Tag: landscape photography

Photos, Travel

Rustic Road 51

by Steven C Sorensen1 Comment on Rustic Road 51

I spent a few hours Sunday afternoon driving and walking Wisconsin Rustic Road 51 in Pierce County.  This is the most rustic of the rustic roads I’ve driven.  It was not much more than two wheel tracks, in many spots suitable for only a single vehicle.  It starts at the top of a small ravine.  The road and ravine plunge downhill with a cliff rising up on one side of the road and the ravine on the other side of the road.  There was little water in the ravine, only a few small pools.  In the spring after snowmelt or perhaps after heavy rain, there would probably be water rushing down the ravine and over least one waterfall.  Eventually, the ravine levels out into a narrow, flat-bottomed valley run through by Pine Creek, a small, meandering stream.  In four places the creek crosses the road in gravel washes –  no bridges or culverts.

I spent a couple hours photographing the road and didn’t encounter a vehicle or a person.  The weather was not good.  I had to use an umbrella to keep the rain off my camera lenses.  Not the best light or weather for photography.  I did get a few decent shots, not just on Rustic Road 51, but on other back roads in southern Pierce County.  I think I did OK considering the conditions.  And – I had fun.

Abandoned Log Cabin
Abandoned Log Cabin in Pierce County, Wisconsin
Gnarly, Bent Trees
Gnarly, Bent Trees
Highway 72 Snakes Up a Hill
Highway 72 Snakes Up a Hill
Tributary Of Plum Creek
A tributary of Plum Creek meanders through a pasture
Wisconsin Rustic Road 51
The top of Wisconsin Rustic Road 51 before it plunges down to the valley floor
Curve In Wisconsin Rustic Road 51
A curve in Wisconsin Rustic Road 51 as it snakes down to the valley floor
Pine Creek on Wisconsin Rustic Road 51
Pine Creek crossing Wisconsin Rustic Road 51
Pine Creek
Pine Creek just before it crosses Wisconsin Rustic Road 51
The Side Of Pine Creek Valley
The hillside that forms the side of Pine Creek Valley
Photos

Past Prime Color

by Steven C SorensenLeave a Comment on Past Prime Color

The fall color season is past its prime in our neck of the woods.  Colors are waning and strong winds over the last few days blew down lots of leaves.  Many days of peak color were gray, damp, and gloomy.  At one time, I feared that the season would pass with no sunny weather, but it’s ending with a few good days.

Here are my best shots of this year’s color.

 

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Photos

On the Shores Of Gitche Gumee * . . .

by Steven C SorensenLeave a Comment on On the Shores Of Gitche Gumee * . . .

. . . actually, Lake Superior; the western shore of the Chequamegon Peninsula in Bayfield County, Wisconsin between Port Wing and Cornucopia.  This stretch of shoreline has crescent-shaped, sandy beaches separated by rocky headlands and occasional sloughs where streams enter Lake Superior.

It’s one of my favorite places.  I hope these photos give an idea of why I like the area so much.  Yesterday, the water was tan and cloudy.  I think it was because of suspended sand blown to this side of the lake by northwesterly winds.

Lake Superior Shoreline
Lake Superior Shoreline
Driftwood
Driftwood
Twin Sisters: Retired Fishing Boat
Twin Sisters: Retired Fishing Boat
Eagle: Retired Fishing Boat
Eagle: Retired Fishing Boat
Dahlia and Old Boat
Dahlia and Old Boat
Dock In Bark Bay Slough
Dock In Bark Bay Slough
Abandoned Fish House
Abandoned Fish House
Mushroom In the Moss
Mushroom In the Moss
Moss and Roots
Moss and Roots
Sunset At Cornucopia, WI
Sunset At Cornucopia, WI

 

* The first line of The Song Of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photos

Last Week

by Steven C SorensenLeave a Comment on Last Week
Last Week

These are the best shots from my last week of shooting.

Fields In Dunn County, Wisconsin
Fields In Dunn County, Wisconsin
Gate Frames a Hill In Dunn County
Gate Frames a Hill In Dunn County
Tree In Bean Field
Tree In Bean Field
Lift-Bridge Under Repair
Lift-Bridge Under Repair
Wildflowers In the Evening Sun
Wildflowers In the Evening Sun
Web-encased Plant Backlit By the Evening Sun
Web-encased Plant Backlit By the Evening Sun
Osceola Loop Of the Ridgeview Trail
Osceola Loop Of the Ridgeview Trail
Mushroom Siblings
Mushroom Siblings
Red Cedar River Near Invington, Wisconsin
Red Cedar River Near Invington, Wisconsin
Sundown On the Red Cedar River Near Invington, Wisconsin
Sundown On the Red Cedar River Near Invington, Wisconsin

 

Photos

Two Rivers and a Creek

by Steven C SorensenLeave a Comment on Two Rivers and a Creek

Last week I photographed the Lake Wissota Dam on the Chippewa River as part of my project to photograph the river from source to end.  All the dam’s spillways were closed.  It rained heavily on Tuesday so I thought perhaps the spillways would be open to handle the runoff.  I went back yesterday and found only one spillway open, the one farthest away.  Here are shots before and after the rain.

Before

Lake Wissota Dam
Lake Wissota Dam

After

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Lake Wissota Dam After Tuesday’s Rain

 

 

Other shots from yesterday, including another river, the Red Cedar, and a creek, Popple Creek, a tributary of the Red Cedar.

Red Cedar River
Red Cedar River
Sunset East Of Colfax, Wisconsin
Sunset East Of Colfax, Wisconsin
Gull On Spillway
Gull On Spillway
Popple Creek
Popple Creek, a Tributary of the Red Cedar River
Photos, video

Best Of August 2018

by Steven C SorensenLeave a Comment on Best Of August 2018

I used to post slideshows of my best photos each month until February of this year.  I then stopped due to illness; bronchitis, insomnia, and, lately, pollution from Canadian wildfires.  The air quality has now improved as have both my insomnia and bronchitis.  I’ve been able to get out again with my camera and post a Best Of August slideshow.

 

 

Photos

Frozen

by Steven C SorensenLeave a Comment on Frozen
Portrait Of the Artist As a Frozen Man

Sorry, this isn’t about the Disney movie, it’s about my day out in the cold working on my project to photograph the Chippewa River from source to end.  It was cold: 2° F with a wind chill of -10°.  I was not uncomfortable because I dressed for the weather.  (I recently purchased what I suspect was the last pair of XXL long johns in Stillwater.  I admit my outfit was not very fashionable, but it worked.)  The only problem was my hands.  I had to take off my choppers to take photos.  In areas exposed to the wind, I could only manage two or three shots until my hands became too numb to operate the camera.

When I stood still, all I could hear was the wind hissing through the dry grass and the river ice occasionally booming and popping.   When I walked, I heard the fresh snow squeaking beneath my boots and the old, frozen boards of the bridge deck creaking and snapping under my weight.  I didn’t see another soul all afternoon.

Bridge Over a Slough
Bridge On the Chippewa
An Icy Hill
Water and Ice
Trees Along the Chippewa

 

 

 

 

Photos

Left Hand Turns

by Steven C SorensenLeave a Comment on Left Hand Turns

A few years ago I took a photo of two, left-hand-turn signs in a field of fresh snow against a cloudless blue sky.  It’s one of my favorite photos.  In the intervening years, left-hand-turn signs have continued to grab my attention until now I have a small gallery of such photos.

No Left Turn
East Of Santa Fe
Snow-Plow Frame
Left-Hand Autumn
A Brand New Bridge
Confusion On the Chippewa River
Highway 4 Culvert
Bullet Holes In Left-Turn Sign

 

 

Hiking, Novels, Photos

A Dark Wood

by Steven C SorensenLeave a Comment on A Dark Wood

The day before yesterday I finished “In a Dark, Dark Wood”, the scary thriller by Ruth Ware*.  Yesterday I unexpectedly found myself in a dark wood.

My hike took longer than expected, and I forgot that daylight savings time ended recently.  It gets dark very early these days.

So I’m trudging through a dark wood.  There is absolutely no wind, and no creatures are stirring, not even a mouse.  They have all gone south or into hibernation for the winter or have bedded down for the evening.  I can hear a jet far up in the sky but nothing else.  It’s actually a beautiful evening.  More than once I stop to enjoy the quiet and the beauty of the color left behind by the setting sun, color that shows brightly in the crisp, clear evening air.

I was in the Dunnville Bottoms in the floodplain of the Chippewa River in Western Wisconsin.  Here are some scenes from the dark, dark woods in the bottoms, mostly oak forests with many old, gnarly, spooky oaks.

