Split Rock Lighthouse - Birch Bark

 

Split Rock Lighthouse - Neighborhood Environs

A couple of pics from the lighthouse grounds, where at one time a small neighborhood developed for those working at the facility.

Split Rock Lighthouse - Window Shot Bookmark

Very much like the earth tones captured here, with the sunlight coming through; reminded me of this post from Austin.  Being inside a lighthouse, this pic was taken as we wound our way up the circular staircase toward the light itself at the top.

Split Rock Lighthouse - Window Shots

In many places in this blog I've named "window shots" those pictures that are framed somehow, usually with a dark foreground of foliage with a naturally lit subject in the middle.  These, however, are window shots in the most literal sense in that they are pictures of actual windows.  And in this case, not only do we have a real window, but focus shifting is used in the pic below. These were snapped from inside the lighthouse once we began the tour.

Split Rock Lighthouse - Iconic View with Bookmark

Split Rock Lighthouse - First Views

When you're as close as we were to Split Rock Lighthouse you have to spend some time there.  And we did just that on the afternoon of Sunday, October 3rd.  Not a whole lot of keepers, as the mid-afternoon sun was out full, but managed a few blogworthy pics, to be posted in the next few days.

The shot above was captured from inside the visitor center; the one below was extracted from the same frame, and a similar view from just outside is at bottom:

Oberg Loop - Shoe Cleaning Station

And finally something I hadn't seen before, a place to clean your shoes/boots before entering the trail.  As stated in the sign this was to prevent the import of invasive species, which makes sense.

Closer view of the business end below.  Had to bring the shadows up quite a bit due to the full afternoon sun:

So this'll end the Oberg series - think we'll go to Split Rock next...

Oberg Loop - White Bloom

Aside from the fall colors there was other beauty to be captured, to be sure.  Would have spent more time with these kinds of shots, but had to keep up with the group...

Oberg Loop - Oberg Trail

Here we have Oberg Lake, one of the star attractions of the Oberg Loop Trail.  A week later the colors would have been more brilliant, but we were happy with what we saw at about sixty percent.

2-shot panorama of same below, from a slightly higher vantage point a little further down the trail.:

Oberg Loop - Our Retirement Home

Our slightly higher elevation provided views of Lake Superior once in a while, such as this one.  And it just so happens that we spied my dream retirement home (emphasis on singular my, as the wife wanted nothing to do with it...will work on that in the future).

An acquaintance from work once asked to see the range of zoom that my vacation lens is capable of.  Here is an example, as the shot above was zoomed all the way out at 28mm, and the shot below was taken from the exact same spot at 300mm: