Outdoors Posts

PDD Quiz: Hartley Park

Test your knowledge of Hartley Park with this edition of the PDD quiz. Sources include Zenith City Online, the Minnesota Digital Library, and the Hartley Nature Center website.

The next PDD quiz, reviewing June 2023 headlines and happenings, comes your way on June 25. Submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at [email protected] by June 20.

Hidehiro Otake, Photographer of the Northwoods

Hidehiro Otake first passed through Duluth in 1999, following a literal had-while-sleeping dream. He had been a college student and budding photographer living in Tokyo when he dreamt one night that he was in a cabin in an evergreen forest and outside was a wolf gazing back at him.

One Year on a Northwoods Portage

This trail camera footage shows the diversity of wildlife that passes through an old canoe portage at Voyageurs National Park over a 15-month period. Prepare for lots of otters.

Northern Nights, Starry Skies

This PBS North documentary follows photographer Travis Novitsky as he explores the heavens as seen from Voyageurs National Park, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and Quetico Provincial Park, which together comprise the world’s largest designated Dark Sky sanctuary.

Ode to Spirit Mountain

Standing at the top I see the river in the distance far below
In between this mountainside is covered in a heavy coat of snow
My poles are in my hands and my favorite purple skis are on my feet
My mouth begins to water like it’s waiting for the taste of something sweet
Slipping from the edge I feel a smile slowly slide across my face
‘Cause skiing down this mountain is the closest that I’ll ever come to grace

I wrote this little ditty years ago after a day of skiing at Spirit Mountain.

The Great Lakes Aurora Hunters

This Twin Cities Public Television segment follows a group of photographers chasing the Northern Lights in Minnesota.

Sir Ernest Shackleton goes out for Bloody Marys


 

The lake is out there somewhere in this desolate wasteland at the peak of human endurance. Pro tip: If downtown is closed up because of blizzard conditions, the Boat Club is still open because it’s part of the Fitger’s hotel, and they’re all trapped in there eating each other, but it’s open. A great place to hole up here in the last outpost of civilization during the snowmageddonpocalypse. That is a vat of pepper-soaked vodka. Bloody Mary review: 9/10.

Giant Expectations: The Nimrod Giant Ski Story

Many people come to Hayward to ski, but only an elite few dare to giant ski. Last week Perfect Duluth Day shared the previews, the music video, the news coverage and the overall hype; this week we present the full-length feature documentary on the most storied team in the history of the American Birkebeiner Giant Ski Race. It chronicles the team’s past success, the rise to fame and stardom, struggles with selling out, and the uncertain comeback.

The Slice: Ski Jumping in Cloquet

The Cloquet Ski Club promotes ski jumping and cross-country skiing at Pine Valley Ski Area.

In its series The Slice, PBS North presents short “slices of life” that capture the events and experiences that bring people together and speak to what it means to live up north.

A Paddle with Jeff and Jesse

 

The Nimrods win American Birkebeiner Giant Ski Race 2023

This highlight video shows the drama from the qualifying run and finals of the American Birkebeiner Giant Ski Race, held last weekend on Main Street in Hayward. The Nimrod Giant Ski Team recaptured the championship this year.

Apostle Islands in National Geographic

The March issue of National Geographic has a 16-page feature on Lake Superior’s Apostle Islands. The online version has the headline, “These Lake Superior islands are ‘no place for amateurs,’” while the print edition carries the title “Return to Wild Waters.” Writer Stephanie Pearson accompanied photographer David Guttenfelder on part of his August 2021 kayaking journey in which he paddled to 19 of the 22 islands.

The Slice: Hiking Kadunce River in Winter

In winter the Kadunce River, an 8.5-mile stream near Grand Marais that flows into Lake Superior about 100 miles northeast of Duluth, becomes a frozen hiking trail.

In its series The Slice, PBS North presents short “slices of life” that capture the events and experiences that bring people together and speak to what it means to live up north.

Video: Sledding at the Laskiainen Finnish Festival in Palo

Videographer Adam Jagunich took his drone for a winter flight in the small Iron Range town of Palo, about 40 miles north of Duluth, to capture sledding scenes from the 85th annual Laskiainen Finnish Festival last weekend.

Vignettes from the Edge of a Beaver Pond

Researchers at the Voyageurs Wolf Project placed cameras around the edge of a beaver pond this past summer hoping to get good footage of wolves. Instead, they captured a whole lot of otter activity along with a few other critters, including a black bear and three cubs that predictably knocked over a camera.

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