Steve's Journal
June 24, 2010
Greetings! i guess it has been more than a week since I last updated this page. Time goes by too fast these days and the days seem to run together.
Well, after a very warm dry Spring we are having a normal June with temps about average, 60's & 70's, with a fair amount of rain. The lakes are still quite low, around late Fall levels, but the fire danger is now low. We did have a few lightening fires in the BWCAW, some were put out and other were allowed to burn. All in all very few acres were burned. The dry Spring has, so far, made for a bug free summer. There were not any black flies to speak of and the mosquioes have not been a problem to date.
Berry season outlook. If we keep getting rain off and on we are going to have a bumper crop of all the wild berries. The wild raspberries are really loaded, the blueberries look fantastic and we may even get Juneberries in June this year! All the local berry pickers are psyched up and ready to start putting food up for the winter.
The Loons are on their nests at Lark lake and Triangle lake. We should start seeing the loonlings around the 4th of July. The eaglets are quite large now and you can see the adults out fishing everyday. I assume the Osprey are starting to hatch also, but I have not noticed the adults bringing fish back to the nest yet.
If you are into orchids, now is the time to be here. Most all of our orchids are in bloom or will be this week. The state flower, the Showey Lady Slipper, is in bloom and if you have never seen it you should make plans to see it. Call your local DNR (MN) and ask where you might be able to find this flower. They are incredible.
Tuesday Night Live. Every Tuesday night there is free music in downtown Ely. Some of the groups are quite good and draw lots of people. All you need to do is show up and maybe bring your own chairs. Most of the music starts around 6 PM, if you are in town earlier head down to the Farmers Market in the Park. They have fresh vegetables, pastries, crafts and a large assortment of road kills. It is canning season up North!
Our business started out quite slow, but has picked up considerably. We still have some openings, but the cabins are booking up fast for the remainder of the Summer. Aug and Sept. are booked solid at the Triangle lake cabin. We still have some openings in July, give Steve a call and see what kind of bargin he can come up with.
We have decided to sell the Triangle and Lark lake properties. This may take awhile, but when we do, we will not close the deal until the end of the season, be it summer or winter. So if you have made reservations, and the cabin sells, we will honor your reservation and have a party the day of your departure. Beer or Wine?
May, 2010
Spring certainly did come early this year! We have had open water for over a month now. I can remember in 1992, we could not get across the lakes untill May 5. Our first customers had to paddle down the N. Kawishiwi river from Lake One and then portage to Triangle lake. Ojibway and Tringle were still frozen. Once they made the portage to Triangle lake, they still had to break ice to get to the cabin. Once there, they had a wonderful stay and were able to watch the ice go out.
Most all the summer resident birds are back. We haven't seen any Hummers yet or some of the warblers. Once more insects emerge, we will no doubt have the warblers arrive in mass. I've seen Bald Eagles and Osprey on nests and assume the eaglets have hatched out of their eggs. The forest ground cover is starting to green up. The large leaf asters are about 2 " high, the trilliums are up, but not flowering yet. The violets and anemones are in bloom as well as the marsh marigolds and wild clematis. The wild fruit tress are in bloom, blueberries too! Let's hope there are lots of berries agsin this year. Liz makes sure we have enough to eat some most every day of the year. We have been looking for ostrich fern fiddleheads, but have yet to find any up. They are wonderful steamed or stir fried.
The fishing opener is this weekend, a little late this year. I think the DNR moved the opener so it would not coincide with Mothers Day. It should be a pretty good opener, the fish are long done spawing and will be hungry after all that work. The weather actually looks fantastic, with sunny skies and temps around 65.
It is still very dry in NE Minnesota and the fire restrictions are still on. We have had about 1/2 of rain/snow in the last 2 weeks and very little or nothing before that. We need rain badly, but without lightening. The concern now, besides lightening, is the fact that there will be thousands of people heading into the woods this weekend with the opener.
We still have a number of openings in June and some in July. Think about joining us for a few days or longer. We know the present economy is making people think twice about vacation time, but think about it and give us a call. We will work with you to make your stay affordable.
We have recently decided to sell the Triangle lake cabin and its surrounding 80 A. We have yet to decide on a price until we talk to an appraiser. We may decide to try and sell Triangle lake and Lark as one package. We will keep you posted.
