Friday
These pictures are from friday. Nothing especially interesting was going on before everyone filtered in, so I took a number of shots of the areas right around the camp. The camp was inside a steep valley, which gave some great scenery.
There was a nice stream running behind the main cabin that I took a few more pictures of on Saturday. Very soothing to listen to. We spent a good part of Friday and Saturday night by a fire listening to it.
Saturday
These are just some generic shots of the camp. The trees were changing quite nicely, and they covered the cliffs. I took a hike through them. I think next time I'll wait until it's dried a bit (it rained heavily that morning).
I took these while I was working my way up the trails leading up the cliffs. They were kind of muddy and unstable in spots, so I didn't quite make it to the top. I figured it'd be best not to slip and injure myself. I'll make it to the top next year.;)
Later in the day on Saturday I took a walk along the stream that ran behind the camp. It was raining at first, so I got a picture of the water with the droplets hitting it. Very pretty.
The river runs along the cliff face that forms the south wall of the valley we were in. With all the rain that morning, things were pretty wet. The only other person I saw while I was out there was on a trail on top of these hills. It was very quiet and peaceful. I need to get out to the parks more often.
On the left I've got a picture of the cliffs where the river broadens a bit. On the right is a spot a little upstream, where alot of grass has worked its way in and kept the sandbars from eroding away.
Things are still growing by the riverbed, but most of the trees have lost alot of their leaves by this point. There were alot of fallen trees out here, too. Surprisingly, I didn't see many insects. They must've gone whereever bugs go in the winter.
Saturday, a number of us went out to look for a Pioneer cemetary that we'd heard about. We swung by both it and another one. The pioneer one was where the founder of Minnesota's Department of Natural Resources was buried. I'm not too keen on taking pictures of cemetaries (never know what you'll pick up), but I did take pictures of a number of the hills nearby. It was overcast, so the leaves weren't especially bright, but you can still see them turning.
We did a little more wandering, saw some pictures of Beaver (the town that USED to be near those cemetaries, but washed away), and I took a few more pictures. By the time we made it back, the sun was setting, which let me get a pretty good picture of the leaves changing. It felt very much like fall at that point.
Sunday
Not much happened Sunday. I did get the great picture above while helping someone move out of their cabin. The sun had barely made it over the cliffs and treeline. It's amazing the change a day will bring; we barely saw the sun Saturday, and it was out in force Sunday.
On the way home, I stopped a couple of times and took more pictures of the park. I've got to make some time to swing by here again when I'm in Rochester for Supercon, I think. It should be gorgeous in winter. Maybe I'll take the stairs to get to the top of the cliffs next time. ;)
