Minnesota's North Shore: Waterfalls Galore

I spent most of this summer in Minnesota (more on that soon). Before we got started on our fieldwork, we went up to the north shore of Lake Superior, hiked in a couple of parks, and saw an astounding number of waterfalls for a single day trip.

We stopped first at Gooseberry Falls.

We proceeded northwards along the shore for a short ways to Tettegouche State Park and saw the appropriately named High Falls. At 70 feet (21 m) tall, it's the tallest waterfall that is entirely within Minnesota (the 120-foot High Falls in Grand Portage State Park is, like Niagara Falls, right on the US-Canada border).

Crossing the river right above the falls.

Looking upstream of High Falls.

In addition to the beautiful waterfalls, our visits to both parks involved nice walks through the woods, complete with a variety of wildflowers.

These pretty trees were in both parks. I think they are downy serviceberries (Amelanchier arborea).

These caught my attention immediately, although it was too early in the season for any of them to have fruit.

Woodland Strawberry, Fragaria vesca

Clearly a violet. I think a sand violet (Viola adunca).

Downy Yellow Violet, Viola pubescens

Wood Anemone, Anemone quinquefolia

Marsh Marigold, Caltha palustris.

Close up of the marsh marigold.

And I couldn't resist documenting this sign from Gooeseberry Falls.

This isn't the clearest photo, as it was taken from the car as we drove back, but among the trees you can see the Split Rock Lighthouse. Built in 1910, the lighthouse is no longer in operation (due to coast guard regulations), but the light is lit once a year on November 10th to commemorate the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald, the largest ship to have sunk the the Great Lakes (and, of course, the subject of the Gordan Lighfoot song).

On the way back we stopped for some delicious pie. We had noticed the signs for "Betty's Pies: World Famous Since 1956". How could we resist? Right across the street there was a nice viewpoint along the shoreline. The fog had been much heavier earlier in the day and we hadn't seen much of the lake until that point. I'm not used to lakes that look like oceans, but I certainly liked it!

Sedona: Red Rocks, Greenery, and Mule Deer

On the way back from the Grand Canyon, we stopped in Sedona for lunch and a walk around Red Rock State Park. Here are some glimpses of the canyon landscape as you drive south into Sedona.

This is one of the more spectacular views from the main street of town itself.

Red Rock State Park is relatively small, but a nice oasis of greenery (something I miss a lot in the desert). It was so nice to walk under sycamores, box elders, and alders, as well as to hear the sound of the creek running through the park.

Sycamores are some of my favorite trees. Given their dependence on water, they aren't as common in Arizona as on the
east coast, but right along riverbeds you sometimes find the Arizona Sycamore, Platanus wrightii.

Several trails cross Oak Creek as it passes through the park.

We saw lots of these whiptails. My best guess on species is that it's a plateau striped whiptail (Aspidoscelis velox).

The highlight of the day was definitely the family of mule deer that we saw grazing in the woods, especially the adorable young fawn with comically large ears.

We also saw what I think was probably a cardinal--although it was difficult to tell, sitting at the very top of a sycamore--and several beautiful damselflies.

Although far from an all-inclusive survey, here are many of the tree species that we saw as we walked through the park. While I feel pretty confident in the genus-level identification, some of the species are just my best guesses, especially based on known ranges.

Boxelder (Acer negundo), a species of maple with compound leaves that look like a set of three squished and elongated red maple leaves.

Velvet or Arizona Ash (Fraxinus velutina).

Arizona Alder (Alnus oblongifolia).

This oak had holly-like leaves, but the typical oak catkins. I think it is probably a turbinella oak (Quercus turbinella).

The in-bloom New Mexico locust (Robinia neomexicana).

Whitethorn acacia (Vachellia constricta).

Velvet mesquite (Prosopis velutina).

Arizona cypress (Cupressus arizonica).

There were also grape vines everywhere, presumably Arizona grape (Vitis arizonica).

One of my favorite new-to-me species was the surprisingly pretty white horsenettle or silverleaf nightshade (Solanum elaeagnifolium), which is closely related to tomatoes, potatoes, and eggplant (all genus Solanum). There were still bright yellow berries on some of the plants.

And here are two final views of Sedona's distinctive red rocks from the parking lot.