Scenic State Park

Over the weekend of June 21st, Matt and I went up north to do some camping at Scenic State Park.  This is our first camping trip in 2 years!

 

The weather Friday night was grim.  We arrived at dusk with enough light remaining to set up our tent. Shortly after we climbed into our tent, it began pouring rain. The gray skies still remained Saturday morning as seen in the above photo.  As I stood still to snap this, a cloud of mosquitoes were circling me, trying to find a spot to land on me and bite. 

A small swampy area along a wooded trail I walked briefly Saturday morning.  The mosquitoes were so bad here that I had to turn around and head back to camp.

I spotted this wild Orchid growing in a brushy area back at the campground.

A wooden path lines part of the shoreline of Coon Lake, where there are several docks for boating.

The shoreline of Coon Lake with boats, canoes, and kayaks to rent.  :)

Later Saturday morning at our campsite, #38.  Finally, the sun comes out!!

Matt attending to a hearty breakfast of bacon, eggs, pancakes, and green tea.  Yum! (for me, bacon excluded, ha)

Saturday was a calm day with perfect conditions for canoeing.  We rented one of the canoes for the day.  Once out on Coon Lake, we came to an area with several lily pads; several of them were budded.

A flower bud soon to open.

 

Matt, steering the canoe in back.

 

We had some great luck spotting some loons!  Luckily, with Matt's paddling skills and my zoom lens, I was able to catch some shots of this single loon out on the water.

This guy was fishing for lunch, so in a matter of moments, he dove under water and disappeared from our view.

The classic canoe on the lake photo.

 

Back at camp for some lunch before going out to canoe again.

Camping selfies.  :)

Back out for more canoeing and exploring! Zaiser Island rests near a channel that connects Coon Lake with Sandwick Lake. Coon and Sanwick lakes were water depressions formed from Glacier Lake Agassiz.

Zaiser Island on Sandwick Lake

Reflection of pine

Old pine on Zaiser Island

A group of guys fishing from the lake from canoe around the channel between lakes.

Matt taking in the view.

 

I love to canoe!

Back out on Coon Lake, to look for more loons. :)

Chase Point; viewed from the water.

It looked like storms were rolling in again for Saturday night.  Luckily, they all went to the south of us and we had a dry evening.

Another view of this lone pine at Chase Point.

 

We found more loons!  With Matt paddling madly towards this lone loon, I was able to photograph this handsome bird at perfect timing, as it took a moment to stretch on the water.

 

A great opportunity to catch this in motion!

Heading back towards shore for the night, we came across another pair of loons that we followed enough to get a few photos of them as well.

Was a bit camera happy here; I'd never had a chance to get that close to these beautiful birds before!

Our canoe outing proved to be a very fun time thanks to these guys and the beautiful day!

My favorite shot; Matt had us about 10 feet away!

 

Sunday morning we took our chances at trying to fight the mosquitos again to do some hiking before heading back home. We came across this huge snapping turtle in the middle of the trail.  It appeared like it was trying to dig a hole. Look at the claws on that thing!!

 

We took a short 1.2 mile trail that lead us to the park's old fire tower.  The mosquitos and horseflies were bad, but we made sure we were heavily coated in bug spray.

The fire tower.  Currently, the tower is pending restoration, so no climbing was allowed.  This was the closest we could get, due to it being gated off.

 

Someday this may be fun to climb!