Saturday, May 31, 2008

From Massilon Ohio



Paul Mutchler and friends came in May from Massilon, OH very shortly after ice out and took a canoe trip from the East Bearskin entry point. From East Bearskin thy went to Caribou, via Moon and Deer and then Pine Lake. From Pine Lake they took the portage to East Pike Lake and back to Clearwater Lake where they paddled back to the lodge.
Along the way, they visited Johnson Falls. They recently sent us this picture of the falls. Note the ice still along the sides at that time. They also sent this picture of themselves gathered under the tarp on "early on cold and rainy morning" as Paul said to us in his email.
For me, today it feels like the summer season started in earnest. We had a large group for breakfast and then got them on their way for a canoe trip. We had several transports and tows and cabins to clean. It feels like we are all starting to get into our summer routine with all our college students learning their jobs. It helps that the days have been nice and warm.


Wednesday, May 28, 2008

A few fish




Todd and Ann also sent us some pictures of the fish that Todd caught (catch and release) on their canoe trip.




Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Eagle's Nest


Ann and Todd Loehrke sent us this remarkable picture following their canoe trip. They started at Seagull and continued on to Sag for this recent canoe trip.

Monday, May 26, 2008

Rainy & Cold






Well we thought we were through with the cold, wet weather, but unfortunatly that is all today has brought. Everyone spent the morning doing their respective chores, and today I was not jealous that the boys got to take the boats out on the water. We actually had a bit of snow/sleet this afternoon which was not good for the overall morale. After warming up and having lunch, the boys and I headed out to clean a couple cabins; with 5 people, it was done in record time. I think Mike and Kyle are going to head into the BWCA tonight, they have the next two days off. Hopefully they'll bring back some walleye.


Our last two staff members for the summer, Kirsten and Will, are due to show up tonight. Kirsten & I will be the only female staff up here, so I am rather excited for her arrival. I have felt out numbered these past couple days.
Last but not least, here is a sunny picture of the waterfront, in hopes that the rest of the week will look something like this!
~AJ

Friday, May 23, 2008

New Canoes Arrived



Today is the day that the new canoes arrived. We got lightweight aluminum canoes and kevlar canoes. The weather was wonderful and I haven't seen any of the cabin guests since they checked in the other day. I think they are all out fishing.
We checked the lake water temperature and it was 48 degrees this morning. Lake Trout are definately in the shallows.
Two more of our staff members arrive on Saturday and start work on Sunday and then two more arrive Monday. It can't be too soon for AJ, Mike, Kyle and I! We are more than happy to spread some of this work around.

Photos are of AJ baking 8 dozen cookies for the lodge cookie jar and Kyle getting the canoes cleaned up and ready to go. Unfortunately, I think Kyle ate 6 dozen cookies.
Lynn

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Hummingbirds



Right on schedule on May 15th, our first hummingbird showed up back from the southern climates. We had to fill the hummingbird feeders right away. This one hangs right outside our kitchen window and is always frequented. Did you know that the hummingbird is the only bird that can fly backwards?
This picture of the leaf floating on the water was taken by AJ.


Weather Note: Our weather continues to be pleasant with 50's to 60's in the days and 30's to 40's at night.


Lynn

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Well Lynnette and I did end up making it out hiking yesturday. We decided to chance despite the omiounous thunder clouds and so we drove up the Gunflint trail to hike out to Magnetic rock. (we did not bring anything magnetic unfortunatley to test the name). As you can see we were pretty excited and all decked out in rain gear for our little hike. All in all it was probably about a 5 mile hike, there and back, and well worth it. Although it was sad to see the burn areas from last years fire, it was also a heartening sight to see the new growth happening. We also decided to stop down at Gunflint Lodge and look around since I had never been there before. And we were very surprised to see a family of foxes wondering the property. We had plently of opportunity for pictures, so here is a nice one of the mom and baby for you all to enjoy. I must so the picture really does not due them justice.









