Busy holiday weekend!

It's been unseasonably hot lately. A few scattered showers have blown through quickly and cleared up just as fast as they came. The Saturday of Memorial Day weekend the gunflint trail residents had a community garage sale all through the area. We were very busy selling surplus items and continued to sell into the evening. The other evening four of our staff took a quick paddle on Clearwater Lake. They promptly returned when spotting an approaching storm front. They instead made a fire to entice the incomming rain.

Our Pal Woody

We feel like we have a new friend this summer. We always can hear woodpeckers and frequently see the results of all that pecking on the trees but this year we have one that just seems to be hanging out at the lodge. He doesn't startle when we walk by and totally unconcerned even if Queenie tries to check him out. Sometimes he is in the logs in the garden and sometimes on the trees around the lodge. Today it was about 10 feet outside the lodge door on the logs that line the driveway. I feel like we should name him! As long as he does not start on the lodge itself, we can live comfortably together.

All the new stuff

One of the fun chores in getting ready for the spring is unpacking all the boxes of new items for the gift shop. We still have some surprises yet to arrive but were were pleased with our new bags. Perfect for books, a notebook, towel and a book for the beach!

Fishing on Clearwater

Lily and John Anderson took advantage of fishing opener on Clearwater Lake and had pretty good success smallmouth bass.

This old pine

If you have stayed in cabins 5 or 6, there was a rather good size pine tree between the two cabins. It was very majestic and we hated to have to take it down but it was past it's prime and threatening to take out one of the two cabins depending upon the way the wind blew.

Once down, we get 13 chairs out of it and lots of fire wood. 7 of the wood chairs are around the fire ring at the point and the other 6 will probably be at the fire ring at the lodge.

Bright and Sunny on Fishing Opener

I don't have any fishing reports yet but people have been heading out in canoes, if not to fish, to enjoy this warm spring weather. Today was bright and sunny and with the rain the past few days no fire ban for those camping in the BWCA. We will experience a dramatic greening of the trees over the next week with this warmer weather.

Margaret Sims brought a group of friends from Germany up today and they all headed out for a day trip on Clearwater Lake. After looking at the maps, they decided to paddle to the Mountain Lake portage, hike to the portage and intersect with the Border Route Trail to do a little exploring.

Hand Made Septic Tank

While digging to install the new septic tank, we ran into one of the original handmade septic tanks on the property. This one was made of the stone found on Clearwater Lake and mortared together. The top was made of cement poured onto chicken wire. Unused for at least 50 years, the tank was in pretty good shape before it was broken open with the digging.

Fire Restrictions Lifted

Good News! The fire restrictions have been lifted effective noon today just in time for fishing open!

As of 12:00 noon, today, Friday, May 14, 2010, the Forest Service will lift current restrictions and to allow the use of campfires, charcoal, and wood-burning camp stoves on all national forest system lands at all times of the day within the Superior National Forest. Fire danger has been greatly reduced by recent precipitation across the Forest.

As always, visitors are urged to use care with campfires and use designated fire grates.

Rain!

We are having some great rain today and tonight. We even have some mud puddles which is good news for our greening up and to lower the fire ban!

Project Time

Other than enjoying not wearing a coat and the plants coming up and no ice on the lake, Spring is project time. This is the time for those bigger projects that we save up all year and attack each spring. We have a short window of pleasant weather to tackle the big ones before the our guests some and stay in the cabins.

One of this years spring projects is a replacement floor for the bathroom in cabin 1. Peggy and Mike's son, Adam Trace, is spending his vacation helping us with the one. He and Mike removed the toilet and started cutting out the floor.

Of course, Adam had to strike a pose where the toilet used to be.

Septic Project

This is the one project I am sure everyone dreads. The Septic problem!!! We identified a cracked tank last spring and had to reroute some of our septic lines to get around this until we could do the final fix. With the wonderful early spring and the weight restrictions off the roads, we started our work.

Peggy poses on the new tank while everyone else figures out the logistics of getting it into the ground!

Gunflint Trail's First Annual Trash and Treasure Day

60 miles of Garage Sale! May 29th 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM will be the first annual Gunflint Trail Trash and Treasure Day. Businesses and home along the 60 miles of the Gunflint Trail will be participating in a Gunflint Trail Garage Sale day!

You never know what you will find!