The week in review

All the staff are here as you can see by their blogs. This summer they will each be blogging and I will fill in where needed. I enjoy their blog updates and hope you do to. It is fun for me to wait until the end of the day and log in and see what they wrote. They have an interesting perspective of what is happening.

After a busy holiday weekend we have had a slower week. It has been nice and has given us a chance to get everyone acclimated to their jobs and start the season out a little more slowly. We are doing all the small projects needed in the cabins. Erik has been gone for the week fishing with his Dad in Canada so we don't have our supervisor!

This is also a good project week. We have torn up the old carpeting in cabins 5 and 6 in preparation for new carpeting in the living areas and tiling in the kitchen areas. We will have that work finished by early next week.

Must to the dismay of Peggy and I, under that old carpeting was some good hardwood floors. Unfortunately, years ago, or even decades ago, someone had glued the carpeting down. Everyone has told us to get that carpet glue up and refinish that wood floor is nearly impossible. Too late now anyway because the new carpet has an installation date. It will look quite nice when it is done so we will be happy with new flooring but that wood floor sure looked like it could look very nice in those cabins.

Another big project we have underway, which will last throughout the summer, is underbrush and tree clearing. Part of a fire wise initiative with the forest service, lake owners mid trail are clearing underbrush and thinning out the trees to minimize the chance of fire. This will be a summer long project partially done by our staff and partially contracted out for the larger trees and areas. When I look at pictures of 7 years ago when we started at Clearwater I am amazed at how much everything has grown up so this is a good project to tackle now.

One project soon will be to upgrade our fire sprinklers. We are talking to contractors now. Our fire sprinklers work just fine but they are from 1999 following the blow down so it is time to upgrade the pumps, lines and sprinkler heads with more efficient equipment. Maybe when this is done Mike will let me water the lawn around the lodge with the fire sprinklers but I am doubtful.

An ongoing project is new refrigerators. Since we have been here we have replaced all the mattresses in the cabins and lodge and are now working on refrigerators and freezers. I counted them one year and we have 22 and all could be upgraded for better energy efficiency. But like everyone else, we have to budget these purchases so we are working on getting several a year. At this rate, it will only take us another 10 years to get all new ones! By the time we are done, the new ones will be old. Oh well, such is resort life.

Tori and Michael are in the kitchen experimenting with outfitting foods. Tori is drying apples, peaches and pears and Michael is trying out a recipe for a new breakfast bar. Homemade applesauce will be next and then we may dry some that. We like to sample what they bake. What fails the outfitting test of being easy to pack out is left for the rest of us to enjoy.

Lynn

Eggs and Sausage

As the kitchen rapidly filled with smoke I lunged over to the stove, killed the burners and looked down with a mixture of frustration, disbelief and latent amusement at the skillet of burnt butter. Mental note number 37: Keep a low flame and close eye on butter, this stove gets hot in a hurry. Hello, I'm Michael and I'll be cooking breakfast this morning. Would you like to hear mental note number 1? Don't blow up the kitchen trying to light the oven. Lynn knows how to get to the important stuff first. Those who have done any sort of cooking know the importance of familiarity in ones kitchen. Everything has its place and in order for things to run smoothly you gotta have your bearings. With each passing day I pick up countless nuances, tricks, and lessons about my new office. By now (it's been two weeks already!!) I can find my way around and feel a comfortable confidence shufflling around the stove or running between the refrigerator and table. With a cup of coffee in one hand and a spatula in the other I am enjoying the morning hours of my day as much as ever. This late-sleeping college kid is strangely enough becoming a morning person. Maybe it's the buzz around the early-day-hub of the kitchen beginning around 8:00AM when people dart in and out grabbing coffee or a bite to eat as they get their day started, or perhaps it's the inherent satisfaction that comes with the act of feeding people. Did I mention I get to cook on a stove that is three times my age? Cool! Whatever it is I am ready to fully embrace the days first meal, and lately, although I rarely have it all figured out until that morning, I have begun to relish being asked, "What's for breakfast, Michael?"

Stay tuned for more tales from the breakfast table...

hello everyone

Hi I am Lily from China. Now I live on clearwater lake with my husband John and my dog Dodo. This is very different from china, the air is always fresh. I like people here they are very friendly, and I am very happy to live in such beautiful place. Clearwater, my idea of heaven.

Hey, My name is Matt and I am the final member to join the clearwater crew for the summer. I go to school at the University of St. Thomas and am going to be a junior. This week we have started the new renovations to some of the cabins. This would include ripping out some of the carpet and placing tile in the kitchens. The weather is still a little cold in the mornings but warms up nicely during the day. This picture was taken near Ram lake on Tuesday the 26th.

