April 24, 2013 Auroras
Lee Lake, Chippewa National Forest
This pair of photos speaks volumes of the type of spring we had in 2013. I discovered this lake while crust skiing (with 6" fresh snow on top) in the Suomi Hills area. The two feet of snow (and up to three feet in spots) allowed me to ski over all the low-lying brush anywhere I wanted. I decided to take of in some random direction from the trail, through the woods, and I came upon Lee Lake. Upon seeing the scenery, I decided I wanted to get out to this location some time to shoot auroras, thinking I would have to wait until next winter to do that. It was already unbelievably late to go skiing. Little did I know that I would be able to do the same exact thing nearly three weeks later.
On April 23, with the snow essentially equally as deep as it had been at the beginning of April (thanks to it being the snowiest month this season), I was able to return to my previous location and shoot auroras. The full moon really trashed the contrast, and it was a tougher location than I thought it would be for framing a with a good foreground, but it was fun being out there. Temperatures were in the teens (F), and the wolves were howling not too far away!
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| Auroras over Lee Lake. |
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| Black spruce (left), auroras (middle), white pines (right). |