An interesting Tid-bit for everyone:
This little blurb from the boreal.org website noted that "Esquire magazine names the country’s best bars in the 3rd annual list of “The Best Bars in America” in their upcoming June issue on newsstands, Tuesday, May 13th. This guide is a culmination of dive bars, hot spots, the best cocktails, beers, atmosphere, ambiance and everything else that falls in between. The Trail Center in Grand Marais has been chosen as among one of the bars selected in this cross country compilation! "I was there last about a year and a half ago," said author Charlie Homans. "Being from Minnesota, I go up to the Boundary Waters semi- regularly, and I always really liked stopping by the Trail Center on my way to and from the lakes."


I just thought some of you may find that intersting, and I can say the food is excellent... I just had a cheeseburger & cajun French fries not even an hour ago.
-From the North Woods, AJ-

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Sunny Mornings-Rainy Afternoons

I suppose I should introduce myself since I will be writing some of the posts for this summer. My name is AJ and I'm a staff member here at Clearwater for the next coming months. Currently a senior in college and excited to spend my summer learning business management in the great outdoors!
As I mentioned in the last blog, the weather here has been interesting and wet to say the least. It has rained pretty constantly the last 3 afternoons. Below is a picture of the couple that left for the woods today, they were very excited for a couple days of wilderness adventure, away from civilization. As you can see when the set out this morning, around 10ish, is was nice and sunny, a bit windy but a beautiful day all around. Of course now, when Lynnetter and I are just about to get done with work for the day... its stormy and cloudy and we're not so sure we want to head out for a hike.

I took this picture down to the right off the deck here at the lodge (didn't want to go out and get the camera wet). I was trying to show the rain, not sure it does justice to the storm clouds but nonetheless you can see it is now a dark, dreary day in the north woods. However, on the bright side fish often bite better whens its drizzling!


-AJ

Thursday, May 15, 2008

First Canoe Paddle

For some reason we are having trouble posting our blog today........

The ice is out and the pump house is up and running.

Kyle, Lynnette and AJ took a paddle to the cliffs on Clearwater lake yesterday and we have great photos, but cannot get them linked to the blog.

Staff Introduction & Some Pics

This will be short and sweet but we had a request for some more pictures and we're happy to fulfill that request. We have had a productive week, starting to open up and clean out some of the outer cabins, the upstairs lodge and employee housing. As you can see above, sarah was making sure we were all getting out jobs done and guarding the bread we left out for the birds. One new staff has arrived and started helping out along with staff from last year. We're still waiting for the rest of the summer crew to join us for the summer.



It has been an interesting week of weather: we have had snow, rain, sun, and plently of wind! I think its finally moving into some warm weather now however, and we're definately ready for it.

Here you can see the ice on Clearwater is officially off as of Tuesday May 14th.

And to the right is a picture of the three staff members who check the lake for ice float. They took the afternoon off to go for a paddle, hike the bluffs, and obviously enjoy the view!

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Spring Ritual of Turning on the Pump House

One of the spring opening rituals is getting the water on to the 6 summer cabins. Because this is a lake water system and because these water lines are above ground, this cannot be done until the nights are consistently above freezing and the lake ice out. Mike has been hooking up all the cabins and all plumping to the bunkhouses, shower houses and laundry room in anticipation of starting up the pump house.

We have two sources of water. Our lodge and cabin 7, both winterized, are on well water. The lines are buried and heated and there is no threat of freezing water lines.

Our summer cabins (1 through 6) and the rest of the resort are on lake water. This lake water is pumped to the a holding tank in the pump house (between cabins 3 and 4). From there it goes through two macrolite filters and a bag filter into a 1,000 gallon holding tank where chlorine is added. From this large holding tank it is pumped to the cabins and rest of the resort as needed. The macrolite filters removes particles down to the 3 to 5 micron range.

For the lake water, we test the chlorine level and turpidity levels daily. We are always well below the norm on turpidity levels since Clearwater is such a clean lake. In fact, we joke that that the turpidity level is lower before it goes through the filtration process since the lake is so clean. Once a month we send a sample into the state health department to test the water and we have never had any problems or issues. The health depart visits two or three times a summer to check out the whole water system. They check the well water, calibrate our instruments and recheck our pump house levels. Once the lake system is up and running the water is perfectly acceptable to drink anywhere on the resort.

Well, hopefully Mike will be turning on that magic switch today and the tanks will fill and we will have water to the entire place. Of course, it is never that easy and there are breaks in the lines to fix and pressure to test and all the other fun things that go with maintaining a water system. We call Mike the 'Water Man'.......that is on the days we don't call him the 'Septic Man', 'Boat Man', or 'Maintenance Man'.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Spring Cleaning

The snow in my last blog melted by noon so we have been out and about getting things ready for opening the cabins. Hopefully Mike will get the water system on today to the cabins and we will start spring cleaning. The Boats are tied up at the dock and the kids already took a short boat ride down the lake. There is still a little ice to melt on Clearwater, but it will go fast. Smaller Lakes are all ice free.

The temperatures this week will be in the 50's and 60's with lows in the 30's at night.

We have several moose hanging out on Clearwater Road but none of us have had our cameras ready at the right time to get a shot! We have a cow and calf and then we think the bull we have might be Buddy from last year. If it is Buddy, he has grown quite a bit during the year.

Lynn

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Snow on May 11th!


We woke up this morning to snow! It is wet and heavy and will be gone by noon but what a surprise. The ice is m0ving off the lakes daily and we can watch it slowly move out on Clearwater. We expect it will drop any day as temperatures are not dropping below freezing at night now.


Friday, May 09, 2008

Paddling the Ice


Just to make sure that was really ice on the lake, Lynnette and Erik took a canoe out on Clearwater today to see if they could break through the ice with aluminum canoe (don't try this with a Kevlar folks). For a short time they were able to paddle in some open areas but then they got up in some ice and had to break it apart. Erik said that is maybe 4 inches of ice as far as they got out. It will go fast if that is all.

The photo of the two of them was taken by Mike Trace and the photo of Lynnette in the front of the canoe was taken by Erik.

I heard on the news last night that only 4 times in the last 63 years has the ice not been out by fishing opener.

Thursday, May 08, 2008

Ice Conditions

The forest service did a fly over to check out all the ice conditions. Here is their information...

ICE STATUS as of 1530, Thursday, May 8, 2008
ICE FREE
Alpine
Banadad
Brant
Crocodile
Cross River to Long Island
Iron
Jap
Little Saganaga
Missing Link
Moon
Ogishkemuncie
Portage
Round
Sawbill
Tucker
Two Island

SOME ICE REMAINING
Alton
Cherokee
East Bearskin
Flour
Frost
Hungry Jack
Kimball
Little Trout
Meeds
Mink
Seagull (especially on western end)
Swan

FROZEN
Bearskin
Birch
Brule
Clearwater
Davis
Duncan
Elbow
Gabimichigami
Gaskin
Gillis
Greenwood
Kemo
Loon
Mayhew
McFarland
Musquash/Misquah
North Fowl
Pine
Poplar
Rose
Saganaga (quite frozen, according to the pilot)
South Fowl
Trout (east of Kimball Lake Campground)
Tuscarora
Winchell
The pilot feels that things will change quickly with the exception of the
eastern side of the Gunflint Trail (Clearwater, Greenwood, Duncan, Pine,
etc).

Information Assistant
Gunflint Ranger District

Summer Help



We have two helpers for the early spring work. Lynnette, who worked for us last summer as our food packer, has come up for several weeks before she goes onto a camp in Montana. Lynnette graduated from college just last week and will spend the summer in Montana and then she joins Americore in the fall and will work with Habitate for Humanity in Seattle, WA.

Kyle Erwin is Mike's nephew and attends Ball State in Indiana. Klye came up to help with the spring start up and will be staying through the first few days of June.

Mike and Kyle drove over to check out the ice situation on East Bearksin today and it seems to be moving out. The photo is of Kyle on the edge of the lake. On Clearwater Road they saw two moose but were not fast enough with the camera to get a photo.

Ice seems to be moving out on the smaller lakes so there will be some fishing on fishing opener!

Lynn

Wednesday, May 07, 2008

Becoming a Boundary Waters Family

The outfitters and resorts on the Gunflint Trail are putting together a family program this summer called 'Becoming a Boundary Waterss Family'. The program is going to include short courses at some resorts on such topics as outdoor cooking, setting up tents, building fires, paddling and portaging. The program will run from Mid June until Mid July. We (Clearwater Lodge) are going to do weekly canoe paddles for up to 8 people to the cliffs on Clearwater Lake on Wednesdays.

Soon there will be a website up with the scedule and events which I will publish as soon as it is up. If you are visiting the area, it is a great opportunity to introduce the family the BWCA!!

60 degrees again today and we had rain last night.

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Ice (again)



Someone out there in blog land requested photos of the ice on Clearwater Lake. These were taken today at 4:00 PM. The photo to the left was taken from the end our main dock back towards the shoreline. The picture to the left was taken from the shoreline out towards the towboat dock.
It is 60 degrees out and our weather for the next few days has highs in the 50's but some of the nights are still below freezing. The link for the weather for Mid-Trail, which I find pretty accurate, is
Lynn


Monday, May 05, 2008

Still have ice....

The forest service sent out this little update this morning.....

Mink: Still froze over but open water near the shoreline
Kimball: Still froze but open water near the boat landing.
Elbow: Froze solid but open spots near shore & the boat landing.
Trout: Road is impassable to the boat landing @ this time. To much
snow/mud on road.
Devils Tract: Still froze, some open pockets near the shore. Is starting to
open up near the Seaplane dock.
Two Island: Still froze but opening up near the boat landing.

I can tell you that Aspen, West Bearskin, Swamp, Poplar, Hungry Jack, Flour and Clearwater still have ice but it is pulling out around the edges. Gunflint Lake has 11 to 15 inches of ice yet. Will it be off the lakes by fishing opener this Saturday? I doubt it will be out on the larger lakes such as Clearwater, Gunflint and Seagull but it MAY be out on the smaller lakes in the next few days. No guarantees.

In the meantime, we are doing our usual spring opening tasks. Mike is hooking up the water lines to the cabins just waiting for the right time to start filling the tank. We are doing the repairs that have to wait to spring. Boats are going to have to wait until we get ice out but the outfitting room is cleaned and ready to go and all the resort vehicles running.

More later when it comes to ice....

Sunday, May 04, 2008

Gunflint Green Up Tree Planting




Tree planting was Saturday. It rained all day Friday and turned into snow Friday night. Starting the tree planting on Saturday we had about 5 inches of snow mid-trail but luckily only an inch or so in the planting area. The day started chilly but the sun came up and it warmed up nicely. The turnout for the tree planting was great and there was an excellent picnic Friday night and dinner on Saturday night. Today is the Ham Lake Marathon and 5K fun run to finish up the weekend event.

The planting terrain was a little more rugged than I had expected. Knowing this area, I guess I should have not been surprised. We did some climbing over rocks and burned trees and tromping through swamy areas. Tree seedlings were planting 8 feet apart and at times you really had to search to find some soil to plant in around the rocks. I was only able to be out 1/2 day to plant but many volunteers were planting all day. It was a very special event and it was good to see so many poeple out who care about the area.

Just a note on the ice on the lakes: We still have ice on Clearwater Lake. Boganho Lake, a small lake off Clearwater Road, went out yesterday. Aspen Lake and West Bearskin Lake also from Clearwater Road look like they will go out any day. We are keeping our fingers crossed that we will have ice out on Clearwater Lake by fishing opener, but just are not sure yet. It is likely East Bearskin, Daniels, Duncan, Lizz and the smaller lakes will be out but we are watchign them also.