Single lake

Violets from Single Lake

Leatherleaf in Bloom

Leatherleaf in bloom compare with May 5 picture.

Blueberrys

Lots of blooms on the blueberries, I hope the frost doesn't get them. Great crop last year, best I'd seen.

Spring is starting to shape up

Finally spring is starting to happen, leaves are opening, pollen is flowing out of the balsam firs, and spring flowers are appearing. This AM a light frost and -2C. Out to Helund Marsh and Single Lake to take some pics. The first a cone on the moss and moss with fruiting bodies.
This is the first post I have done using the Firefox browser. I have been having so much trouble posting with IE 9 I couldn't stand it any longer. I hope this post works.

New forestry machine in the bush

It may not be new but the first time I have seen them. The harvesters and skidders are working on the Bouche Rd about 4km north of the highway cutting west towards Serpentine Lake. These pictures are of the skidder loader that is picking up the logs from the harvester. Fewer roads are needed as these load and carry to existing roads at this cut.

Back from trip to Huntsville, Parry Sound area

Just in time to see the Trilliums blooming east of Sprucedale. Ontario's provincial flower.

An other pic from yesterday

At the Edith Lake rapids the water is flowing very quickly, all the rocks are under water around the boat launch. I walked up the river north towards Burke Lake a short distance to take this picture. Great to put the canoe in Burke and shoot the river.

Couple more HDR pics

Up the Edith Lake Rd today, lots of water coming down the river. Water levels in Edith very high. Went down the trail towards Obushkong Lake where I took some pictures last fall. Great area with lots of forest cover and ground cover all mosses Labrador tea, and Snowberry.

Something new

Blogger had some problems and they lost the last post on me. I'm going to try and recreate it. It deals with HDR photos. This is when you take three pictures using a tripod of the same thing with different shutter speeds. One is a normal picture, the second is shot with a slower shutter speed to show whats in the shadows and the last on a higher shutter speed to develop for the hilites. Combining the three together to get a dynamic range from the shadows to hilites all exposed correctly. You will notice under the rock you can see most of whats underneath.
I have also lost all the comments on this blog too.

Out ATVing again

Up the Bouche Rd and across the trail north of Firth Lake, south down the Holwood Rd. east on highway 560 to Elkhorn Rd and south as far as the road into Margueratt lake and into the cut to the east. The bridge has been taken out where Margueratt Lake flows into Elkhorn. Lots of good birch wood slash going to waste again. Finally back up to the highway and home. Good trip even better weather. The pictures are from Firth Creek north of Firth Lake

It's official Ice Out May 8, 2011

Weather has changed a lot and fast, dandelions coming up, grass greening, mosquitoes and lots of birds have returned. The ice was declared gone yesterday from the North Arm the official sign of ice out.

Fishermen are out on the lake

Yes, fishing is going on in between the ice flows, today most of the lake south of the town has open water the bays still have ice and the North Arm is all ice. Another couple of warm days and some wind will make a big difference.
Up the Bouche Rd. to visit a swamp before the bugs get to bad. Finally found something that is starting to bud. Around most of the swamps and bogs Leatherleaf (Chamaedaphne calyculata) grows like a stunted shrub and is very common. These will soon be bell-shaped white flowers hanging down in a row.

Clip of John Deere tree harvester

This is a clip of a tree harvester that does it all cuts the tree down, dlimbs it and cuts to size all with one machine and that is the end that does it all

Tonights ice

Just back from a couple of pics of tonights ice. And one from yesterday of the crack across the bay.

ATV trip on Sunday

Paul and I headed out on our first trip Sunday afternoon down winter cutting road to Stumpy Lake. The very first part of the trip is on the old existing road and from there its just carved out of the landscape. Rocky high areas and swampy low areas with rocks and trees holding the road up in the really wet spots. In some spots we made it through because the ground was still frozen. We made it down to the end but the trail ends before the lake we walked the rest of the way in to a small bay at the north end of Stumpy. The first pic is part of the trail through two outcrops and the other a sensitive part of the boreal forest.

Lake starting to break up

The ice on the lake this AM is all black, with a crack from Outlook Point to Auld Reekie with the wind blowing hard from the south you could just about paddle across the bay. High winds will start to chew up the ice now, tomorrow is supposed to be sunny and warm.

Pics are from MacIntosh Creek with the creek starting to show a lot better. The tree looks like has probably been hit by a Pileated Woodpecker looking for grubs. This woodpecker is the largest in Ontario.