 

 

I thought the book was neither scary nor thrilling, just an average, somewhat entertaining who-done-it.

 

 

Photos

A Week’s Worth

by Steven C Sorensen1 Comment on A Week’s Worth

I made two day trips this week, one to explore the East Fork Of the Chippewa River in Wisconsin, the other a drive through the rolling hills southeast of Independence in Trempealeau County, Wisconsin.

Trempealeau County

Vista of Farm Country
Sowthistle and Wheat Field
Healthy Corn
Abandoned Shed On Dirt Road
Shed and Horse
Contour Plowing
Late Afternoon Sun Lights the Fields
Farm Shed and Farm Fields
Pigeon Falls Dam

East Fork Of the Chippewa River and Things Found Along the Way

Chippewa River At Ojibwa Park – 1
Bladder Campion
Monarch Caterpillar
Purple Wildflower
Chippewa River At Ojibwa Park – 2

One Shot From a Stillwater Parking Lot

Transmission Towers
Hiking, Photos, Walking

Something Odd In the Forest

by Steven C SorensenLeave a Comment on Something Odd In the Forest
What Is This?

I spent the afternoon at the Fish Lake State Wildlife Area, a typical afternoon on the trails and in the woods except for the odd object I discovered on the forest floor, no more than a few inches high but looking very malevolent.

Whitetail Deer
Small Pond In the Marsh
Spring Buds
A Crowd Of Mushrooms
Fish Lake Flowage
Trade River

 

Day Trips, Hiking, Photos, Walking

Bottoms and Barrens

by Steven C SorensenLeave a Comment on Bottoms and Barrens
On the Old Railroad (now bike) bridge over the Chippewa River

I’ve been exploring the Chippewa River this spring and late winter in the stretch of river between Eau Claire and the Mississippi River near Pepin, Wisconsin.  Much of the terrain along this part of the river is barrens such as the Dunnville Barrens and bottoms such as the Dunnville Bottoms.  And yes, a bottoms can be a barrens.

Bottoms, as in bottomlands, are “low-lying land along a watercourse”  [Merriam-Webster.com].  Barrens are “level or slightly rolling land, usually with a sandy soil and few trees, and relatively infertile.”  [dictionary.com.]  So bottomland can be barren but not necessarily, and barrens can be on bottomland, but not necessarily.

This is part of the Dunnville Barrens State Natural Area within the Dunnville Bottoms.

This is a fun area to explore.  It encompasses the Dunnville Barrens State Natural Area, Dunnville Bottoms, the Dunnville State Wildlife Area, and the Dunnville State Rec Area and Sandbar (great for swimming).  The Red Cedar State Trail runs along its southern edge, crosses the river on an old railroad bridge, and ends at its intersection with the Chippewa River State Trail.  The Chippewa River State Trail runs along the river between Eau Claire and Durand.

Chippewa River At Dunnville Bottoms
Chippewa River At Dunnville Bottoms
Dunville Barrens
Old Railroad Bridge Over the Chippewa River

 

 

Hiking, Photos, Walking

Universal Law Of Geography

by Steven C SorensenLeave a Comment on Universal Law Of Geography
Sundown On the River Bottoms (1)

I mapped my hike before setting out today.  According to Google Maps, it would be 2000 feet from the parking lot to the river, 2000 back.  However, the universal law of geography kicked in not long after I started the hike.  I learned this rule in college on the first day of Geography 101.  The rule is that in nature, the shortest distance between two points is never a straight line.  There are always intervening ravines, impenetrable thickets, fierce and angry thorns, deep woods, wet ground, mean bulls (happened to me once, I swear).  Columbus ran into a continent.  Don’t forget the next-ridge corollary to the universal law.  When you finally reach the ridge you’ve been straining for, there is always one more ridge to go.

The universal law kicked in today.  I knew  I would be hiking over level ground and open fields with a band of trees along the river.  Should have been easy, even for me in my febrile old age.

Later:  I am now seated at the bar of a Mexican restaurant, an oasis for an exhausted, muscle-sore hiker trying to recover from what ended up a challenge.  Even so, I’m glad I went and finished the hike.  I captured some decent photos for my project on the Chippewa River.  Here is another universal law I learned in college but not in the classroom:  a cold beer (in this case Dos Equis Lager) never tastes so good as when one is tired and dry.  It tastes great and you can tell yourself that you’ve earned your beer, and the next one, and . . .

