“The art of travel lies in the willingness to deviate from your plans and embrace spontaneity.” (author unknown)
It is unplanned moments that have shaped some of our most treasured travel memories: a harrowing plane ride through the jungles of Guatemala when a military coup shut down the airport,
An unexpected and delightful lunch with Don and Virginia, a charming couple in the tiny Canadian village of Waldron, Saskatchewan.
In February 2022, we spent a month in northern Minnesota exploring the Sax-Zim Bog. The Bog is famous for its winter birds, especially great gray owls, and we had a fantastic time.
We had so much fun that we added a week in the Bog onto our way home from Canada in January 2023. Although that week wasn’t quite as productive as the year before, we enjoyed our stay in a cozy two-bedroom Airbnb conveniently located in the nearby town of Hibbing.
You can find the listing here:
When we mapped out our travel itinerary for 2024, we planned a week in Mobile, AL for Mardi Gras. But at the last minute, TG noticed that the Airbnb in Hibbing was available for February. We jumped at the chance to revisit the Bog, canceled our Mobile reservation, and eight days after swimming with the manatees in Crystal River, we were on our way north to Minnesota.
TG wrote the following at the end of Day 3 in the Bog:
“We cleared everything off JET’s wish list today. Yesterday was the northern hawk owl.
Today it was a twofer – a pine marten and an ermine, a critter we had not seen on previous trips because there was too much snow. The pressure is off with a month to go!”
Going forward, we would simply take what the road gave us.
Speaking of which, many were in terrible condition. There was little snow on the ground and there had been multiple freezes/thaws over the winter months. The roads were full of deep ruts and potholes.
Ditches, usually full of snow this time of year, were empty, revealing just how deep they were.
So, we limited ourselves to the best roads and were rewarded with a close-up photo op of the most magnificent snowy owl we had ever seen on our fifth full day in the Bog.
Wow! A pine marten,
An ermine, daily sightings of the northern hawk and snowy owl
And several common winter birds … we finished our first week thrilled with all that we had been able to see.
We started week two with a new wish list: a snowshoe hare, a great gray owl, and a barred owl. Someone recommended a likely spot for snowshoes, so we headed in that direction after a quick breakfast at Wilbert Café.
We were greeted with a cacophony of barking dogs as soon as we got out of the car. “What the heck?” we asked each other. Although we saw plenty of tracks, the bunnies proved elusive, so finally I told TG “I’m walking up the hill to see what all that barking is about.”
I had barely reached the edge of the property when a woman came running out, motioning me to move to the opposite side of the road. “They’re coming, they’re coming,” she cried. And just then, a pack of 15 Siberian huskies came around the corner, running at full speed in front of an ATV. Mush! Mush!
The woman told us to hang around if we wanted more photos, as they would be back soon, so TG waited at the end of the driveway while she and I searched for bunny tracks in the snow.
The road did not give us a snowshoe hare that day, but we did spend a wonderful morning with Tim and Amy, chatting about their huskies, dog racing in Minnesota, and the lack of snow this year.
The next day, we searched for a snowshoe again, but instead, the road gave us a beautiful little red fox, white-tailed deer peacefully grazing in a golden field,
And the snowy owl in a gnarly old tree against a dramatic sky.
We switched gears on Monday to run an errand in a nearby town and were rewarded with four bald eagles on the drive, one flying directly over our car.
Later that afternoon, we spent a couple of hours photographing the TTBs (tiny twitchy birds) that visit Mary Lou’s.
Mary Lou is a resident of the Bog and has turned her yard into a giant bird feeder.
She welcomes birders to watch – and photograph – all the birds that visit the multiple feeding stations she’s staged around her property, much to the chagrin of the neighbor across the street.
And then, just before we drove home that evening, we found our snowshoe hare.
The next day, we had a minor car issue, and we weren’t sure we’d make it to the Bog. But the good folks at O’Reilly Auto Parts had us ready to go in no time. We spent a few minutes with the snowy before heading to Admiral Road, where someone had spied a great gray owl on the prior evening.
We were almost there when the ping came through on the Telegram App: “GGOW at Admiral Road feeders.” We joined a caravan of cars and along with a group of quiet and respectful observers,
We were lucky enough to spy him just after sunset.
We had to push our cameras to the limit. But considering how rare great gray sightings were this year and how dark it was when we saw this beauty, we were both thrilled with what we captured.
As we checked things off our wish list, we began to think about pointing ourselves towards home a little earlier than we had initially planned. The lack of snow meant birds did not have to visit the feeders to find food, and sightings of typically plentiful winter birds were rare. Temps whiplashed from the 50s one day to below zero a few days later!
Trees were budding … in Northern Minnesota … in February!
And fields usually covered with snow were bare.
This gave us plenty of sightings of rough-legged hawks and northern harriers, but the great grays did not need to hunt along the roads.
