Clearwater Lake Trout

As the great, great grandchildren of the late Charlie Boostrom of Clearwater Lake were out fishing on Saturday 6/26/10, they landed this 15.9# and 36'' long lake trout in about 50' of water while trolling on a nice summer day at the family cabin. An impressive catch for Anders Zimmer (age 14) and Damian Zimmer (age 11).

Lily, Queenie and Lupines

Last but by no means least our final staff member profile is of Lily Anderson. Lily worked with us last summer. If you remember, Lily is from China and has a cabin on Clearwater Lake. She has been the US now for 18 months and I could tell as soon as I got back this summer that her English had really improved over the winter months. Lily worked for Bearskin Lodge during our off season and has now officially wintered over two times. She also got her driver’s license over the winter and has taken several longer solo trips to see friends. Sometimes I see her zipping down Clearwater Road in her little car. She took to driving with great determination no problems. We did hear that her husband John did need to pull her out of a ditch during the winter on Clearwater Road, but frankly who hasn't that happened to at least once up here? If I can count right, I have experienced 3 headers into snow banks on Clearwater Road.

Lily is our chief breakfast cook. This summer she is cooking, housekeeping, baking, gardening and front desk and whatever else comes up. We think we are going to teach her how to stain decks in the next week also but we shall see how that works out. She is game for anything new but sometimes looks at us like we are a bit crazy.

Kwas and Jim configured a small hatchet for Lily as they think everyone in the northwoods should have their own hatchet handy. That hatchet now resides on the kitchen window sill as Lily is not quite sure what she should do with this tool. Even though she stands 5 ft and 80 lbs., I think she is fully capable of bringing the boys in line with her mini-hatchet should the need arise when she is trying to get breakfast on the table.

Every morning once breakfast is done, Lily makes a special breakfast for Queenie. Queenie gets several cooked carrots nicely chopped, an egg white and ½ a sausage. Needless to say Queenie longingly looks for Lily first every morning. If Lily is not here, Queenie gets a bit aggravated trying to figure out who will give her this nice meal. The rest of us fill her bowl with dog food and have to deal with the grumbling and barking from her expressing her disgust of dry dog food. How could we be so rude to just give her dog food!

We had a lot of fun introducing Lily to the concept of a garage sale during the Trash and Treasures day on the Gunflint. But once she caught on she loved it. She manned the porch sale and bargained with everyone buying something. She carried that cash box under her arm and made sure everyone walked away with something. How could any resist this pint size sales rep? She now wants to have a garage sale every week.

Paddling Out

Matt Bremer brought a group up from Metropolis, Il. After driving all day, they had planned to spend the night with us and head out early the next morning. They made such good time driving here and were ready to get out on the water so we were able to get them a new permit for the date they arrived and they heading out in their canoes right away.

It was such a beautiful day for the to leave from the water front. The plan is for them to paddle towards West Pike Lake and set up a base camp there for a little fishing. As you can see from the photo, one canoe has left, one is leaving and the third is loaded and ready to go.

Jim Shefchik

Jim is our only new hire this summer. He is a roommate of Mike Kwas from Wisconsin and decided he might like to try the wilderness for a summer. So far, it is working out well for all of us. In fact, it is hard to imagine that Jim has not been here for many summers already. Jim is NOT shy and makes friends with everyone. He is certainly embracing the wilderness experience and is right now off on an overnight canoe trip.

Jim has many hobbies and a lot of knowledge about natural and organic foods. He was eating our dandelions and drying some other sort of leaves for a natural tea. If only he could eat enough dandelion greens to clear them all out. We teased Jim because the first time he mowed, he kept skipping patches because there was something interesting growing there. We had to convince him that there are interesting things growing everywhere but there are areas we need to walk in so we do have to mow and weed wack some places. On the whole, we try to maintain the property in a natural state but we do have to be careful that the forest does not take us over (that is another blog topic altogether!).

We are glad to have Jim with us this summer. He is an exuberant addition to our staff.