Here are some other photos from the hike in the Lower Chippewa River State Natural Area southwest of Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

Leaf Of Common Mullein Backlit By the Sun
Sundown On the River Bottoms (2)
Chippewa River Below Caryville Bridge, facing west
Chippewa River Below Caryville Bridge, facing south
Trees yawning over a dry channel in the Chippewa River Floodplain
A Natural Levee On the East Bank Of the Chippewa River Looking North

 

Hiking, Photos, Walking

Parnell Prairie Preserve

by Steven C SorensenLeave a Comment on Parnell Prairie Preserve

I went out in my car around 4:00 PM.  I wanted to try to walk to the Arcola Railroad bridge from the Wisconsin side to photograph it.  No luck; there were no-parking signs along the road and the railroad right-of-way was posted with no-trespassing signs.  I could see the bridge through the bare trees.  It looked very high and impressive.  The branches were too thick for photography so I never got a photo of the bridge.

Parnell Prairie Preserve

I turned to Plan B.  I didn’t actually have a Plan B, so I extemporized.  The Parnell Prairie Preserve is just a few miles from where I was.  I’ve driven past the preserve many times and drove into the parking lot once but never stopped.  It didn’t look very impressive from the road.  So I went to the Preserve and discovered a sweet spot.  Nice trails.  Very pleasant.

There was an old, decaying very large tree trunk sawed into pieces near the road.  It looked like it had been there, decaying and moldering into the earth, for a long time.  All the things that grow on or around a decomposing tree stump provide lots of subjects for photography:  vines, lichen, moss, fungi, leaves, stems, thorns.  Much texture and color.  The color isn’t as showy as in wildflower season but it’s there if you look closely.  Tiny, bright red things on stalks held over green moss.  I don’t know what they were, but the red objects shone out in spite of their tininess.  Purple and red vines.  Old, decaying wood of a deep orange.

Most of the preserve is a rolling meadow.  Last year’s meadow grasses are still standing and are a fine golden, yellow-orange color.

The red stems of sumac with buds just waiting for some sun and warm weather.  A cluster of berries ranging in color from bright red to golden brown.  The silhouettes of bare trees and pine trees on a hilltop.

Last Year’s Berries
Red Fungi (?); Green Moss
Vine On an Old Tree Trunk
Leaf Resting On an Old Tree Trunk
Lone, Bare Tree
Parnell Prairie Preserve
Dried Flower

 

 

Photos, POTD

Gone Too Long

by Steven C SorensenLeave a Comment on Gone Too Long

For most of the last four months, I’ve been inactive with some sort of undiagnosed illness.  My doctor can find no cause – all my tests come back normal.  The conclusion:  it’s all in my head, although it sure feels like it’s in my body.  Anyway, I have posted very few blogs during this time period and have not taken many photographs.  I have done some, so I’ve decided to post my best shots from the last few months.

I think I’m going mad, Ted [obscure line from the Britcom Father Ted]

September 16 – Dahlia
September 11 – Ear of Field Corn
September 26 – Two Leaves
October 28 – Sunset Over the Farm
October 26 – Dying Hostas
October 22 – The New St Croix River Bridge
October 18 – Fence Post On the Hay River
October 15 – Wild Grape Vines
October 13 – Enjoying a Caramel Apple
October 10 – Lights Of Durand
October 9 – Wet, Dried Leaf
September 27 – Box Elder Bugs and Milkweed Pod
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Painted Mum
Photos, POTD

Dry Feet and Dry Lenses

by Steven C SorensenLeave a Comment on Dry Feet and Dry Lenses
Marina In Stillwater On the St. Croix
Marina In Stillwater On the St. Croix

I wanted to shoot some photos on Wednesday, but it had been raining all day and was not likely to stop.  What the heck, I decided to go anyway.

I wore waterproof hiking shoes to keep my feet dry and an umbrella plus a lens cap or handkerchief to keep my lenses dry.  All those things worked well.   What I didn’t plan for was slipping in the mud, falling on my back, and ending up with wet and muddy clothes.  Oh well, I did get some decent photos.

