Photo by Mary
says Mary
left side. Photo by Darrel Gallery photo |
Darrel Murdock Jay Cooke Park: For our next run we decided to check out the St Louis River that runs through Jay Cooke State Park, as that river seldom freezes over and has a lot of interesting scenery around it (and in it). We still didn't expect to see very much snow, if any, but figured the ice formations might be cool anyway. We stopped at the Thomson Dam, the regulator of the flow of the rest of the St Louis River as it drops dramatically over the last few miles before it empties into Lake Superior. We made our way down to the edge of the river and took some shots of the ice-crusted boulders, little waterfalls and rocky rapids near the dam. The area had a surreal look to it in it's half frozen state, it was quite a sight to see. We decided to climb along the rocky edge of the river at the bottom of a cliff and take pictures of the river and the path we took, which was not for the inexperienced explorer at all. After reaching safer ground, Mary found some colorful close-ups to capture as I made my way to the highest point for some zooms of an icy-clad waterfall. After we were satisfied we had captured everything that moved and didn't, we drove into the park by the swinging walk-bridge to climb around the bigger falls near the island there. That area was looking pretty cool, too. When we wrapped it up at the St Louis River we still had plenty of daylight left, so we headed across the border into Wisconsin to see what Amnicon Falls looked like in the winter without snow. |
Photo by Mary |
Darrel Murdock Amnicon Falls: When we arrived at Amnicon Falls State Park, I was surprised to see a manned Ranger Station. I imagined they don't get much company in the winter so I slowed down and waved as we passed by with annual sticker in place. We turned and headed towards the falls, but after crossing the one-lane bridge over the river we had to keep stopping to see the beautiful scenery along the way. The Amnicon River is a smaller river that drops over many little falls and around boulders and lava rock before it reaches the named falls. Although there was no snow to speak of, there was a great amount of ice, and the abundance of pines with the needles on the ground still exposed added a great aroma to this charming early winter scene. We had planned to visit one more park, but found it hard to leave. We followed all the trails to and from an island surrounded by the falls, finding all the serene beauty quite photogenic indeed. I had to get a peek at the Snake Pit Falls, hidden in a deep ravine with icy overhangs. I believe Mary vowed that would not be recurring with slippery tennis shoes and no rope. The rest of the hike was fairly safe though, and Mary found some great shots of the rustic steps and foot-bridges with plant color even. The covered bridge between the Upper and Lower Falls was a favorite for both of us. As we were getting ready to wrap it up, Mary spied an open pool in the river with spinning ice discs about the size of lily-pads. Ah, the magic of winter! You never know what you will find as the ice freezes and melts, especially in the ancient lava-laden riverbeds that dominate the Upper Midwest. The setting sun ended our trip for the day, but there was a lot more to see before the harsh mid-winter weather would entomb the rivers under thick ice and snow. |
Photo by Mary |
Darrel Murdock The North Shore: Our first two trips had been a lot of fun and had yielded a lot of interesting photos of ice formations, but we were still missing the snow that was unseasonably absent in most of Minnesota and Wisconsin. The reports showed significant levels of the white fluff holding their own up in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and in Minnesota's Arrowhead above Lake Superior's North Shore near the end of December, though. So, Mary and I decided to celebrate our back-to-back birthdays (Dec. 29,30) by visiting one of those areas. The motels were sold out in the Upper Peninsula, but we found a humble yet clean place half-way up the North Shore in Silver Bay. From there we could get an early start and maximize our short amount of sunlight that would make our cameras obsolete by 4:30 pm. We decided to start with the northern most location and work our way back down, but we stopped at a wayside rest at Cross River first to see the falls from the bridge. The river was flowing quite nicely, cascading down a long icy hill, and there was plenty of snow there, too. Then we headed for Temperance River State Park, where the narrow river cut so deep into the red-lava rock that the falls are tough to get a view of, hence the name Hidden Falls. The gorge was beautiful, sprinkled with snow and dotted with pines. The river was frozen enough that I could walk along the edge almost to the falls, something that couldn't be done in warmer weather. After finishing up at Temperance we went to see the cascades at Beaver River in Beaver Bay, but it was frozen and snowed over and not much to see. Mary didn't waste the stop though, capturing the mouth of the river at Lake Superior. I was hoping that the next stop would fare better at one of my favorite North Shore waterfalls, Baptism River's Illgen Falls. We pulled into the 2-car rest stop and started to make our way back to the river. We could hear the sound of water running, and were getting anxious to see what lay ahead. The trail was covered, but we found our way to the top of the falls. The sound of rushing water was louder now; we walked downstream and tried to get a peek at it but the edge was snowy and icy, so Mary held onto a tree and I held onto her and leaned enough to get a good shot. Illgen was looking pretty good! Then we noticed we could get down by the river via some icy boulders, so we climbed down to get a better look at it. After some nice full-scene shots we edged closer to get some cool close-ups. Mary declared it one of her new favorites as we enjoyed the beautiful winter