A walk in the park

Last Monday myself and a fellow co-worker took a walk through the park. We did the easiest trail first, the Daniel's Spur taking us right to the US/Canadian Border on the Long Portage. An absolutely beautiful trail skirting a small river and had a few small rapids. From that trail we connected with the Border Route which took us to Rose Falls. We stopped there to fill our water bottles and eat a little gorp taking in the deafening sound of water barreling over the rocks. From there we decided to take the short way home on the Caribou Rock Trail. The name reflects itself, a rocky animal path following Duncan lake for a few miles, then taking a steep uphill turn for glorious views from high upon the razorback rock outcrops. There I found the biggest wild strawberry this season, measuring about the size of your thumb nail. Crossing a rock portage I spotted the biggest snapping turtle I have ever seen. It was bigger than my cowboy hat!! Near the road we also met an elder-couple that wanted to know how far back down the trail to the road. We didn't quite know so we showed them the map and assured the pair that the trailhead was just ahead. It was about 1/4 mile to the road from where we met them. We saw them later relieved that the rock trail was behind them.

Jim

Fishing on Deer Lake

Michael Semon and his son Christian took a few days out of their busy schedule of summer school and conferences to spend some quiet time at Clearwater Lodge. They stayed upstairs in the lodge and were off fishing most days before breakfast, returning for a hot breakfast and then heading back out.

They are primarily fishing catch and release but decided that the first fish they hooked would be dinner and the rest catch and release. Christian caught the first fish on one of his first casts on Deer Lake.

The Semon's brought us several jars of homemade pickles that Christian and Michael canned. We got to sample bread and butter pickles and garlic dill pickles. We introduced Lily to the concept of home canned pickles. These pickles are going fast. I carried them back into the lodge kitchen where Lily and Tori were then the boys came in and we opened all the jars and starting sampling. What a refreshing treat to have. Thanks for thinking of us!

Mike Kwas

Mike is back for a second year at the lodge. He was here in 2008, in 2009 did a internship for college and returning to Clearwater for the 2010 season. Mike does a lot of our maintenance. He is pretty handy with a hammer, paint brush and any other tool he picks up. To distinguish him from the owner Mike, we call him Kwas. That saves us a lot of confusion on the walkie/talkies. Mike has tackled a lot of cabin maintenance this spring. I see cabin doors and windows lined up at the garage being scrapped and painted and repaired. I head the chain saw and see truck loads of brush going by. We hear Kwas radio for help now and again for some heavy lift project he has started.

Kwas attends University of WI, Whitewater and majors in Biology / Environmental Sciences.

Kwas is on his second overnight canoe/camping trip since he got here late May. The crew this year is trying not to waste one day off and taking advantage of the all that the BWCA has to offer. Today he and Jim headed out of Duncan Lake for an overnight and last week it was out of Clearwater Lake for a Johnson Falls trip. It is so nice to have returning staff like Lily,Tori, Erik and Kwas. Everyone knows what needs to be done and just tackles. We feel with such as experienced staff that we can leave the resort when necessary in their capable hands.

Moose on the Gunflint

These photos taken last week were sent to us by Michael and Christian Semon.

Tori returns for a second summer

Tori has returned to Clearwater Lodge for a second year in the woods. Like all our staff, she prefers to spend her free time out in the wilderness hiking and in a canoe. Tori is a Junior at Wenonah State majoring in Geology. After finishing up school this May she went to South Dakota for several weeks for advanced field work in the Black Hills.

You may remember Tori from her blogs last summer. Her most famous one was the story of her waking up in her trailer with a bear rummaging around in the kitchen.

Our gang is all here

Our staff for the summer are all here and we are getting into the swing of things.

Erik has returned for his 5th season at Clearwater. After 5 years he just shows up in the spring and starts opening the lodge and hooking up water connections and getting everything ready for our visitors. Erik was born and raised in White Bear Lake, Minnesota, and grew up in a state of uneventful bliss. Little did he know that when he took a summer job outfitting and guiding canoe trips on the Gunflint Trail four years ago, that it would change his life. The allure of the north woods lifestyle was impossible to deny, and he turned his summer job into a winter job with dog sled guiding at White Wilderness in Ely, MN.

Erik has managed to spend most of his times out of doors in the BWCA either in a canoe or on a dog sled.

He did take a break from living and working up north to spend a winter in the Twin Cities, obtaining his EMT license. For the time being Erik is content working out of doors, and couldn't imagine spending eight waking hours indoors. In his free time he enjoys photography, hiking, fishing, laughing, learning to pick the banjo and unicycling. Knowing that there is always a high demand for banjo pickin' unicyclists, Erik is not worried about the future at all. He looks forward to spending another summer season outside doing what he loves.

Wouldn't you love it if you were a dog in the Northwoods?

I think that the it must be wonderful to be a dog in the northwoods. You never get cooped up inside. It is a given that you are going to go on many, many car rides. You can open most of the screen doors so when you want to chase some wildlife or just lull in the yard all you have to do is push the door open with your head. There are staff and guests around that are willing to give you a rub down and sometimes a treat or just confirm you are a pretty puppy. And when all is said and done, you can sleep in the office underneath the desk of those you love.

Our Queenie dog is getting up in years and sleeping takes up more and more of her time. We did notice that her hearing isn't as good this summer. When we call her she looks around but has a little trouble discerning where the call came from. We need to watch her a bit more closely on the road that runs through the resort since she probably can't hear the cars. When we go out to the cabins she rides in the truck instead of running behind it. These days a moose could walk by her and she wouldn't try to chase it down or maybe not even bark at it. But she has her little spurts of energy. Yesterday she ran full speed down to the water front and rolled in the sand. The return trip was a lot slower and she walked right by me and didn't see me. But for that few minutes, she was a puppy again.

But I think all in all, this is the best place to share with our pet families. They may be slowing down, but the quality of life is unbeatable and we love them always.

Smile of the Heavens

My dear dodo,

You went to the heaven two months ago. I miss you so much and I have been suffering since you left me. The winter is over, and Clearwater Lake has melted. The beautiful summer is coming already. I wish you were here. You would like to walk around again.

It seems like it is yesterday once more… in January 1994 a cold winter, god brought you into my life. You were just a cute little puppy. So many happy times and wonderful memories we shared during the 16 years. You had a long life for a dog, but for us that was never enough. We traveled so many places together in China, and spent good times and bad times with each other. You are an amazing dog with a sweet personality and I love you very much. I am glad you had a warm home and a dream life with everything I did for you. I am sure you were a happy dog, absolutely.

When you were 14 year old in 2008, you made it here to the USA from China. I was really proud of you. I would have never come to USA without you, you know that. I will never give up. That was a great experience for both of us on the trip. We stayed in the USA for two and half months then returned to China. In March 2009 we made it here again and decide stay forever.

Winter was very cold here in Minnesota. You had never seen snow in your life before. You were used to living in South China. Every day we went outside for a walk and I put pretty coats and boots on you. You looked like at little rabbit. You enjoyed the snow of course, and you enjoyed summer because swimming was your favorite. We had lots of fun.

Winter of 2010 was the last winter for you. Early March you were sick and things came up suddenly. You went to heaven before the night we were sleep together. I didn’t know this was the last night for us. The next morning the vet told me your kindeys failed already. I felt so guilty. I always have confidence in your health, and I should have known you were an old dog. I should have known that something was wrong with your kidneys when we visited the vet three months ago. I should have done something for you; it might have kept you here a little longer. I would give up everything I have if you could come back to me. I was really regretting that. Everything it was too late. I can’t forgive myself.

My dear dodo, you never had any suffering in your life. I can’t see you suffering, and I know you would not have gone, because you love me. You waited for me the first time I took my road test and I got my driver’s license. This was a painful decision. I never had it in my life, and my heart was broken. Finally I had to put you to sleep. I stayed with you until you went to heaven.

When I took you home for your last shower, I put new clothes and boots on you. You looked like a pretty sleeping angle. I have your ashes here with me now. I talk to you every day. I know you can hear how I miss you.

My dear dodo, heaven is a peaceful place for you to stay. You won't suffer anymore, and you can walk and eat again. You will be a lucky and happy dog again. You will meet so many of your old friends in heaven. I will see your sun shining smile in my dreams at night.

You’re such a wonderful boy and I remember how I love you. I will move on with you in spirit. You will always be in my heart, and you will be forever.

I love you my dearest dodo,
Your owner,
Lily

A Quiet Paddle on Clearwater Lake

Rebecca and Joe visited to spend a few quiet days in a cabin over the holiday weekend. Jim snapped this picture of them as they were paddling towards the shore.

Headed towards Mountain Lake

Mike Moua organized this summer's trip for the gang from the Milwaukee area. About this time each June, they paddle out to the end of Clearwater to Mountain Lake and set up their camp on the island.

The bug report...

We haven't noticed many of our normal June friends around the lodge, but we know they are out there. You can't enjoy this wonderful spring weather in Minnesota without experiencing a little buzzing around your head. You have to take the bad with the good.

Two of our staff members were out on an overnight to Caribou Lake and reported seeing the dragon flies hatching. My first thought is good, they will eat the mosquito's. In the wooded areas there are black flies out now and mosquito's but not too terribly bad. A little bug spray and maybe a head net and you will be fine.

