John Beargrease 2009

The John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon commemorates the life of John Beargrease, the son of a Chippewa chief who delivered mail by dog sled along Lake Superior’s rugged North Shore in the late 19th century. John Beargrease’s weekly deliveries along the North Shore played a pivotal role providing a lifeline for communities and commerce.
This year, 36 teams ran in the sled dog marathon which consisted of two races, a mid distance and the full marathon covering nearly 400 miles of beautiful wilderness.

I photographed the dog teams as they streamed by in the fresh cold 0 deg F air. The silence of the deep woods was broken only by the heavy breathing of the dogs and the swoosh of the sled on the hard packed trail. The dogs seamed happy and determined as they pulled in unison on their harnesses and the mushers politely greeted me with a wave and a thanks. To these folks, winter in the Northland is a season to be enjoyed.

Pound for pound, sled dogs are the most powerful draft animals on earth. They can easily match a team of horses weighing more than twice as much. Due to a sled dogs incredible endurance, a team can average 8-12 MPH over hundreds of miles, a testimony to year around training and quality care and traits bred in over years of experience.

View More Race Pictures

Last Boats In

The Duluth shipping season came to a end on January 16th when the Coast Guard Cutter Alder assisted two of the largest boats working on Lake Superior into port. The Edwin H. Gott and the Edgar B. Speer, both 1000 ft+ lakers came through the Duluth Ship Canal for winter layup. Both boats where delayed by heavy ice on the eastern end of the lake and struggled through thick ice in the Duluth Harbor.






Extreme winter weather had an icy grip on the lake for the past six weeks and with schools closed for the past two days due to -22F below temperatures and -50F wind chills, there was no arguing that it was time to lay up the boats for a few months.








While I went through three camera batteries in the cold and the tip of my nose got frostbit by holding it against the back of my frozen camera while taking pictures, there was no denying the beauty of a winter day on the lake.

View a slideshow of the arrival

"Perigee Moon" at Split Rock

One night out of the year the moon rises at an azimuth where it comes up directly behind Split Rock Lighthouse making for a spectacular sight. This was the night and crystal clear skies allowed for a breathtaking view.

This years moonrise was especially significant because it was a "perigee Moon". A "perigee Moon" occurs when the moons elliptical orbit around the earth actually brings it 30,000 miles closer to the earth, making it appear 30% brighter than the other moon rises later in the year.








I arrived at Split Rock State Park about 15 minutes before the moonrise and stuck my tripod into the snow waiting for the first glimpse of the moon. As the sun slowly set in the west, shades of blue and magenta began filling the eastern sky. Waiting for the moon to creep up the back side of the cliff, I chatted with a few other photographers who had arrived a few minutes before me. It wasn't long before the moon slide out from the behind the lighthouse to make its appearance before continuing on its celestial orbit.

The moon made an awesome display of God's glory as it drifted behind the lighthouse. As I watched the event through my camera lens, I couldn't help thinking about the clockwork inside the lighthouse and how the keepers were required to wind the mechanism every few hours to keep the giant lens rotating precisely so that the beam would flash across Lake Superior every 10 seconds.
God wound his universe up when He created the stars, planets, and moons. Tonight's moonrise was a view of the universal clockwork that men have stood in awe and wonder at for thousands of years. It was a good evening to watch the heavens slowly turn and a good evening to be alive.

You made the moon to mark the seasons, and the sun knows when to set. Psa 104:19

Winter Green

Winter in the Northland is a beautiful and peaceful time of year. Most birds fly south to warmer climates, many mammals hibernate, and trees drop their leaves and go dormant for the season. However, there is one special type of tree that thrives in the cold and even keeps its green leaves, the amazing evergreen. The evergreen mixes its multi shades of cool green with the azure blue sky and the white snow, to complete the winter landscape.


Evergreens have special leaves designed to survive winter. We call them needles, but they are like simple leaves rolled up and covered with heavy wax. They have a thick skin with an anti-freeze like fluid inside the leaf cells. Their small surface area slows the natural evaporation process and allows the heavy snow of winter to easily sift through its branches before causing damage to tree limbs. Also, these leaves don't respond to the environmental clues that tell them to go dormant, the trees keep on producing chlorophyll. They use the green pigment to capture the Sun's energy and convert it to chemical energy via photosynthesis. That's why evergreens stay green. Throughout the winter the evergreen also has the ability to turn photosynthesis on and off depending on the temperature.

On cold winter mornings, I wouldn't mind some of that antifreeze sap flowing in my fingers.

What an amazing design, only God could have crafted such a tree, one that defies the cold of winter to declare his glory, even in the cold forests of the Northland.





I will plant the cedar in the wilderness, the acacia tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree. I will set the fir tree in the desert, and the pine, and the box tree together;
so that they may see, and know, and look on, and understand together, that the hand of God has created it. Isa 41:19