Permit Lottery Begins November 1st

Entries for the BWCA Permit Lottery begin November 1st. The way the lottery works is that entries are made from November 1st to January 15th. After January 15th the lottery is closed and permits are awarded. After February 1st, permits are awarded on availability remaining after the lottery.

If you are thinking about a canoe trip in 2007, now is the time to think about setting your dates to get your application in the permit lottery.

Sarah

This is just one of my favorite pictures of Sarah. Sarah is Shepard and Rottweiller mix (and I suspect that there are a few other dogs mixed in also) that came to live with me when I moved to the lodge. Her family was moving overseas and she needed a new home. I thought it would be a perfect place to have a dog. Since that time, she has been my constant companion along with my two cats.

As you can see from the picture, Sarah was a bit confused one day and tried the cat door to my room. She missed the sign over the cat door that said 'kitties only'.

Wolf

No, I am not confused. I know this picture is of a fox and not a wolf. Several folks have sighted a wolf on Clearwater Road recently and I have been taking my camera where ever I go in case I see him. On a drive up to Gunflint Lake this morning, this was the only little furry animal I saw and he posed nicely for the photo you see at the right.

Boy Scout Troop 11 - Madison WI

This is a photo sent to us by Boy Scout Troup 11 from Madison WI. Twenty four of the scouts came up this past August for a 7 day canoe trip. They divided into 3 groups of 8 and went in at Sag. This picture is of the group at the Blankenburg Landing on Seagull Lake. One of the group leaders, Randy Baldwin, has been taking canoe trips out of Clearwater Outfitters for several years. This was his first trip in awhile with younger scouts. It was a great introduction to the BWCA for the scouts. They all had a very good time and they sent me some wonderful pictures to document their experience.

Brother Canoe Trip

Brothers Rick and Mark Love took a canoe trip starting at Clearwater Lodge earlier in September. This picture is of the two brothers on the portage between Caribou Lake and Pine Lake.

Grand Marais Water Tower

The newly painted Grand Marais water tower was unveiled a few days ago. Many thanks to both Grand Marais and the Gunflint Trail Scenic Byway committee for boldly featuring the byway logo. The sign has very good lighting on it at night at night. The primary Gunflint Trail entrance was moved north of town several years ago and this water tower is shortly after the the spot where the 'new' Gunflint Trail meets the 'old' Gunflint Trail so there will be no doubt what road you are on when visiting this wonderful area.

It is snowing out again today mid-trail. It will not accumulate much and the snow has melted from our little storm last week but I am ready for a week or two of warmer weather before winter really moves in to stay.

What is Taconite?

When we bought Clearwater Lodge in 2003, it was my first expience living in Minnesota. Each state is unique and are always expressions or words that are new. Taconite was a new one for me.

The Gunflint Trail is at the very western edge of the Mesabi Iron Range. To the west of us is iron ore, and areas to the north of us in Canada there is gold and silver. It is probably good for us as a wilderness area, but the Gunflint area was pretty much a bust when it came to any of these minerals. In the late 1800's many, many areas were drilled or mines built looking for the riches. None lasted long. One mine actually had a railroad line built to it to haul out the ore. The first carload revealed Taconite and that was the one and only load taken out. Taconite was pretty useless at that time.

As all the pure iron ore got scarce a way to mine iron from Taconite was invented. Taconite is an iron bearing, high silica, flint like rock. There are iron rich layers in between layers of shale and quartz. To process taconite, the ore is ground into a fine powder, the iron is separated from the waste rock by using strong magnets, and then the powdered iron concentrate is combined with bentonite clay and limestone as a flux and rolled into pellets about one centimeter in diameter that are approximately 65% iron. The pellets are heated to very high temperatures to oxidize the magnetite (Fe3O4) to hematite (Fe2O3) for further processing.

The Mesabi Iron Range region of state of Minnesota is a major production area. The taconite iron concentrate is shipped by railroad through Silver Bay, Two Harbors and the Twin Ports of Duluth, Minnesota and Superior, Wisconsin, all on Lake Superior. The ore is generally shipped to other locations on the Great Lakes. Many steelmaking centers are located near Lake Erie. From about 1900 through 1992, great machines called Hulett ore unloaders performed the task. Self-unloading ships later made the Huletts obsolete.

Mist on West Pike Lake

This photo was sent in by Rick Love. It was taken on his canoe trip on September 8, 2006 and is of the morning mist on West Pike Lake.

Snow, Canoes and Permit Lottery

I am sitting here in the lodge watching the snow fall and it is beautiful. I know it won't last and we will still have some mildly warm weather ahead of us, but I am thankful that all out buildings are closed down for the winter and all the canoes are racked up and the motor boats are in from the lake. I can sit in the lodge, which is nice and cozy, and just watch it snow outside.

Last night, according to the weather forecast, we had gale force winds that caused drifts with the 6 inches of snow that we got. The drifts make it look like we had a lot more snow that we really did. It is just is a hint of what is to come but that first snowfall is always a bit of a surprise.

It is hard to believe that the 2007 BWCA permit lottery begins on November 1st!

First Snow

We had our first snow last night and a winter snow warning to go with it. Based upon which snow forecast you are reading, we could have anywhere from 1 to 12 inches over the next 48 hours. As always, the snow is beautiful.

Caring for a National Treasure

"Caring for a national treasure" was the title of a story that the Cook County News Herald ran last week on the lodge and on the Heritage Walkway that we are putting in. It was a great article about the history of the lodge and a little about us and our journey to get here. It was a bright and sunny day and the photos all turned out really well.

If you are interested in reading more, you can see the article on the internet at http://www.grandmarais-mn.com/placed/index.php?story_id=226164.

Snow

Just as a result of living in the northwoods, we expect snow sometime late September or early October. This first snow is the not the one that sticks, that comes in late November, but it sure is a warning that winter is close. This week we have snow in our forecast for Wednesday and Thursday. I was driving up to the top of the trail this morning and almost all the fall colors are gone and the trees are bare. Winter is just around the corner for us.

The photo is of the continued work on getting the waterline heated from the well to the lodge. I guess digging the trench was the easiest part of this process.

Fall Days

We are all taking the opportunity to enjoy the warm days we are having this October so far. It is a beautiful Columbus Day Weekend with the daily temperatures being in the high 60's.

According to our local weather, it will cool off sometime next week, but in the meantime, we are taking advantage of it.

The photo is of Peggy stacking some firewood for the winter.

Ditch Witch

I had not heard of a ditch witch before today. We have to dig a trench to put the winterized waterline in from the well to the lodge. It is only 135 feet and the ditch does not have to be very deep but our attempt to dig it by hand failed. The ground is so rocky and hard that it was impossible. Today the 'ditch witch' arrived and this photo is of Travis guiding while Mike is running the machine. They have completed the trench we need for the waterline in one afternoon.

It is a great day to work outside. It is close to 75 degrees today and sunny. We have already had several frosts so I think this would be called an Indian Summer. We are going to enjoy it while it lasts.

Clearwater Lodge and Cabins

I couldn't resist putting up another of Steph and Travis photos from their plane ride. The fall colors in these photos intermixed with the green of the pine trees is very attractive.

This one is of the general area of the lodge and cabins. You can see Clearwater Road in the picture starting from the top left leading to the lodge. The cabins then extend from the lodge to the point of the peninsula with cabin 6 being at the very point. .