I drove up the trail yesterday and the prognosis for ice is out is that the smaller to medium size lakes will probably be ice free by fishing opener. Clearwater Lake has a slightly dark look to it after the rain and warmer weather yesterday so that is a good sign for ice out. The snow is also melting nicely and I just see pockets of the white stuff now.
Hopefully the forest service will be able to give us some better ice out reports from fly overs this week.
Today we start connecting the water to the lodge. The heat has been running for two days now and the lodge temperature is up to the 50's. It took 24 hours to just get it up over freezing but it is warming up now. Going into the lodge and starting all the furnaces always remind me of waking up a giant. Light this, light that, turn this on, monitor this, check that and finally it rumbles to life. After that you just keep checking everything every few hours to make sure it is all running and working.
If you haven't been into the cellar of the lodge, it is a reminder of how these old buildings were built without the ease of heavy equipment, roads and in this terraine. There is one small section that does have a concert floor, the rest is pretty unfinished. It has an old root cellar and one side the basement is just a massive pile of Minnesota rocks piled high. If I ever need a 500 lb boulder, I know where to find one. An old cellar like this is subject to some flooding so everything electrical is raised. It looks like we had a little water down there this winter because the lowest levels were coated with ice which is now melting nicely. The good thing is when it does get water in it, and I have seen a raging river down there, it all drains out through the rocks by the next day.
But there is nothing so beautiful as bringing this lodge back to life each spring and getting it cleaned up, beds made and sparking.
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