photograph them and they didn’t seem to be the least concerned with your presence.
These trips resulted in several blogs reporting on our visits.
Lake Superior Ship Watching:
The very cold weather resulted in a lot of ice on Lake Superior. The early ice made for some great opportunities to photograph ships in the cold weather. One of my favorite year around activities is ship watching in Duluth and Superior Harbors so being able to photograph them working in ice was a great adventure.
Baie Cormeau
We were able to watch ships arrive in the harbor during the very cold winter.
Baie Comeau
The Coast Guard Cutters were very active this winter and I was able to see them in action as they were breaking the ice and anchored in the harbor.
Coast Guard Cutter Alder
Tug Boats were also required to help break the ice when the Coast Guard was not available.
Helen H
A large number of ships are in the Duluth/Superior docks either being repaired or for winter layup.
American Spirit
The long winter will continue into spring as the ice breakers are working to free the harbor of ice and the ships in layup are waiting to head out for the 2014 shipping season. The season should start in the next couple of weeks.
Coast Guard Cutter Alder
Rush River Ice Formations:
I discovered the Rush River Ice Formations this winter. What a wonderful place to visit. A local land owner has run piping around his property tapping into underground springs. At about two dozen locations on the property he has run vertical pipes with holes drilled into them. The result are some spectacular ice formations.
Long Ski Season:
For the second year in a row we have been blessed with a lot of snow. The difference this year is that the ski season started at Thanksgiving and has continued into March. With a little luck we should be able squeeze in at least one more ski trip this year.
Our favorite location this year was the ABR Ski Trails because they usually receive early snow and they do the best job of grooming of any ski location. They are usually able to have good skiing even after warm weather because they have equipment to break up the trail in icy conditions and lay a new track.
We also skied at The After Hours Ski Trails in Brule a number of times this year. This is a great location because of the large number of trails and its close proximity to Duluth.
We discovered the Boulder Lake Ski Trails near Duluth and made sever visits to these trails. There are enough trails to provide a nice day of skiing without skiing the same trail twice.
We only made one visit, to what we consider, the most beautiful ski trails in the Midwest. These are the Swedetown Ski Trails in Calument, Michigan. They get more snow and beautiful light fluffy snow than anyplace else.
The day after Thanksgiving we took our first ski trip of the season. It was almost a month earlier than last season. Of course last season ended with a blizzard the first week of May.
Our first trip was to ABR in Ironwood, Michigan. It was about the only place with snow and it was crowded with anxious skiers. They had almost three feet of snow by the time we arrived. The skiing was good but the snow was still a little soft.
Last weekend we drove over to Brule, Wisconsin to ski on the After Hours Ski Trails. Surprisingly it wasn’t crowded. There was a lot of traffic on the roads but most of the people seemed to be heading to Duluth for a little Christmas shopping. The trails were good but it was very cold. The thermometer at the trailhead read 0 degrees.
Philip Schwarz Photography Blog 