March 1, 2010
Greetings from sunny Ely, MN. We are going on 15 days of bright sunshine filled days. It has been absolutely beautiful! We have had 30 - 40 degree temperature swings from morning to evening, yesterday it was negative 20 at 6 AM and +36 at 4 PM. We have also been blessed with crystal clear skies in the evening allowing for magnificent moonlight skis.
As the day length increases, so does the wildlife activity. This week I saw more otter tracks and even mink tracks along the shoreline. The water levels have dropped over the winter, but the ice is still attached to the shore where it froze in November. This allows voids under the ice, near the shore, where mink and otters can hunt without being exposed to predators, like wolves and eagles.
There has been lots of red fox sign along the lakeshore and on the portages. They are breeding at this time of the year and will be having kits in the middle of April. When you get near a scent post, it is pretty obvious, it smells much like skunk. So if you think you have skunks around this time of year, it is probably the red fox you smell.
We had our first returning crow today. It seems early, but there are bare patches of ground showing up on the south facing slopes and carrion is starting to "melt out" along the highways. There are also some returning eagles. I have seen eagles every day in the past week. The woodpeckers are starting to proclaim their territory more frequently now. We have been waking up to the loud drumming of the pileated woodpecker most every morning. We have a big hollow aspen very near our home that resonates very well at 6 AM. The purple finches are also back, at least at our feeders, and have begun to sing their melodious spring song. No owls yet, but they should be vocalizing more frequently as the nesting season arrives. Will keep you posted.
Update on the moose/wolf saga. I saw fresh moose tracks near Lark lake last Thursday with no wolf tracks following, so maybe the wolves gave up the chase for now. There has not been much sign of wolves this week around Triangle lake, but I ran into some campers down on the Kawishiwi that heard a pack on Wednesday night. Never get tired of hearing wolves or loons.
With the bright warm days and the cold nights, the trails have stiffened up perfectly for hauling firewood. We started taking trees down last week and should be done this week. We still will have to cut and split the logs, but we can do that later in the month. The most important thing is to get the trees down and out of the woods before the trails go to hell with warmer weather on the horizon. If you want to come up to help split and stack, email us and we will make arragements to put you up at one of the cabins.
Congrats to our northern neighbors! Both the women and men's hockey teams won Olympic gold metals! Unfortunately, they beat the US. At least we kept the medals in the western hemisphere!
March 9, 2010
Wow, What's going on! 50 degrees and sunny, that is warmer than it was last July?! I haven't seen this for about 6 or 7 years. The ice is pretty much void of snow and the south facing slopes are a good place to take a mid day nap. Boy, the smell of freshly thawed ground is pleasing, it has been awhile. The trails are still snow covered and packed, but they are soft. You can ski or snow shoe on them, but you would not want to walk on them, you would be "post holeing" for sure. I'm really glad we got the firewood in before the trails softened up, now we just have to get some materials in before the ice softens.
We are doing a little remodeling at the Triangle cabin. We are putting windows in the south wall, quarry tile around the counter & woodstove and building another outhouse up top the hill. We also need to do some staining and a little carpentry work in the new screen house. A new dock too! The ice tore it to hell last spring. If you want to come up in May and get you hands dirty, just email us. We will put you up at a cabin.
Some wildlife news! The Fisher is back.........a fresh beaver carcass seemed to preferred over soggy sunflower seeds. It doesn't like to show up during the day light hours, at least when people are at the cabin, but has been seen munching away after dark. Hopefully the people at the cabin now, will get a picture for us. Our current guests, a cousin I haven't seen in 50 years, tried to call in Saw Whet, Boreal and Barred owls. They got a response from a Barred owl, but nothing else. It may be a bit early for the others owls, but they will keep trying this week and we will keep you posted. The Ravens seem to be in the midst of their annual courtship displays. I have seen many pairs in the last week doing some amazing aerial stunts. They will be on eggs soon.
Pray for cooler weather, or at least normal weather. We don't need 2 months of April!
The Triangle and Lark lake cabins are closed during ice out, but the Sundew cabin is accessable via a 2.5 mile logging road. Sweet time to be here to see the transition form Winter to Spring. Come enjoy the SILENCE.