Lights Of Stillwater From Boat Landing
Wildflowers Along the St. Croix
Yellow Dock On Loon Lake

 

 

 

Day Trips, Hiking, Photos, POTD, Walking

An Afternoon At Fish Lake

by Steven C SorensenLeave a Comment on An Afternoon At Fish Lake
Dueholm Lake, drawn down
Dueholm Lake, drawn down

The Fish Lake State Wildlife Area in northwestern Wisconsin near Grantsburg is part of a collection of areas managed as The Glacial Lake Grantsburg Properties.  They are Fish Lake Wildlife Area, Crex Meadows Wildlife Area, and Amsterdam Sloughs Wildlife Area.

The Fish Lake area is mostly “huge sedge marshes” interspersed with areas of low hills with oak forests.  The first time I visited Fish Lake, I was not very impressed – it seemed too flat.  The more I visited and explored, the more I came to appreciate the area.  There are lots of nooks and crannies, paths and dirt roads to explore.  I was there yesterday, a beautiful warm Sunday.  I didn’t encounter another soul.  That’s heaven for an introvert that loves exploring solo.

Dueholm Lake, drawn down
Dueholm Lake, drawn down

I didn’t take too many photos.  I was tired and just walking along a flat dike next to Dueholm Lake took all my available energy.  Dueholm Lake is an impoundment.  The only natural lake in the area is Fish Lake, thus the name of the area.  The impoundments are a result of management that “began in the early 1950s when the first dikes were constructed to re-flood the drained marshes.”

 

Day Trips, Hiking, Photos, Walking

The Source

by Steven C SorensenLeave a Comment on The Source
St. Croix Creek, Headwaters Of the St. Croix River
St. Croix Creek, Headwaters Of the St. Croix River

I reached the source of the St. Croix River in northwest Wisconsin.  Last year I tried twice to reach the source.  The first time I got to the start of the Brule Portage section of the North Country trail after I was already tired out so I didn’t hike very far.  The second time I could find no way to get to the source.  There was a clearly marked side trail to the head of the Bois Brule River but nothing to the St. Croix.  After the second try, I decided that I would come back for another attempt when the snow had melted but there was not yet any foliage in the woods.  I also studied Google Maps and my Delorme Wisconsin Atlas and Gazetteer (page 25 I think.)  I decided that if I parked on the side of Rifle Range Road, a dirt road northeast of Solon Springs, I would be only a few hundred yards from the source of the St. Croix.

I drove, I parked, and I walked in on a trail which shortly ended at the North Country Trail from where I could easily see a small pond.  I knew I was in the right spot because I had seen the pond on Google Maps.  I had been in the same spot last year but had no idea that the pond and St. Croix Creek were only a couple hundred feet away.  The mid-summer foliage completely hid the pond.

I walked to the pond and could see that a small stream choked by fallen logs entered the head of the pond.  The stream was the headwaters of the St. Croix.  I confess that I didn’t get to the literal source.  Walking was like bushwhacking through a jungle.  I didn’t have the energy to go the extra 100, at most, yards that would have put me at the source (water bubbling out of a spring perhaps.)  I can claim that I saw and photographed the headwaters, if not the actual source, of the St. Croix so I consider the expedition a success.

Pond On St. Croix Creek
Near St. Croix Creek; Like a Jungle
St. Croix Creek, Headwaters Of the St. Croix River
Books, Day Trips, Photography, Photos, POTD

How To Shoot?

by Steven C SorensenLeave a Comment on How To Shoot?
On Being . . .
On Being . . .

I recently wrote about Jay Maisel’s book Light,Gesture, & Color in which he writes

All year long I walk around shooting as minimally as I can.  One camera, a zoom lens, and that’s it.

I’m now reading On Being a Photographer.  David Hurn advises photographers to

. . . take on a project that is containable, and can be completed in a reasonable period of time. . . . just wandering around looking for pictures, hoping that something will pop up and announce itself, does not work.

I  think both approaches can work and have worked for me.  It’s true that having some sort of focus, whether it’s a project or a weekly challenge published on the internet, will improve one’s photography.  I have fun just rambling about with camera ready.  Sometimes things do pop up.  I went on a road trip yesterday to work on my project to photograph the St. Croix River from source to mouth.  I also kept my eyes open for pop-up opportunities.  Of the three best photos from yesterday, one was of the St. Croix, the other two were things I spotted while driving on back roads in Wisconsin.  Here are the three:

2016-04-13 Pussy Willows and Blue Water
Bridge Over the St. Croix At Osceola
Spring Sunset Over Farm