.Voyageurs National Park
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We
spent the winter of 2008 in Voyageurs National Park in northern
Minnesota collecting data on winter ecology of beavers, as well as
surveying for wolf activity within the park
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 Playing guitar on our back porch |
 The view from inside our cabin |
 We spent the majority of the winter on snowmobiles |
 Danielle filling in a data sheet |
 Danielle is using the antenna to locate a radio-transmitting beaver. |
 This picture was taken right after a very thick fog had lifted |
 Kabetogama Lake after a snowfall |
 Using the antenna and telemetry receiver to pinpoint the location of a beaver |
 The beaver lodge in Deer Creek |
 Late evening on Kabetogama. |
 Danielle on her snowmobile |
 Enjoying the sunshine after checking the lodge at Long Slough. |
 The entrance to the lodge at Long Slough. |
 On this morning the temperature was close to -30 Celsius |
 On very cold mornings, there would be steam rising from the lodges. |
 Walking in to Long Slough was a welcome break from the snowmobiles |
 Having fun with my new GPS |
 A rocky ledge in Lost Bay |
 Sunset over Kabetogama. |
 The remains of a recent wolf kill |
 The driveway leading into Sandy Point on a moon-lit night |
 Looking west onto Kabetogama. |
 Our front yard, under a nearly full moon |
 A trail leading into Ekk Lake |
 Looking back into Lost Bay from the Ekk Lake trail. |
 We hiked in about 500m to search in a small pond for a lost beaver |
 Searching for lost beavers was one of the only activities that required snowshoes |
 Getting ready to hike up a small stream looking for lost beaver transmitters |
 We didn't find any missing beavers here either, but it was really fun hike up the stream |
 Sandy Point Lodge at dawn. |
 Heading south onto Kabetogama by way of the portage from Rainy Lake |
 Sunset over Kabetogama |
 Another view of the same sunset |
 Dawn, looking out from our backyard. |
 Probably the first "snow fort" I've made in 15 or 20 years! |
 The view from inside my "digloo" |
 Since I take most of the pictures, Danielle gets to have all the cool poses! |
 Rainy Lake is quite a bit bigger than Kabetogama, and on an overcast day, the "seam" between ice and sky is hardly visible. |
 A hoar frost overnight covered this Jack Pine |
 A frosted Jack Pine on Rainy Lake |
 The south side of Rainy Lake after a snowfall |
 Looking north into Kabetogama from Daley Bay. |
 Danielle is meeting up with me at Grassy Bay |
 This lodge is in a beaver pond in Daley Bay |
 One of the few snowy days we had |
 Full moon rising over Kabetogama |
 This was a few hours before the lunar eclipse |
 Yewbush Island, in the western end of Kabetogama |
 The eastern end of the park, i Sand Point Lake. |
 Early morning sun through a frosted Birch |
 Looking north over Rainy Lake at the distant shore of Ontario. |
 A bare patch of ice on Rainy Lake. |
 We got to tag along with a bear researcher from the DNR |
 Dave and Bill weigh the bear |
 Just before putting the bear back in its den |
 The wetland we'd hiked up to get to the bear |
 The second (and much smaller) bear of the day. |
 Danielle is quite happy to be posing with a bear! |
 This bear was actually so small that both Danielle and I could easily hold it right off the ground. |
 Returning to the snowmobile after a full day of bear work. |
 Our cabin at Sandy Point, seen from the backyard |
 A dock on the west side of Sandy Point's property. |
 Earthspin, seen from the dock at Sandy Point |
 On one of our park-wide wolf surveys, we ran into this guy alone on the ice. |
 This was actually just the second time we'd seen any wolves all winter. |
 On the second half of our wolf survey I came across this freshly killed deer |
 It took almost 45 minutes before the wolves finally reappeared. |
 The other two continued to eat from the main carcass. |
 Despite us being out of view, the wolves were very nervous and kept glancing back towards us |
 We stayed for about half an hour watching them |
 The whole thing was quite surreal |
 Shortly before we left, the third wolf came back down from the bank |
 Sunrise from our backyard. |
 Rainy Lake near Alder Creek. |
 After a few warm days near the end of the season, we had to make use of the excellent packing snow |
 Snow on a Balsam Poplar down the road from our cabin |
 Early morning after a snow near Sandy Point |
 The portage from Kabetogama to Black Bay and Rainy Lake |
 Dark skies in Black Bay on one of our last days on the ice |
 All winter long we were visited by a resident fox who toured around the cabins |