The view of the river farther into Porcupine Mountain State Park isn’t bad either.

Seeing the haze in the air while standing on the bluff, the scenery reminded me of the Smokey Mountains.

Taken at Porcupine Mountain State Park, in Upper Michigan.

Hiking trails run alongside the falls (and even over a bridge in one spot).

Walking through the woods, watching the waterfalls and hearing the constant sound of water crashing on the rocks, can be quite serene.

Once in a while, I was lucky enough to see rainbows in the fall’s mist.

It was a beautiful day, with a wonderfully cool breeze coming off the lake. I felt as if the lake were welcoming me back. I hadn’t seen Lake Superior in at least six years. It was so good to be walking along its shore again.

It’s amazing how the terrain of the coast can look so different as you walk along. Some areas have an almost-white sandy beach.

Others are full of rough jagged rocks.

Other areas have smooth rocks, worn down by years and years of Superior’s waves.

There’s also a lot of driftwood.

Since the shore along the park faces north west, it’s a perfect spot to watch the sun go down.

As I got within a few miles of the campground I began to see trees down — a lot of them. Some trees were covering parts of the road. The closer I got to camp, the more I felt like I was driving into a war zone. It was a few hours after dark and seeing all the storm damage illuminated by the remaining lighting that was happening made it just a little creepy.

The major winds that hit the area did quite a bit of damage.

The tree that came down closest to my campsite (above and below) was about 15 inches in diameter at the breaking point!

Luckily, no one in my campground got hurt. Plastic parts that held the poles of my screen tent broke, and some of the screening tore, but with all the trees that came down I felt lucky my other tent was still standing and I had a dry place to sleep for the night.

Taken in Wisconsin’s Northern Highland American Legion State Forest.

When I was camping last week, I wasn’t on the right side of the lake for watching the sun set. But the sky still offered some beautiful scenes during that time of day.

It makes me think a person should pay closer attention to the sky at dusk, even if you can’t see the sun brilliantly setting.

One of my favorite things about northern Wisconsin (where I just returned from camping) are the common loons that spend the summers there.

They’re beautiful and kind of elusive. They don’t like to get close to humans at all. But I was armed with a new telephoto lens I bought several months ago, and was determined to get some decent shots.

The haunting call the loon makes at night is probably the biggest reason I like them so much. There is nothing quite like laying in your sleeping bag and hearing the loons wail as you’re drifting off to sleep.

I mentioned the loons being a bit elusive. Even with my telephoto zoom all the way out to 300mm, I did crop all the photos here (except one). This next picture…

was cropped from the one below, which is about the closest I was able to get to the loons I saw last week.

Occasionally, if you’re patient and watch them long enough, you may be able to see the loons come out of the water a bit to stretch their wings.

Some trees always seem to be reaching higher. Over the years they continue to strive for heights not yet attained. They wait patiently through cold winters, and resume their hard work again in spring — always keeping their focus on that goal of growing bigger.

The next time I think giving up would be easy but not the best choice, I’m going to remember this tree.