Uphill into Shoreview

Yet another nice day.

As I suspected it is now possible to ride in Shoreview.  I followed the traditional route out towards Lake Vadnais today, north on Hamline then uphill into Shoreview.

Those are mostly oak trees.

I rode up that hill and back around past the water tower.  I detoured down towards the freeway to duck onto the path through the Grass Lake park.  I was last here in conditions like today back in May.

I tried to ride through there again after the big storms of July and this thing was under water nearly to the top of the tunnel.

It was a great day for wildlife.  The auto focus continues to mostly defeat me on any photo or an object more than five or six feet away but the great blue heron was posing nicely and I ended up with something acceptable.

Here's a tree in the Snail Lake marsh part of the park.  I remember trying to photograph this thing last year and never being there on a day when there was decent lighting.  Eventually I think I published a photo of a leafless November tree.  Today it still isn't quite to peak but it is starting to show the color that made me want to include it last year.

So I got out to Highway 96 in pretty much the traditional manner.  This allows for entering the Sucker Vadnais corridor from the north end.  This means that today I arrived at Sucker Lake before Vadnais.  This allowed me to discover swans at the first lake I visited.

I wish they would come over a little closer and let us all get a decent look.  Today was not a day to head down the dirt path around the lake to get closer.  The archery deer hunt is on out there and the park is closed except for the paved path.

I past some guys in camouflage carrying bows in the Vadnais Parking lot.  The far side of the lake has lots and lots of good habitat.

The scaup are still at Vadnais and their numbers are increasing.  Today there were five or six groups, or which this was the largest.

Just a little bit farther down the shore there was another group.

And then the biggest surprise, visible from the lower parking lot, swans at Lake Vadnais.  Although *sigh* they stay on the far side of the lake down here too.  There is another pod of scaup out there as well, just to the right of the tree.

It was a great day for wildlife sighting, the mother and the two fawns were out browsing today at Lake Owasso.

It's kind of a find Waldo thing, but all three of them are there.