Best place in the world

Hello everyone, my name is Scott, and I am a first year employee here at Clearwater. I am 19 years old and will be starting my second year at the U of M. Right now I am thinking about going into Forest Management in the agricultural school. I would like to go into Forest Management because it would increase the chances of me living in the great outdoors. It is easier for me to get up for work in the BWCA than it is to get up for school... Growing up in the cities has always gave me a great appreciation for Mother Nature because the style of life is dramatically different. Time moves a little slower up here, and the people are more eager to get to know each other. Life is good on the trail and the disposition of the visitors proves it. The tranquillity of this area is therapeutic, and one's mind can relax for awhile! A lot of people have been saying "Oh, great time to get back to the real world", and I think about how lucky I am that the real world for me this summer is the BWCA. So anyways life is to short not to be in the BWCA.

Life as a Food Packer

A little room attached to the outfitting building may not seem appealing to most. This room is the food room, and I am proud to call it my own. I came up to Clearwater for the summer to continue my experience with outfitting. I have accomplished two month long canoe trips with Les Voyageurs Inc, an experience for high school students. From these trips I acquired the knowledge of food preparation, packing, camping and canoeing. I wanted to bring some of that experience to the people passing through Clearwater, and I had no idea Peggy, Lynn and Mike would be so accommodating. I will be trying new recipes, making a batch or two of dehydrated fruit, veggies and beef jerky for the trips going out in June. Being in that little room I call home has treated me well so far, and I expect nothing less than success for the trips to come.

-Tori

A nice laker on Clearwater Lake

Casting that last time before going into the cabin for lunch, Tom Baumberger got a nice suprise. From his dock on Cabin 4, he pulled in a 36 inch and 14 lb Lake Trout. This Memorial Holiday weekend it seems fishing has been pretty good for our cabin guests. Not even fishing for lake trout but casting for smallmouth, the folks in Cabin 5 also pulled in a big laker also.

The Fifth Season

The reemergence of leaves on the Gunflint Trail marks the end of the stagnant and seemingly endless fifth season in the north woods. It is my opinion that this fifth season only afflicts the northern most reaches of Minnesota. The weeks and sometimes months between the end of winter and the beginning of spring is the fifth season I am refering to. In more latitudinally blessed regions of the world four seasons reign. Other regions have two or three seasons and in some cases only one:HOT. This fifth season is a heart breaking, mental war of attrition that affects inhabitors of these northern climes. The passing of visible snow on the earth in most places is a sure sign that spring is right around the corner. This passing of snow on the Gunflint is a sure sign spring is still a few weeks away. Within those few weeks it is a battle of the seasons. Spring versus winter in a winner take all grudge match. Spring of course is undefeated, but rarely in a knock out in the early rounds. Gale force winds accompanied by horizontally blowing snow and 3 foot rollers on the lake in mid-May, painfully remind you that winter still has a few desperate tricks up its sleeve. In epic and record breaking fashion spring fights back with 80 degree temperatures and calm waters a few days later. Every time you think the wrath of winter has passed, it sneaks up when you are sleeping, in the form up sub-freezing temperatures and frozen water lines. At this point though you can rest assured that spring, with the help of summer and a few million motorists, will prevail. The days are quickly warmed by the sun and the last dying breaths of winter only come creeping in long after the sun sets, late in the night when we're fast asleep. Being witness to this annual feud of the seasons is something I always hated. These last few years I have come to enjoy watching the slow change, the battle. Always cheering for spring, even though I know it will eventually outlast winter. After the fight has ended and summer picks up where spring left off it is 3 months of glorious days and nights. It puts the fifth season in perspective and reminds you it was worth the wait. Worth the fight. Finally we can forget about winter for a while, the season that dominates this part of the world, if not forget at least push it to a rarely visited closet in the mind. It sits in that closet until late one summer day you realize winter has been using the last three months to get back in shape. Back in shape for its annual bout with fall. And, we all know who wins that fight.


Thanks For Reading
~Erik

Getting organized

After have a night of freezing rain earlier this week and then breaking records for a day of high temperatures, we have settled back into typical May weather. The highs were in the 50's today and the lows in the 40's at night. It was sunny and beautiful today.

5 of our 6 staff members have arrived now. Scott arrived yesterday and we had him intiated with mowing and weed wacking and very shortly after finishing work he was off fishing. Tori, Lily and Michael are in the kitchen having a 'food party'. A food party is when we all get settled around the table and bag up gorp, dried fruitsn and cryo meat for outfitting packages. The third picture is of Michael sweeping the porch. More on our staff in future blogs.

