Not Only Summer

By FOLSR Board Member, Will Mowchan

In the summer, people driving along Interstate 35 from the south might look down from Thompson Hill at the Twin Ports to the front and at the shining water to the right. The water to the right is the St. Louis River Estuary. You can’t miss it in summer.    

In the winter?

In the winter it is easier to miss the estuary. Then it’s just one white, snow-covered area set in a world of white. But the estuary is fully alive in the dead of winter. You just have to get closer to experience that. People can get close. Actually, people can enjoy winter in the estuary in several ways.           

For example, you can walk on it when it freezes. Just be as sure as you can that the ice is thick enough. One good way to do that is wait until ice anglers are driving and parking their trucks on the ice. Even then, be very careful. Hiking the ice is wonderful. Especially with traction devices like Yaktraks, you can go far. You can see much on and in the ice and also by walking the shoreline and peering into the woods. Only a few inches of snow make snowshoes helpful. No matter how you walk the ice, whether for ten minutes or ten miles, there is a lot to see.      

Another way to experience the winter estuary is ice fishing. People walk and pull sleds, or drive four-wheelers, or snowmobiles or vehicles to get themselves and their gear to their fishing spots. Many bring tents to shelter from the cold wind.                                                                                                   

Expect to see animals and their signs on the winter estuary. Deer, wolf, fox and coyote tracks make well-worn paths in the snow along shorelines.       Their footprints also cross it. The occasional deer kill gets eaten and left on the ice. If you are out there enough you will also see some of these animals themselves. Eagles sit in trees waiting for unlucky rabbits on the ice and for fish guts left by angles. A few arctic owls might also be hunkering in the forest.                                       

In the harbor, the all-important shipping industry continues business for much of the winter. Barker’s Island and Park Point shorelines give you the chance to see this. Just stay far away from channels and very close to shore.                                        

Also well worth mentioning are the beautiful drifts and patterns carved into snow by the wind.                                                                             

Winter in the estuary is here. As long as the water is hardened into enough and thick ice, go out and experience it. Be careful. Wear layers. Have a way to protect your face from the wind. Have the right footwear traction for ice or snow.                                                                                                               

The St. Louis River Estuary is not only for summer. In winter it’s a whole different and very beautiful world.

Winter images by Will Mowchan.