Shades of Wisconsin Autumn

Wisconsin Fall Colors, originally uploaded by jw_creations.
Shot on a gravel road leading into Devils Nose State Natural Area.

Sundown at Ski High Apple Orchard, originally uploaded by jw_creations.

Rozno's Meadow Pano, originally uploaded by jw_creations.

360 Panorama - Pleasant Valley Conservancy

360 Panorama - Pleasant Valley Conservancy, originally uploaded by jw_creations.

360-degree stitched panorama from a road near the Pleasant Valley Nature Conservancy, near Black Earth, Wisconsin.

This image was made of 48 individual photos, each at 18-megapixel, resulting in an original image over 800-megapixels! I do have a Quicktime MOV file where this is mapped on a sphere, and you can pan up/down & left/right to interact with it as if you were standing on this road. Email me at jonahwestrich@gmail.com if you'd like me to send it to you (it's about 4MB).

Outward Sprawl

Outward Sprawl, originally uploaded by jw_creations.

Marshland Beauty, originally uploaded by jw_creations.

Ancient River Valley

View from Afar

Ancient River Valley, originally uploaded by jw_creations.

The ancient sediment-filled river valley home to the Pleasant Valley Conservancy State Natural Area near Black Earth, Wisconsin.

Wisconsin Homestead

Wisconsin Homestead, originally uploaded by jw_creations.

Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness

Bedrock Outcrop, originally uploaded by jw_creations.

Essence of The Wilderness

Picturesque Landscape

Painting of The Skies

The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, is a 1.09 million acre (4,410 km²) wilderness area within the Superior National Forest in northeastern Minnesota.

The lakes of the BWCAW are located in depressions formed by differential erosion of the tilted layers of the Canadian Shield. For the past two million years, massive sheets of ice have repeatedly scoured the landscape; the last glacial period ended with the retreat of the Laurentide Ice Sheet from the Boundary Waters about 17,000 years ago.The resulting depressions in the landscape later filled with water, becoming the lakes of today.

Many varieties of Precambrian bedrock are exposed, including granite, basalt, greenstone, gneiss, as well as metamorphic rocks derived from volcanic and sedimentary rocks. Greenstone of the Superior craton located near Ely, Minnesota is up to 2.7 billion years old, some of the oldest exposed rock in the United States. Igneous rocks of the Duluth Complex comprise the bedrock of the eastern Boundary Waters. Ancient microfossils have been found in the banded iron formations of the Gunflint Chert.

Check this link for more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boundary_Waters_Canoe_Area_Wilderness

Baxter's Hollow Preserve

Baxter's Hollow Preserve, originally uploaded by jw_creations.

"Baxter's Hollow features a scenic gorge cut through Baraboo quartzite by Otter Creek, a fast, clear, nearly undisturbed stream flowing over the large quartzite boulders. Although it supports trout, Otter Creek is better known for its diverse and unique aquatic insect fauna. Cold air drainage has permitted a white pine dominated forest to persist near the stream."
-Wisconsin DNR

Recently Flooded Streambed, originally uploaded by jw_creations.

Wisconsin Farmstead

Wisconsin Farmstead, originally uploaded by jw_creations.

Fog rises from southern Wisconsin valleys in the driftless area (un-glaciated) following the approach of a cold front and afternoon June rains.

Rolling Countryside, originally uploaded by jw_creations.

Sunset hues over the rolling hills of south-west Wisconsin countryside on a humid June afternoon.

Setting Sun at The Conservancy, originally uploaded by jw_creations.

The sun sets over Pleasant Valley Conservancy, with Blue Mound State Park visible several miles to the south.

Pheasant Branch Encampment

Pheasant Branch Encampment, originally uploaded by jw_creations.

A glacial mound and oak savanna silhouetted against a spring ski at the Pheasant Branch Conservancy in Middleton, Wisconsin.

Castle Mound - Black River State Foreset

Castle Mound - Black River State Foreset, originally uploaded by jw_creations.

The Black River State Forest, established in 1957 includes approximately 67,000 acres in Jackson County. The area is unique among the state forests mainly because of its geological features. The Forest lies on the edge of the glaciated central plain east of the rough coulee region or driftless area of Wisconsin. If you hike the nature trail to the top of Castle Mound, one can observe what was once the bed of glacial Lake Wisconsin. Unglaciated buttes, sandstone hills, and castellated bluffs such as Castle Mound dot the vast forest landscape. -Wisc. DNR

Black River State Forest

Black River State Forest, originally uploaded by jw_creations.

One of the many dozens of flowages in the 68,000-acres of the Black River State Forest.

Spring Downpours

Spring Downpours, originally uploaded by jw_creations.

Mineral Rich

Mineral Rich, originally uploaded by jw_creations.

Geothermal activity surrounding Yellowstone Lake

Sage Creek Wilderness

Badlands Backcountry, originally uploaded by jw_creations.

Sage Creek Wilderness campground, Badlands National Park

Winter Sunset over Blue Mound State Park

Winter Sunset over Blue Mound State Park, originally uploaded by jw_creations.

For the last 400 million years, most of Wisconsin has remained above sea level, and erosion has carved southwestern Wisconsin into its present much-branched, tree-like drainage pattern of rivers, hills, and valleys. Hundreds of miles of sandstone and limestone have been remove from southern Wisconsin by the streams during the 400 million year erosion cycle.

Southwestern Wisconsin has had nearly all its Niagara dolomite removed. It remains in this region only as tiny remnants atop Blue Mound, Platte Mound, Belmont Mound, and Sinsinawa Mound. If it were not for the hard Niagara dolomite capping, these mounds would have been cut down to the level of the surrounding lowlands. Blue Mound stands hundreds of feet above the surrounding countryside.