Memorial Weekend

We have been open since May 9th, but I think this is the weekend when we really are open and ready for business. So much of what we can get done and on is weather dependent that first few weeks of May. But now we have all the cabins open and the water lines have only frozen up 3 times! Water has only run out of the bottom of the pump house with a blown valve one time and all the septic tanks are open (thank goodness) and the washers in the laundry building overflowed only one time.. The bagged bales of straw for insulation has been all picked up (which is why the water lines froze) and the humming bird feeder thawed out.

Along with these chilly temperatures we have been having, it was 82 degrees yesterday and record breaking. It is back to normal today with a nice 46 degrees this morning.

The leaves are popping out on the trees in Grand Marais and about 5 miles up the Trail. Over the next week we can just watch the progression of spring come up the trail every day.

From prior blogs you know Ben Trace was here turning on our water lines to our cabins. He did have a chance for an overnight canoe trip with Jared Bowman and Travis Gunter. Jared sent me some photos of their trip into Duncan and to the waterfalls.

May brings Humming birds

May flowers? The weather gave us a frozen hummingbird feeder in the morning with an encore of snow and bitter cold wind all day long. No handouts today, hummingbirds. (note the Hummer in the lower left of the photo).

Fishing Open Laker

Steve, Dave and Ian went out on fishing opener (see 5/9 blog) and sent back some really nice pictures of their catches! Here is one.

Cabins Have Water!

It is kind of a silly title 'cabins have water' unless you live up here and the ice just went out! With ice out on Saturday, we could turn on our pump house that processes and feeds lake water to 6 of the cabins, outbuildings and laundry building. Erik and Ben have been checking lines and making sure that there are no breaks in the lines and that water heaters are filling and heating up.

The outfitting food delivery came and Peggy and Lily are unpacking food and getting organized.

The photos are: Peggy and Lily in the outfitting food building, Ben just walking up from checking water lines and Queenie hoping someone will pet her.

Fishing Open

We woke to snow this morning, but at least there was no ice on the lake! As soon as our doors opened for the season, we had our first brave souls here to pick up there permit and get out there to catch a fish or two.

Open Water

Clearwater Lake is not totally open, but we can see open water from our dock. Erik has three of the boats in and motored down the lake to check it out but it was still impassable this morning about 1 mile down the lake. We are keeping our fingers crossed that it will be passable tomorrow morning for fishing opener.

Today's picture is Erik unwrapping the new canoes and kayaks.

Spring Cleaning

Spring Cleaning is going strong now. The lodge is starting to sparkle but there is still more to do.

Lily is cleaning behind the store counter and Peggy is putting the finishing touches on the gift shop.

We saw water today and Erik got a boat out into the lake. He could go along the shore, From the lodge we can only see water but from the cabins we still see ice down the lake. Every day is better!

More info on Ice

Boy, I just hate to post this because my blog is beginning to look like just an ice status posting, but I know some of you want to come up for fishing open this weekend and you are really interested in the ice situation. At this point you can still not paddle even along the shore line on Clearwater Lake. The ice is still tight up to the shoreline.

The lakes at the top of the trail are going out or are already out. That April snow storm we had really insulated our ice for a few extra weeks this year.

The good news is that it was close to 65 degrees today and it is raining. The past two nights it has been over freezing and the lake has a gray cast to it.

If we don't make ice out by Saturday, I am sure that we will be out soon after that.

We continue the spring process of opening. We have everything running in the lodge and the heavy duty spring clean starts tomorrow. Erik took advantage of a warm day yesterday and starting clearing away under brush. The transport vans will be started up tomorrow and tuned up for the spring. Peggy took some time to clear out a garden today.

Weekend Events

Right now the Ham Lake Run is going on at the top of the trail. This is the final event of the Gunflint GreenUp weekend. Yesterday was the tree planting in the Ham Lake burn area and last night was a dinner and music under the big top tent at Gunflint Lodge.

Today is one those days that I wait for all winter. It is in the low 50's but feels warmer, the sun is shining and and there is a slight breeze. I went for a walk this morning and then to check the ice out on the lake. We (Clearwater Lake) is still pretty locked in with ice. Very near the shore it is breaking up but it has a ways to go. At least we are getting some warmer days.

I tried to get creative with some photos down by the lake. This one is looking down at the ice with the sky and trees reflected in it. I took about 40 pictures on my walk today but when I got back and really looked at them, they were mostly of the last of the snow. They looked like mid-winter pictures and were generally misleading of what it is like now. Outside the woods the show has melted. In very shaded and protected areas, there is still plenty to melt but on the whole, it looks like spring has finally arrived.

Ice Conditions

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.