I was curious about the dragon flies since they are hatching. They hatch in the slow moving waters and climb out on the rocks. The boys noticed them along the edges of the Caribou Lake. I did a little google research on our friendly mosquito eating friends.

Dragonflies and their close relatives called damselflies are ancient insects and prehistoric reminders of the age of the dinosaurs. Enormous dragonflies with a wingspread up to 30 inches across were part of the Paleozoic landscape about 300 million years ago. The largest insect ever known was a dragonfly called Meganeura monyi. It had a wingspread of 30 inches and a body 18 inches long. It lived until about 250 million years ago and then became extinct.

It is believed that prehistoric insects were much larger than modern day insects because of the high concentration of oxygen in the atmosphere, about 35 percent. That percentage has decreased since the days of the dinosaurs and is now about 21 percent.

Even with major changes in the landscape over millions of years, dragonflies have continued to adapt and are found worldwide. There are an estimated 5,500 to 6,500 dragonfly and damselfly species in the world. In Minnesota there are about 140 total species.

Dragonflies belong to the class Insecta and the Order Odonata. Odonata includes both dragonflies and damselflies. Dragonflies tend to be larger and have large eyes which meet in the center of their heads. The wings of dragonflies are transparent with assorted markings. They are not narrow at the base and the forewings and the hindwings are each shaped differently. When at rest, the wings are outspread. Damselflies are generally smaller than dragonflies and have a more slender body. Their eyes are widely separated, and they hold their wings together above their body when at rest.

Dragonflies are an aeronautical marvel. They can hover, glide, and pursue prey species like mosquitoes at speeds up to 29 inches per second. They are an aggressive and voracious predator that eats midges, mosquitoes, butterflies, moths, and even smaller dragonflies and fish.

The life cycle of a dragonfly has three stages: egg, larva, and adults. After hatching in a pond, dragonfly larvae become aggressive predators that eat "anything smaller than they are". The larval stage of a dragonfly's life can last anywhere from 2 months to 5 years. After emerging from the larval stage, adult dragonflies live only 4 to 6 months.

Although dragonflies are efficient predators, they also serve as prey for birds like purple martins, frogs, and larger dragonflies. They nymphs are eaten by frogs, toads, newts and fish.

The largest species of dragonflies are the Lake Darner and Arrowhead Spike tail which average 3.1 inches long and the smallest dragonfly in the state is the Elfin Skimmer which is only .8 inches long.

Dragonflies and damselflies depend on abundant and diverse types of wetlands, rivers, and lakes. Every species has special requirements related to water quality, aquatic vegetation, and natural shoreline vegetation where they may lay eggs, hunt, or rest. They serve as an important part of the food chain and comprise an important part of our natural biological diversity. There are about as many dragonflies and damselflies in Minnesota as there are butterflies, but butterflies are more well known.

In order to better understand Minnesota's dragonflies and damselflies, the DNR's Nongame Wildlife Program has initiated an annual volunteer dragonfly survey so private citizens can help collect information on the distribution of the state's dragonflies. More information is available from www.mndragonfly.org.

catching a few rays

The Staff Johnson Falls

James, Mike, Erik and I had Tuesday off and of course we went camping. We enjoyed a slight tail wind on our way out to a nice spot on Caribou Lake on Monday afternoon. A lazy morning was spent cooking a greasy breakfast that would fuel our day at Johnson Falls. We got to the falls just in time to get sprinkled on, but the rain blended in nicely with the mist. We got to the top and bottom tier of the falls, and both were spectacular.

I look forward to getting out with the boys again soon.
-Tori

Fishing Update

I have been quizzing everyone who comes off the water on how the fishing has been. The fishing varies from lake to lake and with the skill and knowledge of the fisherman. Since ice out was so early it is hard to predict. My reports have all been consistent, Lake Trout are elusive, Walleye are haven't been so great and everyone is catching smallmouth bass. That is of course coming off the lakes in the general Clearwater area.

The fishing highlights from the Cook County News Herald are:

Trout are at about 40 feet now and can be caught with some patience.
Walleye on smaller lakes are producing Walleye at 6 to 10 feet. In the larger lakes Walleye are 45 to 55 feet deep. Fish the weed beds for Northern with using raps or minnows. Smallmouth are at about 15 feet and doing well with night crawlers.

The bug report.....well, it is June. What can we say?