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Tweedledum,
the resident ruffed grouse |
Star
trails in the Canada sky |
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Frosty
leaves on Saturday morning |
Frosty
Suzuki on Saturday morning |
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Frosty
Couz on Saturday morning |
Linda, Tami and Tracy on the deck... |
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Wade
and Couz |
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A
spunky little red squirrel, daring the photographer
to get closer |
Actually
it was probably just curious
if I had food to offer... |
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This
was near the origin of the infamous Ham Lake Fire
of 2007 more
info |
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Tracy in front of my friends... |
Tami posing well! |
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Tracy looking over a recent washout from all the October
rain. This was the start of our first hike |
Some
new growth on the forest road |
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Not
very many trees were left standing after the fire
swept over this landscape |
Ben's
big mitt to show the scale of this fresh wolf track
on the forest road |
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A
rainbow of moss and lichen |
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Standing
on the ridge where the fire swept everything rather
clean |
Many
of the trees are scorched but still standing |
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Tami's
formerly clean jeans full of charcoal from negotiating
all the fire debris up the ridge |
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A
small bush reduced to charcoal stalagmites poking
up from the ground |
Ben
found this cool rock in the
middle of the burn |
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The
photographer told him to pose like this... |
Steve
and Ben washing their hands and faces to rid themselves
of all the charcoal |
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Lots
of rock cairns along the trail |
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Uprooted
pine with burnt roots |
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Magnetic
rock is a three-story tall magnetite boulder dropped
on a ridge by a two-mile thick glacier thousands of
years ago. Magnets stick to it, and compasses spin
when you are in front of it. Due to the length of
this trail, this hike has a moderate rating. |
Note
the man at the lower right,
behind the rock to give it some scale |
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Note
how everyone is looking in a different direction,
in their own little Zen! |
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Special
thanks to everyone, but especially Steve & Linda
for another wonderful weekend up in God's Country!
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