Photos: Minnesota's bitterly cold, brightly beautiful winter

Lake Superior tombolo
Ice coats a small island on the Superior Hiking Trail lake walk section next to Lake Superior in Cook County, Minn. on Monday, Jan. 21, 2013. Photographer Bryan Hansel writes: To get to the point where I set up my tripod, I had to wade across a gap (water was flowing through it like a stream), slip across ice and then balance on an uneven surface of glare ice. I waited for 20 minutes tucked into my hood, while my glasses froze and my breath coated my collar with rime. Then the pink happened.
Photo courtesy Bryan Hansel