• Tagged Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, cave, ice, ice caves, Lake Superior, sea caves, snow, winter, Wisconsin

There’s at least one great thing about super frigid weather, at least if you are near Apostle Islands National Lakeshore where sea caves have been transformed into ice caves. For the first time in five years, Lake Superior is so solidly frozen that people are coming from all over the world to walk on water. The phenomena has transformed the Wisconsin winter wonderland into a hot tourist destination. [32 Photos]

• Tagged abandoned, Apocalypse, Apocalyptic, bizarre, deserted, environment, nature, places, post-apocalypse, post-apocalyptic, snow, Snowmageddon, Snowpocalypse, snowy landscapes, travel, winter

Snowy landscapes can alter a viewer’s perception of the scene, sometimes making it seem deserted and surreal as if the world has ended and a blanket of white descended. This had us musing on what a post-apocalyptic Earth might look like IF the world didn’t burn, but the people disappeared for some reason or another. In some of these photos, it seems as if the few lone Apocalyptic survivors are out and about to view the rebirth of the world 2.0. While this is a bit bizarre to be pondering, all of these winter snow photos struck a chord with us in harmony with what the world might look like after the Apocalypse. Most of the people would undoubtedly be gone, so seeing ‘survivors’ would be few and far between. In our Snowpocalypse or Snowmageddon scenarios, buildings would be abandoned and a quiet world would be wrapped in a heavy white blanket of snow. Some people love winter, the cold and the snow — perhaps even the photographers who captured these unbelievably beautiful and snowy landscapes that seem to us as if they could portray a world after the Apocalypse. [41 Photos]

• Tagged art, bizarre, Calvin & Hobbes, Calvin and Hobbes in real life, comics, snow, snowman, snowmen, twisted, winter

For 10 winters from 1985 to 1995, snowmen met with murder and mayhem at the hands of 6-year-old Calvin in the Calvin and Hobbes comic strip written and illustrated by Bill Watterson. The hilariously horrific snowmen scenarios depicted by Calvin still continue to inspire fans who create snowman scenes straight out of a snowman’s worst nightmare. Got snow? Why not brave the cold and craft your own Calvin and Hobbes-esque snowmen creations to keep your neighbors wondering and a bit worried about you? Think dark humor such as stabbing, melting, maiming, murdering, or other mayhem. Think snowman + nightmare = snowmare. Your twisted snowy tribute is on the right track so long as your snowman will definitely not live happily ever after. Calvin specialized in wicked plots to bring about snowman suicide, a snowman cannibalizing another snowman, and a Snowman House of Horror. Snow sharks around the world have been seen attacking horrified snowmen. Here’s some really good snow art tributes, by people deeply inspired by Watterson, but it speaks loudly of the world in which we live . . . where a photo depicting a famous comic strip and turned into snowmen nightmares and Calvin and Hobbes in real life must be qualified as a ‘reproduction.’ Perhaps SOPA will move beyond trying to destroy the Internet and making websites disappear, to making houses and yards go poof? As sad as this fact is, we’re claiming ‘fair use’ for Bill Watterson’s Calvin and Hobbes comics in this tribute and ‘fair use’ for the the imaginative people who reproduced Calvin & Hobbes in real life snowman scenes. [63 photos, 1 video, and snippets of Calvin & Hobbes comics]

• Tagged animals, environment, holiday, nature, polar bear, snow, winter

We love polar bears at any time, even sad times like when we did a tribute to superstar Knut, but most of these shots are of polar bears roaming and surviving in the wild. While these polar bears may have nothing to do with Coca-Cola polar bear marketing, the holidays gave us an ‘excuse’ to focus on the world’s largest carnivores and our favorite type of bears. [46 Photos]

• Tagged adventure, Alaska, climbing, Denali, Denali National Park, Mount McKinley, mountain, mountaineering, National Park, National Park Service, nature, Ruth Gorge, snow, winter

Only about 400,000 brave souls come to the remote and rugged last frontier of Denali National Park and Preserve in Alaska each year. Many of those come to see the wildlife or scenery like the highest mountain in North America, Mount McKinley. Together, the park and preserve together cover 9,492 mi² (24,585 km²). The “centerpiece” of Denali National Park and Preserve is Mount McKinley which is known as Denali, meaning “The High One.” It’s massive peak crowns the 600-mile-long Alaska Range. According to the CIA World Factbook, Denali’s summit elevation is 20,335 ft (6,198 meters). Whether you regard it as fearless or foolish, some of the most daring and adventurous souls come to Denali to climb and to taste the clean, cold air of adventure. Some move far beyond “normal” climbing to mountaineering. Not just anyone can take on the world-class mountaineering opportunities at Denali, but climbers come from all over the world to test their mountaineering and wilderness survival skills. Since many of us will never go mountaineering on Denali, here’s a look at some of the climbers, mountaineers, and rangers who are up to the high altitude challenges of Mt. McKinley and the vertical rock and ice walls that line the Ruth Gorge. While we love these pics, we got cold chills just staring at the photos. We cannot urge you strongly enough to read the NPS Mountaineering Booklet from which we snipped bits of wisdom to go with these awesome photos. [37 Photos]