scene with no human footprints but our own. But the short day required that we get moving so that we could see the famous Gooseberry Falls, so we pulled ourselves away and hit the road again. As much as we had enjoyed everything so far, Gooseberry Falls would be the Grand Finale. We started Gooseberry at the Middle Falls, the widest part of the river before it gets divided by an island into the two Lower Falls. It was nothing short of fantastic! The beautiful pink ice was very detailed and punctuated by squirting water. We were fascinated and attempted to get all the nuances into our cameras, standing everywhere we could, including the little rocks in the shallow edge of the river. We continued around the loop toward the Lower Falls, and noticed a large hole in the base. The ice was mounded around the hole so we were able to get right up to it and look inside. We could see the waterfall inside the hollow shell as it hit the pool, it was pretty cool! The rest of the loop was fun, too. We got some views of the other Lower Falls, then the Middle Falls from the other side, and finally the Upper Falls. It was getting dark then, so we called it a day and began the 4 hour drive back home. We had really enjoyed this dual-birthday adventure, and could hardly wait to see the photos. We were however, already looking forward to the final chapter of our "In Search of Winter" shoot, the South Shore. |
Photo by Darrel |
Darrel Murdock Upper Peninsula: It was now the middle of January, with not much snow still around the Twin Cities as we hammered out the plans for our next adventure. It was destined to be a cold weekend; well below zero was the forecast. We decided to stop at Mary's sister's cabin the first night since we would be leaving late afternoon on Friday, then get an early start up to Ironwood so we could make some stops before it got too dark on Saturday. When we arrived at the cabin it was about -12F and already dark. Unfortunately we did not have the right keys, and after crawling around looking for a spare we realized we needed to switch to plan B. Unfortunately again, we didn't have a backup plan. We made our way back to the main highway and considered back-tracking to a motel we had driven past earlier. The other choice was to drive up a lonely, dark highway in the hope of finding lodging this late on a Friday night. The adventurous spirit in us decided to brave the unknown, so we turned North and started driving. The little towns were not yielding anything except gas stations and closed stores; we could use a little luck now, we thought. Suddenly we saw more light; maybe a bigger town was ahead. Yes indeed, it looks like something promising.. Oh my gosh, it's The Luck Inn! Yes, they had a room right off the pool and hot-tub area, and swim-suits for sale, too. We were soon alternating between swimming the length of the pool underwater and melting in the hot-tub. Our braveness had paid off, and there was even a pretty sunrise as we departed in the morning. The drive up was increasingly interesting as we made our way through the foothills and forests along the way. The snow was heavily blanketing all the trees; even the deciduous trees were filled with fluff. We spotted a rare beauty - a foothill covered with normally bare trees that were overflowing with snow, with the sun shining on it! When we arrived at Upson Falls on the Potato River we found the river flowing amply in a Winter Wonderland. It was beautiful and peaceful; only the gurgling and splashing of the unique two-tiered falls pierced the silence there. After much enjoyment, we went to see Superior Falls on the Montreal River, near the mouth of the river on Lake Superior. The falls was frozen over, but a nearby overview yielded some great views of the South Shore, which was not frozen over this year. Then we made our way to Ironwood on the border of NE Wisconsin and Michigan's Upper Peninsula, to find a restaurant. After a great meal we realized we still had time for one more location, so we went to the triple-level Gabbro Falls hidden away near The Blackjack Ski Resort. It was also looking quite amazing, so we took a lot of photos before realizing we had to find lodging very quickly as the sun began to set. Holy Smokes! Every motel had turned off their VACANCY sign! Just moments before panic set in, we spied a little teeny motel and went to inquire within. They had a cancellation for 3 rooms; one was already gone, and after we bagged one, the last one went. Our room was the size of a walk-in closet, but clean and complete with a basket of goodies. (To be continued.) |
Photo by Darrel |
Darrel Murdock Northern Wisconsin: We were up with the sun in the morning, eager to get started. We grabbed a couple of hot breakfast sandwiches and drove just two miles to our first stop, Peterson/Interstate Falls on the Montreal River. It looked like no one had been there recently, the paths were snowed over completely. We used the clearing of the trees to guide us half a mile into the forest, stepping in deep snow the entire way. We could hear the rushing of water; the Montreal was kicking today for sure. We entered the clearing at the top of the falls, admiring the rapids pocked with snowy boulders before the drop. There was not any hint of a path to the bottom of the falls, but after making our way through fallen trees and even deeper snow we were able to make it down to the cove. Interstate Falls was cascading wildly, the pines were loaded with snow and the large pool of water at the bottom was dark blue. What a beautiful scene to start our day; and we made sure we got it right before we made our way back to the truck. Our next stop was at Potato River Falls Park, where several waterfalls are featured. The giant ravine has staircases with 100+ steps, which were covered with ice and snow. We used an overlook and full zoom to take pictures of the Lower Falls before tackling the stairs to the Upper Falls, where we had to hang on to the railing to keep from