This week, Jen H asks us to share something that glows. She references one possibility that photographers refer to as the Golden Hour. She writes, “The Golden Hour is the time of day before sunset or after sunrise, when the light is soft and glowing. It makes for absolutely beautiful photos.” You can read her entire challenge post here.  My opening image, captured moments before sunrise, made the trees and even the fence and grasses nearby appear to be glowing or even on fire from the light of the oncoming day. The heavy clouds over the park meant that the time of magical sunrise photos would be measured in moments. In those few moments, however, I captured a few photos that featured a glowing sky. Click on an image below to enlarge it and to scroll through the gallery (if your browser supports that functionality.)

John Steiner

A short few weeks ago, I posted a gallery of photos from the Turtle River State Park, just 20 miles or so west of Grand Forks, North Dakota. You can review that gallery here. This trip was an overnighter as we wanted to catch both a sunrise and sunset in the park. As it turned out, the evening was cloudy, so no sunset pics graced that gallery. However, the next morning we were up early and did capture some sunrise images to share with you. The sunrise was short lived as clouds moved in quickly. No matter, we spent some time hiking and I’ve put together a dozen photos to share, some featuring the sunrise, some featuring sights along our hike.

As with many of the plains state parks, there is lots of prairie grassland punctuated by a few rolling hills and a small forest of trees, especially along the river banks. The opening photo demonstrates the grassland and rolling hills, while the photo above should give the viewer clear indication that we are approaching the river.

These photos were taken in mid-September. The leaves were just starting to turn, so the unmistakable tone of these images is that of a prairie autumn. If you are interested in learning more about the park, check out my previous post (linked above) and check their website. The gallery of images below features photos of our morning in the park. Click on an image to enlarge it and to scroll through the gallery.

John Steiner

About 20 miles east of Grand Forks, North Dakota on Highway 2, a pleasant side trip will find you at North Dakota’s Turtle River State Park. Built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in the 1930s, the park attracts visitors all the year around. The river is stocked with trout and anyone of the child persuasion can even borrow fishing gear from the park office to try their hand at catching a rainbow, no license required.

Lynn and I visited the park during mid-September. The weather was quite comfortable, and since it was early fall, there was only a hint of the fall colors to come in the next few weeks.  During our stay, we hiked several trails. The park is more popular in the summer, and even in the winter when there are over seven miles of groomed trails for cross country skiing and snowshoe enthusiasts. On this day, however, we only met a few hikers along the trails we hiked.

As we walked from the parking lot and into one of the more forested trails, we quickly learned that the mosquitos can be voracious. They swarmed around and landed on us mercilessly. But we came prepared. Scampering back to the car, I found our can of Deep Woods Off! We soaked our pants and hoodies and our exposed flesh.

I must say I’m a big fan of Deet, the active ingredient of this repellent. It was fascinating to watch the little buggers swarm around us like the mud and dust that swirls around Charles Schultz’s character, Pig Pen. They followed us like a cloud, but it was like the repellent was an invisible shield. We never saw one penetrate the “force field.”

I have no relationship with Off! or any of the company’s other products. I just know that with West Nile and other nasty mosquito borne illnesses, I won’t venture out without it. There may be other repellents that work as well, but it ain’t broke, so I ain’t fixin’ it. We got back to the hotel in Grand Forks that night with zero mosquito bites.

The New Deal, President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s economic answer to the Great Depression created the CCC. The Corps put  many of the nation’s unemployed to work on construction projects. Many such projects were underway in North Dakota. At Larimore, ND, a contingent of 185 young men started construction on the park in 1935. By the time they were done in the early 1940s, the Woodland Lodge was the park’s featured building.

Our hikes that day included trips along several trails that provided several views of the river. We planned to take some sunset photos, but by later in the day, an overcast came in, essentially shutting off any chance of gathering any decent sunset photos. No matter, our plan was to head back to the park the next morning to capture a sunrise in the park. Those images will be featured in an upcoming post. In the meantime, please review the gallery of images below. Click on an image to enlarge it and to scroll through the gallery.

John Steiner

Last weekend we spent some time exploring Turtle River State Park and started getting back into hiking mode. Our usual hike in Arizona is in the neighborhood of four miles and there are few hiking trails near us in Fargo. In two days, we hiked almost every trail in the state park and covered just over eight miles. We are ready to hit the trails in Arizona!

About the photo: We awoke early Sunday morning as I wanted to capture some sunrise photos from within the park. I will have a gallery of images from the two-day trip in a future post, but here’s a glimpse from my smart phone. The rule for Cellpic Sunday is simple. The image must be captured and edited on a mobile device. This shot was taken on a Samsung S7, edited on an iPad.

John Steiner