Deep down under the Blue Mounds is granite bedrock, the "roots" of mountains that stood here more than 2 billion years ago. The mountains were eroded down to a rolling granite plain.

As Wisconsin warped up and down repeatedly, extensive inland oceans alternately flowed into and retreated from the area. In the process, sand and soft limy sediments were deposited on top of the granite. The first sea covered the area more than 1 billion years ago, and the last (the Silurian Sea) about 400 million years ago.

Rippled Rock River Reflections

Rippled Reflections, originally uploaded by jw_creations.

"Fifteen thousand years ago during the Wisconsin Glaciation, ice covered the Rock River Basin. The continental glacier sculptured a rolling landscape that supported thickly wooded lands interspersed with oak-savannah prairies, large wetland complexes and numerous large and small lakes. Today, threading through this rich, ecologically diverse landscape is the Rock River and its major tributaries, the Crawfish, Beaver Dam, Oconomowoc, Bark, and Yahara rivers, and Turtle Creek.

The Rock River Basin covers 3,777 square miles and is located in ten counties: most of Dodge, Dane, Rock and Jefferson and parts of Washington, Fond du Lac, Walworth, Columbia, Waukesha and Green Lake counties.

Wisconsin archaeological records indicate that areas of the Rock River Basin were inhabited by the Woodland culture 3000 years ago. These people were 'mound builders' who left their mark on the landscape near waterways by building effigy mounds shaped in the forms of birds and animals. At one time the mounds were prolific, numbering more than 1,500 in Jefferson County alone."

Clear, Superior H2O

Clear, Superior H2O, originally uploaded by jw_creations.

"Not only is Lake Superior the largest of the Great Lakes, it also has the largest surface area of any freshwater lake in the world. It contains almost 3,000 cubic miles of water, an amount that could fill all the other Great Lakes plus three additional Lake Eries. With an average depth approaching 500 feet, Superior also is the coldest and deepest (1,332 feet) of the Great Lakes. The lake stretches approximately 350 miles from west to east, and 160 miles north to south, with a shoreline almost 2,800 miles long. The drainage basin, totaling 49,300 square miles, encompasses parts of Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Ontario. Most of the Superior basin is sparsely populated, and heavily forested, with little agriculture because of a cool climate and poor soils."

Oak Woods State Natural Area

Oak Woods State Natural Area, originally uploaded by jw_creations.

Mouth of The Yahara

Yahara River, originally uploaded by jw_creations.

Terminal Moraine

Terminal Moraine, originally uploaded by jw_creations.

The ridge extending to the left from the bluffs on the right was formed from the deposition of sand, rocks, and gravel at the edge of a continental glacier. Known as a 'terminal moraine', it marks the furthest extent of a mile-thick sheet of ice, and formed one of two natural dams which created the current Devils Lake.
-Taken at sundown in Roznos Meadow, east of Devils Lake State Park

Into The Woods

Into The Woods, originally uploaded by jw_creations.

Autumn Serenity

Autumn Serenity, originally uploaded by jw_creations.

Canopy Canvas

Canopy Vibrancy, originally uploaded by jw_creations.

Autumn colors brighten up Olson Oak Woods State Natural Area, October 2009.

Pleasant Trekking

Pleasant Trekking, originally uploaded by jw_creations.

A peaceful wooded section of the Ice Age Trail within the Kettle Moraine State Forest

View From The Southern Bluffs

View From The Southern Bluffs, originally uploaded by jw_creations.

Taken from the trail-less 3500 acre forest of Devils Nose State Natural Area; Devils Lake State Park, Wisconsin

Slated for Topple

Slated for Topple, originally uploaded by jw_creations.

Ice Age Trail, Kettle Moraine State Forest

Conservancy Trails

Conservancy Trails, originally uploaded by jw_creations.

Pheasant Branch Conservanc; Middleton, WI

A Forests End

A Forests End, originally uploaded by jw_creations.

Goose Lake Drumlins State Wildlife Area

Taking Flight

Taking Flight, originally uploaded by jw_creations.

A stormy afternoon kayaking the waters of Horicon Marsh National Wildlife Refuge.

Island Shores

Island Shores, originally uploaded by jw_creations.

Midnight Sun

Midnight Sun, originally uploaded by jw_creations.

A rising moon illuminates restored prairie in this photo taken well after sundown at Pleasant Valley Conservancy SNA.

Oak Canopy Sundown

Oak Canopy Sundown, originally uploaded by jw_creations.

Long-exposure of a segment of restored oak savanna, taken after sunset under a mostly full moon and twilight.

August Full Spectrum

August Full Spectrum, originally uploaded by jw_creations.

UW Madison Arboretum

Lower Wisconsin State Riverway

Lower Wisconsin State Riverway, originally uploaded by jw_creations.

Natures Roof

Natures Roof, originally uploaded by jw_creations.

Hemlock Draw State Natural Area, Baraboo Range, Wisconsin

Western Wisconsin Landscape

Western Wisconsin Landscape, originally uploaded by jw_creations.

Clarity

Clarity, originally uploaded by jw_creations.

Rock Island State Park, Wisconsin

Milky Way Time Lapse

Milky Way Time Lapse, originally uploaded by jw_creations.

One of my favorite shots from the weekend, took this one while we were attempting some nighttime headlamp fishing; to which we had no success.
-Rock Island State Park, Door County, Wisconsin

Lake of The Clouds Panorama

Lake of The Clouds Panorama, originally uploaded by jw_creations.

Looking over a portion of the 60,000 acre Porcupine Mountain Wilderness Area, while on a 48-mile backpacking loop.

Burgundy Hues

Burgundy Hues, originally uploaded by jw_creations.

The 'Porkies'