sliding the rest of the way down. The Upper Falls was worth the effort though, a collection of small drops arranged neatly that afforded many full-scene and zoomed-parts photos. Mary declared it another favorite as we filled our cameras with the beauty that draws waterfall hunters from all over the Midwest, despite the fact that it isn't on the map. We were getting tired after the grueling trek back to the truck, but we would have a break before the next stop. We wanted to re-visit Amnicon Falls to see how much it had changed since our December shoot there. It would take a couple hours to get there, enough time for our knees to stop screaming in pain. On the way there we stopped at a South Shore beach and took some cool photos of the wind-blown snow on a frozen part of Lake Superior. Mary noticed a tiny lighthouse across the lake, too. Amnicon's quaint park with the covered bridge was at least as charming with some snow as it had been the first time without. The Upper Falls was intricately laced with ice, the Lower Falls was frozen over and covered with snow; but the dangerous-to-view Snake Pit Falls was my primary target this time. I was thrilled to see it was looking pretty as I positioned myself on an icy slope to capture it. Again we found it hard to leave this scenic, serene Wisconsin State Park; but we still had enough time to stop at Pattison State Park before the sun went down on our final day. Pattison has two major waterfalls: The tallest falls in all three states, Big Manitou Falls; and the twin falls named Little Manitou Falls which is no less impressive to see. We stopped at Little Manitou first, where we climbed all over the boulders at the top of the falls, stood beside it and shot from the overlook, too. It was a lot of fun, without too much effort. Then we drove to the Big Manitou Falls overlook about a mile way to see what we could see. Big Manitou Falls is as skinny as it is tall, and this time it was mostly frozen over and yielded few usable shots, which we gladly took anyway. There was still time for more though, and we considered scaling the 180' ravine, despite the signs forbidding it. We hopped a chain-locked gate and started looking for a way down. We spied a gully that ran from the top of the very steep ravine to the bottom, looked at each other, shrugged our shoulders and began the dangerous descent. We had no rope, the ice on the boulders was thick and slick, with only exposed roots and saplings to clutch onto on the way down. After safely reaching the bottom we declared victory, took some proof shots and then wondered how the hell we were going to make it back up. With tremendous effort we scaled that bad boy though, and shaking with fatigue at the top we declared another victory! We had seen and done it all this trip, as we closed the final chapter of our 2006-2007 In Search of Winter Shootathon. We would not have to travel to see the snow after this, but it sure had been a blast. |
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Bob Murdock In the November-December 2006 Muse, I made note of my mother's 100th birthday (October 29) and said I would create Muse memorial pages in her honor. The web pages are ready, and you can view them here. We will be adding more photographs and remembrances, and we invite your input. Contact us at murmuse@comcast.net. |
as Santa, 1998 Gallery photo |
Nancy Murdock Ralph Meagher’s Death We were saddened to hear of the death of Ralph Meagher, who was the same age as Bob. Not only has my brother Tom lost his best friend, but Hubbardston has lost a revered icon. He was a good guy, always ready to take part in whatever fun was going on, including dressing up as Santa in that overly warm costume for the Howlett Reunion a few years ago, when the theme was “Christmas in July.” We could always count on his presence at weddings and other occasions. It would be hard to think of anyone who could be considered in the same category: always available, always ready to join in whatever was going on, and always amiable. We are including a photo of him in his Santa outfit while the rest of us were comfortable in shorts and bathing suits. He was equally at ease posing with the children or five of us Howlett siblings. His obituary in the Worcester Telegram & Gazette said he was a familiar sight in his Santa outfit, which he would wear for his family and children’s organizations in Worcester County. Ralph had been happily married for 48 years to Muse reader Donald Lytle’s sister Doris, when she died in 1995. They had been very close. That was when he began to say yes to any invitation. “I’m a single guy,” he said to me at Randy and Gloria’s wedding. “I don’t like to sit home alone at night.” Tom sent the following on January 13 after we sent our condolence message. This really says it all! “Thank you for the kind thoughts about Ralph. He truly was a person to illuminate the areas he trod and he did so with no pretensions whatever.” |
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Christel Murdock Hello Beautiful Family! I just wanted to let you all know that I have put a team of my friends together to support the MS Walk here in San Diego, in April. Our team is called Big Love, and while no one really recalls any way they were directly affected by multiple sclerosis, we know there are lots of people every day who can't help but recall it on a moment-by-moment basis and we want to help those people by donating our time and asking our friends and family to donate what they can to support our walk. Click here to access our site. There are links to donate to the team and links to donate to the individuals. Please choose my name to donate under. My personal goal is $100, but our team goal is $500. I don't want to stop at $100, so if you feel like giving, it's definitely to a good cause and all donations are accepted, nothing too large or small (every cent counts). Thanks in advance for your support! |
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