Fort Snelling State Park

from flickr user Elizabeth Nemmers
A nearly perfect spiderweb hangs amongst the thick trees at Fort Snelling State Park south of Minneapolis, MN.

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Belwin Conservancy. Afton, Minnesota

from flickr user Terry MacVey
A sapphire blue sky interspersed with clouds hangs over the slowly changing prairie grass and wild flowers at the Belwin Conservancy in Afton, Minnesota as summer turns to autumn.

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Juvenile Male Wood Duck

from flickr user djsime
This young wood duck was very cooperative for his photo shoot!

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Golden Mushrooms

 from flickr user Ren
While our Spring seems to have been delayed almost indefinitely this year, a sure sign of its steadfastness are mushrooms popping up wherever they find decaying material to feed on. These golden 'shrooms are probably poisonous but they sure are cool to look at.

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Seven Sisters Nature Conservatory - Ashby, MN

from flickr user wannabephotographical
With two very distinct roads captured in this early-evening photo (a gravel road running straight up through the top of the photo and an asphalt highway hugging the curves of the lake's shoreline) this is a great capture of how nature is preserved in Minnesota. Not totally isolated from mankind's influence but still natural in that it isn't road-to-road farmland, these areas are great to explore and photograph.

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Waldo Canyon Fire - Colorado Springs

from flickr user Colorado Scenics
This was taken in the evening of June 26, 2012 the two houses in the foreground are just behind my house [the photographer's]....the fire in the distance are homes that are on fire in Colorado Springs. The fire is in the city of Colorado Springs - a thunderstorm in Denver (70 miles north) send 65 mph winds from the NW, causing the fire to quickly breach a fire defense line on the mountain ridge and it came roaring down into the city with scary speed and destruction. If you have never experienced such a thing....you DON'T want to!!


from flickr user ethan beute

Morning 4 and day 5 of the Waldo Canyon Fire near Colorado Springs. Last night was the worst we've seen by far, as the fire moved beyond the Pike National Forest into neighborhoods like Mountain Shadows in the northwest part of Colorado Springs city limits. The air quality is low and falling, as you can see.

from flickr user Flickr Goot
Small tanker (I believe a Convair CV-580) dropping fire retardant along Rampart Ridge near Queens Canyon fighting the Waldo Canyon Fire...

Taken a few blocks from our house, 30th St., southeast end of Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs, Colorado, looking NNW...

I know that these veer away from the traditional focus on Minnesota but the photos coming out of Colorado Springs of the Waldo Canyon Fire are so striking that I felt I had to share these depictions of nature's fury.

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New Waterfall on Mesaba Ave. - Duluth Flooding

from flickr user jeremiahbrown
With the course of some streams in the Duluth area and the northland region changed forever, this photo of a newly formed waterfall (hopefully only temporary) pouring down on to a sidewalk alongside Mesaba Ave. in Duluth truly shows the destructive nature and raw power that last week's historic rainfall unleashed in the Duluth area and along the north shore of Lake Superior.

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Duluth, MN flooding - Lester River

from flickr user outsideduluth
This brick and stone bridge in Duluth across the Lester River survives as of this photo's capture a few hours ago but is impassable as it stands under water like many areas of Duluth after receiving as much as 8 inches of rain in the past day. The gazebo, though, looks like it could be swept downstream at anytime.

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June 15th 2012 Southern Minnesota Flooding

from flickr user rabidscottsman
Photographed in Stanton Minnesota

Many farm fields were under water due to the heavy rains (8-10 inches of rain) and I'm guessing that the land adjacent to this cattle shed isn't normally a pond -- more likely a farm field.

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Hidden Falls - Nerstrand Big Woods State Park

from flickr user WilmaKayB
A rather unique waterfall at Nerstrand Big Woods State Park east of Faribault, MN. I call it unique because it's wide, flat and short. I might have to put this one on my weekend list and check out what this park has to offer.

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Dandelion Sunset

from flickr user djsime
As the orange ball of the sun sets behind the dandelion.

Winding Path

from flickr user blue corgi

A shot from the Rice Creek Open Space. They recently burned off the prairie grasses to rejuvenate them and to eliminate unwanted weed species. The hummocky nature of the ground beneath the grasses is clearly visible her, along with a new growth of grass blades poking upwards.

Taken a little before sunset; the sun is low in the sky and just out of the image to the right.

Wild Wolf Pups

from flickr user puckster55pics
If this photo of oh-so-cuddly wild wolf pups doesn't make your heart melt then you must be dead inside -- or deathly afraid of even cute, fuzzy, cuddly little wild wolf pups.