Outdoors
Return of the People’s Free Skate Rink
Max Moen and I did this once before in 2014. This will be open as long as weather permits maintaining it. It is on Lake Superior directly off Leif Erickson Park from the stage, about a quarter mile. It is marked with orange cones which hopefully no one will eff with. Ice is around a foot thick, you could drive a train on it. This is the premier skate course in town, a hundred feet long with many twisty paths. Even if you don’t have skates, it is a great excuse for a party. Bring bikes, kites, beach chairs, flags, capes, etc.
A Walk on the Lake and the Things We Saw
Lake Superior Aquaman reporting. Co-starring my buddy Meghan AKA The Meg
Clinton’s Critters: How Great Gray Owls Hunt
Clinton Nienhaus, head naturalist for the Friends of Sax-Zim Bog and education director for Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory narrates this video about how Great Gray Owls hunt for voles in winter. Video by Sparky Stensaas.
Tried Skating to Wisconsin
Made it to 35th before impassable stacks of plate ice.
Weird Waves Season 1: Great Lakes
Shoe company Vans brings its branded content team to Duluth, and the locals show them some of the winter surf “hot” spots. (more…)
Hiki Hut: Duluth’s little blue sauna on a trailer
Whitney & Kelby Sundquist – Photo by Lissa Maki
A little blue sauna on a trailer began popping up around Duluth late last year. The Hiki Hut has licensing similar to a food truck, but instead of food it’s serving up nourishing doses of heat and steam. Owners Whitney and Kelby Sundquist aim to encourage sauna appreciation as well as cultivate community. (more…)
North Country Trail in Wisconsin: Nemadji River Valley
If you’ve ever hiked Minnesota’s Superior Hiking Trail to the Wisconsin border you know the trail ends there, but doesn’t really end there. Despite a sign on a tree that reads “Southern Terminus of SHT” and a separate post sticking out of the ground that reads “Not a trail,” there is clearly a trail there leading into Wisconsin. But it doesn’t go far.
The rest of the text on the terminus sign explains: “Spur trail from here to be built by North Country Trail to a parking lot in WI. Trail now dead-ends ahead.”
I explained all that 17 months ago in a Saturday Essay titled: “North Country Trail: Wood Tick Flats,” which was the first report on my quest to hike the North Country Trail across Wisconsin. That summer I covered exactly zero miles on the trail, which is not a great start to a 200-mile journey. If you read that first North Country Trail essay from June 2017 you know I didn’t hike on the trail that day because the grass was long and loaded with ticks. So I waited and saved the hike for a day with more favorable conditions … 17 months later.
What I lack in ambition I make up for with tenacity, right? My motto is: “Never quit. Take a nap and try again later when you feel more up to it.” (more…)
Keep Duluth Skies Dark
Some Duluth residents and business owners feel bright-white LED lights harm humans and wildlife interfere with the ability to view starry night skies. They’ve set up a website at citylightsstarrynights.com.
Grand Avenue Nordic Center trail opening soon
(Photo courtesy of Spirit Mountain)
Eric Chandler reports on his Shmotown blog that Duluth’s first cross-country trail system with snowmaking capability is expected to open in December. (more…)
Superior Hiking Trail 100-mile Solo Trip
Fall is prime hiking season around Lake Superior. Linda O’Connell of Onalaska went on a 100-mile journey from the Canadian Border to Temperance River State Park in early September and put together this 37-minute documentary.
“Beautiful views, wrong turns and good food were experienced,” she writes in the YouTube description. “I am just an average American 50-year-old woman trying to get out of my comfort zone. Life is short. Make it count.”
Minnesota North Shore Fall Colors Report 2018
Duluth and the North Shore fall colors are slowly starting to turn. The above fall colors map provided by the MN DNR will update automatically as the fall foliage colors continue to change around the state. Look for early to mid October to see the peak fall colors hitting the Duluth and North Shore regions. Colors typically change a little later right along the shores of Lake Superior. (more…)
Jim Richardson is Dead: Long Live Lake Superior Aquaman
Just kidding, I’m not really dead. But it has been a summer without an Aquaman. Some might call me Lake Superior Absentman. I’m sorry I went dark for a while. After several years of spending nearly every summer day at the water’s edge, this summer I barely touched it. There are many reasons why and the PDD community is the place to unpack them.
Video Archive: Illgen Falls Huckamania
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41ex3_9vzHY
Andy McMurray uploaded this video to YouTube ten years ago today — Sept. 5, 2008. It shows a group of Duluth kayakers plunging down Illgen Falls at the Baptism River, about 60 miles northeast of Duluth. The video also details the work a video crew went through to set up shots — rigging highlines, pulleys and ropes.
The video was described on Perfect Duluth Day in 2008 as “tightrope walking meets kayak boating.”
Video: Lester River Otter
Eleven seconds of nature shot yesterday at Lester River by Richard Hoeg.
Lake Superior Road Trip
Dan Fourness put together this travelogue video of adventures in the Apostle Islands, Duluth, Sleeping Giant, Isle Royale and various places along the way.
Ride Duluth
Minneapolis-based director Brendan Lauer put together this video featuring fat-tire cyclists Alex Rohde, Andy Kienitz and Evan Simula, with narrator Hansi Johnson.
Selective Focus: Travis Novitsky
When you get away from city lights and can look at a clear night sky, it’s remarkable how much is up there. Travis Novitsky takes this experience even further with his photography, showing the amazing detail of stars, the milky way and auroras that shine down on our world every night.
TN: I have been making photographs for over 25 years, specializing in images of Lake Superior and the Minnesota North Woods with a passion for the night sky. A self-taught photographer, my knowledge about photography has come primarily from reading books on the subject and from countless hours of experimentation with the camera. I “got my start”, I guess you could say, early on in high school. My first camera was a very basic point-and-shoot Pentax film camera. After that I graduated to a Minolta X-700 SLR film camera which I used until purchasing my first digital camera in 2001. Since then I have used a variety of camera brands including Olympus, Canon, Nikon and Sony. All have helped me create unforgettable imagery. What’s more important than what camera you use, however, is your way of looking at the world around you. How you interact with that world and how you choose to photograph what is around you.
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