Voyageurs National Park in winter (pics)

[hnsbrc]

I have spent the last few days goofing off at our cabin in VNP. Went fishing Friday evening, had to auger through 38 plus inches of ice. There have been many minus 40 nights here this winter (celsius and centigrade!). Despite that, people who drive snowmobiles have been frustrated because early heavy snows caused a lot of water seeping through cracks and insulated by overlying snow. In some places the slush over ice has been a foot thick, making snowmobile travel difficult. Lately we have had a short melting period followed by cold firming up the surface for travel.The last few nights have been about 15 below, and will be over 2 months til ice out and boating season begins again, but I did some fishing, skiing, and maintainance. Answered a call to nature Friday night (plumbing turned off) and heard nature calling in the form of wolves howling closr by. Saturday night watched 5 deer cross the ice on the bay in front of the cabin, and this morning I watched a wolf emerge from the spot where the deer had gone and travel 2 miles across the lake til I lost sight of him behind Sphunge Island. Tonight I saw the same 5 deer again.
http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd7/hnsbrc/Kab09/Kab09031.jpg
The speck in the middle is a wolf.
http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd7/hnsbrc/Kab09/Kab09014-1.jpg
View out kitchen window
http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd7/hnsbrc/Kab09/Kab09006.jpg
Boat shed from dock
http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd7/hnsbrc/Kab09/Kab09026-1.jpg
Back country skiing
http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd7/hnsbrc/Kab09/Kab09041_edited-1.jpg
East end of Lake Kabetogama from ash river area

[hnsbrc]

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd7/hnsbrc/Kab09/Kab09028.jpg
Deer at sunset
http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd7/hnsbrc/Kab09/Kab09025-1.jpg
Skiing over wolf tracks

Beautiful wild country in winter, but I'm ready for summer again:
http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd7/hnsbrc/cal09/april08064.jpg

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd7/hnsbrc/vnp/vnp13.jpg
Deerpoint Island at sunset

[Larks]

Just flamin' lovely!

[Brian Palmer]

Thanks for sharing! We spent a great week there in August on a houseboat. We had the same view of Kabatagama during a hike from the Ash River visitor center.

Brian

[Tom Galyen]

Your mention of the wolves howling nearby brought to mind a saying by Sigurd Olson that "Only the mountains have existed long enough to understand why wolves howl."

Very nice photos.

Tom G. (Seaweed)

[rufustr]

Thank you for the photos.

To me here in Brisbane those scenes are amazing and beautiful.

My wife and I are planning a move to Tasmania, and we are worried about the winters.

It never gets as cold as that where we want to live.:D

[hnsbrc]

Thanks for the compliments. I do enjoy the season changes including winter, and a long winter makes the summer seem all the better. However, six plus months of ice covered waters and 40 below temps gets old about this time of year. Bring able to tell the temperature within plus or minus 1 degree accuracy with your butt by how hard your car seat is in the morning is not really something to brag about. Forty below is exactly like sitting on concrete.

[StevenBauer]

Snow underfoot sounds different, too, in really cold weather. Great pics, thanks.


Steven