March 18, 2010
Wow! is this Global Warming! Accorrding to the Duluth weather station it has been 136 years since we experienced this duration of above normal temps in March. Yesterday, while working on firewood at Triangle cabin, we heard a couple of Spring Peepers and one Wood Frog! I know that is the earliest I have heard them in my 35 years here.
We can now longer get our 4 wheeler on to the ice with out using planks. The ice has receded from the south facing shoreline by about 3 feet. From now on we will have to go across on skis or foot. Hopefully, the return to normal temps will allow us to continue crossing the lake for another week. We still have more wood to split at Triangle and Lark lake cabins and brush piles to burn.
With the early loss of our snow pack we are facing the possibility of a long fire season. It is a long time to green up, and we did not get much snow over the winter. The ridges are already getting quite dry from the many warm sunny days we have had since the snow dissappeared.
Spring is certainly in the air! Yesterday I saw lots of willows in bloom (pussy willows) and I noticed buckets hanging on the maple trees. I would guess the sap is running like crazy. A friend has seen Bald Eagles carrying nesting material to patch or build a new nest. We have seen more eagles everyday as they migrate back north to their breeding grounds. As we were heading across the lake on Tuesday we saw 2 wolves standing on the west side of Triangle lake. There is a den not far from Triangle lake, I suppose the wolves are hanging out nearer their den site now that the new pups are about to be born.
MARCH 25, 2010
Cold weather has returned for a few days, ( 5 degrees at the moment) but it is too late for the ice, The ice has pulled away from the shoreline and is no longer safe for travel. This could be the earliest ice out in history!
We have taken a few days off from the projects we have going out at Triangle cabin. We will go back to the cabin on Monday, but this time we will have to hoof it around Ojibway and Triangle lakes to get to the cabin. It is about a hour plus hike, but quite easy with no vegetation out yet.
A few more birds have arrived. I saw a couple of Swans and Golden Eyes on the river by Winton and on Wednesday I heard a Large breasted backscratcher in the city park. That is early for them, they don't usually show up till the fisherman arrive for the opener!
Yesterday, while on a run, along the Shagawa river I saw Hooded Merganzers, Redwing blackbirds, Grackles and Robins. Spring is here, but it doesn'r seem right. We are suppose to get temperatures in the 60's this week! Our average high for this time of year is around 40. At this rate, will will no doubt have a record ice out. We already have a burning ban on, and the DNR wll not lift that ban till green up which is usually around mid - May. It is very dry up here in the Northwoods! There was little or no run off because we had very little snow this past winter. All the lakes and streams are very low, similar to what you might see in late summer. Hopefully we will not have any major fires that could destroy private property, but the wilderness area could use some fuel reduction. There are 1000's of acres of fuel on the forest floor that has accumulated over the last 20 years as a result of a budworm infestation. On the bright side, when the fire danger is high, the small towns around the BWCAW can prosper with the influx of many, many firefighters. The bars and restaurants do especially well!
APRIL 5, 2010
Well, we have open water! Earliest ever, even the big, deep lakes are open. It seems so weird to have temperatures still running 10 to 20 degrees above normal. It is enjoyable though, even been able to get in the garden to plant peas. The spinach is already up! We finally got a little precip, but nothing really worth while. It has been sunny and very windy so the fire danger has really escalted recently. The USFS has already been flying fire patrol a few times per day.
Some new birds are back, namely Tree and Song Sparrows, Juncos, Common Merganzers, Brown Creepers, Ospreys, Herring gulls, but no Loons yet. They are usualy here as soon as the ice is off, but again, this is a weird Spring. I would guess we will see them this week sometime. We will also probably see the first canoest arrive for an early trip into the BWCAW. I wish I could join them, but we are heading West for a couple of weeks to visit friends and spend some time in the mountains. We will be back in Ely the last week of April and have the cabins available for rent by the first of May. Come on up and enjoy our beautiful Spring weather and beat the mosquitoes and blackflies. This is truly a great time to be inthe North Woods. For you birders, May is the best time to see all the returning warblers in full breeding plumage and they are singing like crazy. Don't forget the frogs..........heard Wood frogs yesterday.
The new tile floor and window at Triangle--this should brighten it up a bit!
Hoar Frost
Spring lake travel
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Getting firewood ready for next winter
Lark Lake cabin
The Triangle Cabin summer screen house with bunkhouse in the background
Triangle Cabin