Tag Archives: MN North: Gunflint Trail

Northern Nights Near Canada!

Today will end my Covid quarantine, and tomorrow assuming I mask up, I will be able to reengage with the world. It will be fantastic to spend time with my wife. We have gotten behind in watching “The Crown”!!

As I have noted in prior posts this week, I am hard at work completing the second edition of Snowy’s Search for Color, and have pushed along on my new book … about Smokey the Great Gray Owl! Thus, it should be apparent that my case of Covid is somewhat mild!

Both of my two books on occasion involve using images of the night sky. Thus, after the hard process of making selections and processing edits, there two scenes will be used in the new book.

Milky Way deep in off the Gunflint Trail (It was so dark this night, that when I walked 25 yards away from my car, it was impossible to see my Subaru Outback! The BWCA is rated as having perfectly dark skies by the International Dark Sky Association)

Northern Lights over the Pagami Creek Wildfire Burn Area (I was 18+ miles from the nearest paved road and within yards of the BWCA. During this entire night of Aurora chasing I never saw another person or vehicle … only heard wolves and owls! The Northern Lights had been much more dramatic earlier in the night, but the contrast between the burn area and the Aurora was awe inspiring). The light painting of the wooden bridge in these images was done with the ever so brief use of a tiny flashlight (about 1 second).

Wilderness Wayfarer: Google Maps Offline

For the last few days I have been hanging out in Grand Marais and the Gunflint Trail region. This reminded me I have been wanting to blog about Google Maps offline usage. Even if you live in a large metropolitan area, Google Maps Offline will help you:

  • Connectivity is never perfect. Google Maps Offline insures your directions work even if you lose your connection.
  • Given your phones’ GPS chip works w/o connectivity, pre-downloaded maps means never getting lost
  • Having downloaded map regions via wifi, you save on your data contracts
  • In northeastern Minnesota next to the Canadian border, having a data connection is a pipe dream

Here are some screenshots from my phone while exploring the wilds on the Northland this weekend.

.1. Looking at Google Maps on my phone. Tap upon my icon to pull down the menu.


.2. This menu appears, and I want to select “offline maps”


.3. I already have some maps downloaded, which Google updates when required. In addition, I may download and name an area specifically desired by me


.4. Given I pressed “select you own map”


These two screenshots were taken while I was in navigation mode. I may zoom in and out as desired. Even without a connection, Google talks out loud and tells me when to make a turn.




Now for some photography …

I was hoping to find some moose. This is the time of the year when moose are in love, but alas, there was no voyeurism for me! Instead, I mainly saw Ruffed Grouse and Common Redpolls.  I am also including a few road signs and sunrise / sunset lighthouse pics from Grand Marais.

A Ruffed Grouse

The ONLY road signs I saw other than United States Forest Service numerical road signs during almost three hours of exploring yesterday afternoon.

Sunset followed by Sunrise of the Grand Marais Lighthouse (last night and this morning)

Sunrise Over the Gunflint Trail

Fall is screaming towards Winter on the Gunflint Trail in northern Minnesota. I was out enjoying the wilderness shortly before 7 am (just after sunrise). The temperature was 26F. My only question from this most enjoyable morning … where the heck are the Spruce Grouse?! I saw tons of Ruffed Grouse, and I did look in the proper habitat.

Ruffed Grouse at Sunrise … cold but still eating!

Gunflint Lake … looking towards Canada.

Poplar Lake … losing heat / steaming (video link for email subscribers)