Outdoors
Dragon boating — it’s not just one weekend a year
20 paddlers. One person steering. One calling commands. One long, Chinese-design canoe. Add these all up and you get a great workout on the water with great people.
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Giant Water Bug, Outer Harbor by Lakewalk
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlzmqfAOWCI
The Giant Water Bug is among the largest insects in North America. Size was at least 3 inches long. They live around the edges of lakes where they trap air under their wings and dive for small fish and frogs. This mature adult probably overwintered in the mud.
Playing with Late May Ice
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjcGyTA2nJw
Outside Magazine Best Places to Live poll
Duluth goes head to head with Columbia, MO. in the first round. (And it’s kicking their butts so far.)
You can vote here – no need to sign in or register.
Ice Chunks Floating By
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yK8tQMdTSy8
Tangled Rebar
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQiTelYDcUA
St. Louis Bay Time Lapse
Video by Alex Kunnari. Although it’s called “Time Lapse Saint Louis Bay,” it appears to have been shot over the Superior Bay or maybe the Duluth Harbor Basin. Close enough. Cool video.
Ojiichaagobiishin: It Reflects in Water
A poetic documentary about the beauty of water, shot in Duluth by David Jensen.
It’s I Stand with Kids Day in Duluth
You may have noticed some blue kids hanging out along the Lakewalk if you were brave enough to go outdoors today.
April is Child Abuse Awareness and Prevention Month and First Witness spends each day engaging the community in efforts to make our community a safe place for children to grow and thrive. This is our third year for individuals and businesses to come together and show that We Stand with Kids. Over 300+ blue kids were sponsored this year. The donations go directly to services to child abuse victims and their families for supportive services after a disclosure has been made.
The blue kids are figurines cut out from wood, the size of a typical lawn sign. The color is blue because blue is the color of Child Abuse Awareness and Prevention month. The display is along the Lake Walk today (May 5) beginning at Leif Erickson from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m..
We hope you will consider stopping by to check it out and show your support. Rumor is Starbucks donated some coffee to help keep you warm!
The Polar Bear Challenge
A few days ago, I arrived home to find my 17-year-old son in a swimsuit waiting for two friends to arrive. One was coming to film, the other was coming to join my son in a dunk in the water.
Not just dumb teenage behavior! The two had been “challenged” by other friends to do this, and those friends had already done the dunk. My son got to pick his own two people to challenge, and so it goes.
Since then, I’ve seen at least four pairs of swimsuit-clad young people desperately searching for open water. Generally there’s another person with a video camera, because as you know, if it isn’t filmed and posted on social media, well it didn’t really happen. I’ve seen them on Park Point near the S-Curve, and just today at the Cribs off the Lakewalk.
If everyone who does this challenges two more people to do it, well watch out because the challenge is coming to you.
Anyone else seen or experienced this?
Fisheye View of Chester Creek
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rwahk1r2xsw
The Sound of Breaking Ice
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZxKX3PPK_M
Pushing my camera through the ice at Stoney Point a few days ago.
The Perilous Inlet (a short film)
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWbO6j6_FDQ
Final, scored version of something I’ve released excerpts of over time.
Four harrowing stories from one of Lake Superior’s perilous inlets, as told through the magic of toys.
Native tree and shrub sale order deadline
Friday, April 18, is the deadline for ordering bare-root seedlings from the South St. Louis County Soil and Water Conservation District. The native trees and shrubs come in bundles of 10 and 25 plants. Pickup is May 15-17. Visit southstlouisswcd.org/treeshrub for info and order forms or call 218-723-4867.
Winter Ruled
Highlight reel of sights and sounds from extreme winter 2014.
PDD Drone over the ice … and on the news
The PDD Drone’s latest mission took it to the skies of Grand Marais last week, hovering across the icy shore of Lake Superior. Before the trip, however, the drone and its “pilot,” Cory Fechner, spent some time with the Northland’s NewsCenter’s Kevin Jacobsen for the report below.
Apologies for the commercial before the clip, which we can’t control.
Mont Du Lac Ski & Recreation Area
Mont Du Lac Ski Area
I learned to ski at Mont Du Lac with my dad back in the early 1980s. I just came across this picture of the new chalet at the top of the hill and wow! This looks stunning. Apparently it is called the Trophy Lodge. Is it open yet? Has anyone been inside? Is the bar/restaurant open? I’m sure this old news but it sure looks nice. I really need to get back out there and make some turns to check it out. Lots of great memories of skiing with my dad, close calls and goofing off with friends. I remember Ridge Run but wasn’t West and East Bowl called something else back in the day? There also used to be a lift and run off the back side of ridge run.
Mont Du Lac Ski Trail Map
A Trip to Grand Marais
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQCnmJnBG-8
Feathery Crystals of the Park Point Ice Caves
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8VY6X1C1-E
Search for Atlantis
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjSoedTq-X4
Painting in the BWCA
Duluth artist Ken Marunowski describes the process of making a wilderness landscape painting.
Fun While it Lasted
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xNo5Vne07o
People’s Free Duluth Skate Rink now closed for the season, obliterated by snowpacalypse. Here we see it in its heyday, as well as its ignominious conclusion.
It’s not the snowfall, it’s the snowdrifts
“It’s not the snowfall, it’s the snowdrifts.” I just realized that’s kind of a northcountry version of “it’s not the heat, it’s the humidity.”
I give yesterday’s storm about a 6 out of 10 for Duluth snowstorms in terms of intensity and general nastiness. However, I think this might be the biggest drift I’ve encountered in the 12 years I’ve been at this house.
httpv://youtu.be/1V4tdVVVYO8
Fly Fishing Movie – Rivers of a Lost Coast extended trailer
If any of you are like me and love the art of fly fishing, this new movie (Rivers of a Lost Coast) may interest you. There is something about grabbing your fly rod and box of flies in search of the illusive North Shore steelhead or casting dries for that beautiful trout on your favorite stream or lake. Fly fishing truly does have a unique way of connecting us to nature as evident in this new film. Tight lines!
At the turn of the 20th Century, a handful of pioneers carried their fly rods into California’s remote north coast and gave birth to a culture that would revolutionize their sport. For a select few, steelhead fly fishing became an obsessive pursuit without compromise.
Rivers of a Lost Coast is a new documentary that looks at our relationship to nature through the eyes of the most fabled angling community in American history. This surprisingly touching film was recently labeled a must see by the San Francisco Chronicle and Seattle Times.