It took a lot of early morning and dusk drives to find our barred owl. But finally, on February 29, TG spied one sitting quietly in a tree on the side of the road. We had just enough time to snap a few pics before she disappeared into the woods. Week Two wish list complete!
Sometimes, when you least expect it, a critter will capture your heart, and you can’t shake the desire to get a photo. That happened with the mink. Before this trip, I didn’t even know I wanted a mink – but after seeing a little cinnamon-colored butt disappear into a creek one day, I was obsessed.
We identified a few likely spots and staked out the locations, hoping to catch a glimpse of one long enough to snap a photo.
We spied plenty of muskrats on our stakeouts,
We even got a pair of beautiful trumpeter swans.
And one morning while waiting we struck up a conversation with Travis, an 84-year-old resident of Stone Lake. After chatting for a bit, TG casually asked him about his license plate: FTL 1.
A retired commercial truck driver, Travis told us that in 2014 he was given a ticket for going eleven miles over the limit. The police officer assured him it would not go on his CD license, but it did. Travis was so angry he purchased FTL plates for all his vehicles. “F—k The Law!” he said with enthusiasm.
In the end, after hours of watching and waiting, not only did we get our mink, but she gifted us with almost a full hour of playful running alongside the creek.
As TG has said, “If you allow yourself enough time, the Bog delivers, even in crazy, non-winter weather.” We compiled the following list of all the birds and animals we identified during our three-week stay.
One Saturday, we met up with TG’s grade school friend, Jenny, and her partner, Dick.
It was a fun lunch, and afterward, we decided to do a quick run out to the Bog. Once again, we were rewarded with a great gray owl! He was hiding behind a web of branches, but let’s face it, any great gray owl sighting is GREAT!!
TG wrote the following about this encounter:
On Saturday 2/24/2024, we received notification of a great gray owl at Indian Pipe Bog off Arkola Road. We made our way there to find many cars parked near the trailhead.
This bumpy, undulating, and mogul-filled trail is a prime example of “unmaintained.” It requires constant attention to where you are stepping.
The cool, dark forest canopy protects the ice pads that form in the trail pockets from melting, making for treacherous footing.
About a 10-minute walk into the bog, we encountered a sizeable group of people trying to see the owl. I say “trying” because this is hardly the “fish-in-a-barrel” sighting that the snowy owl has been providing of late. This majestic owl was sitting at eye level in a thickly branched tree about 60 meters from the group.
To the naked eye, it was nothing more than a dark blob. My 15-year-old camera struggled to focus automatically, wanting to highlight the myriad of branches rather than Señor Owl.
I walked back to the trailhead, wondering how folks found the owl in the first place. We returned the next day because I wanted to take landscape panos of the bog interior. We went back to where the owl had been 24 hours earlier, but alas, the needle was safely hidden in the haystack.
Despite all that we had seen and photographed thus far, the vibe of the Bog had changed. We saw more bad manners from photographers than ever before. And worst of all, the disrespect for wildlife and private property was shocking.
We stayed away from the crowds to avoid contributing to– or being associated with – particularly egregious behavior. But it pained us to witness it in a place where we had so many fond memories.
Case in point: For two weeks, the snowy owl stayed in an approximately two square mile area, and photographers traveled from near and far, stalking him from dawn to dusk.
As we transited around the Bog, TG & I drove by his roosting spots on Hwy 7 multiple times, marveling at how close folks were crowding the bird and how tolerant he seemed to be of all the attention.
On February 26, 2024, the following message appeared on the Telegram:
No one can say for certain how this happened, but one cannot help but wonder if the absolute fervor his presence generated wasn’t partially responsible for his demise.
TG and I had visited Snowy four times before the crowds became too much for us. You can view our photos here:
It felt like nearly everyone left the Bog after Snowy’s death. It was a quieter, gentler place, and the few remaining visitors were more respectful of each other and the wildlife. We enjoyed some marvelous sightings that week, including sharing our last great gray owl with only six other cars. But by then, we had already decided to head home early.
So, fellow travelers, embrace deviations. Let go of rigid itineraries and make time for spontaneity. Do we regret changing our plans from Mobile, Alabama to Northern Minnesota? Not for a second! In this detour, we photographed almost everything we had hoped to, including four different species of owls.
We met many interesting people along the way — people like Tim & Amy and their pack of Siberian huskies, Travis, and Marshall, who travels all over the USA photographing “paws and claws” for his art shows back in Washington State.
And we learned, perhaps more than ever, to take what the road gives us: on one of our many mink stakeouts, we saw a pile of thick, plush fur lying on the ice. Not wanting to get too close, we knew it was otters and watched as the pile separated into three animals before disappearing into the tall grass.
It wasn’t until we got home and could look at our computer screens that we were able to discern that we had come upon a mama nursing her two babies.
Will there be a fourth visit to the Bog? Only time will tell, as there are many other places we still want to travel. But whether we return or not, we have stories, laughter, and moments to last a lifetime.
You can view all of our photos from the Bog here:
TG:
JET:
On The Road with Tall Guy & JET 