4/18/08 – Today’s ice thickness test actually measured thicker ice than yesterday’s. 22.5″ today and 20″ yesterday. I don’t think this means that the ice is getting thicker (although it did get below freezing last night). Lake ice is not perfectly flat on its bottom surface. I think we just randomly picked a slightly thicker spot to measure. There is 5″ of slush and water on top of the ice. – Bill

4/17/08 – After another day and a half of warmth the ice thickness on Sawbill Lake stands at 20″ of solid ice with another 6″ of slush and water on top.
Soon it will be summer and velvet antlered bull moose will be feeding in bog meadows dotted with wild iris and pitcher plants. Kevin Van Den Hemel from Rochester, Minnesota was kind enough to send this great picture from his canoe trip last season. – Bill

Hard to believe, but this scene will be possible again in less than two months.

4/16/08 – Spring is finally arriving at Sawbill. After two late season snowstorms, the weather has turned very warm. Yesterday we lost 6 – 8″ of snow. The lakes are still white and solid. Starting today, we’ll give a daily ice melting progress report on Sawbill Lake.

Lee Noble, the first Sawbill crew member to arrive this season, drills a test hole in Sawbill Lake.

Ice thickness is 26.5 inches. There is about 8″ of snow and slush on top of the ice.

4/11/08 – OK, this is getting ridiculous. We awoke this morning to another late season winter storm. 7.5 inches of snow overnight and more since I measured this morning. High winds are adding to the mid-winter feel today.
We are starting to get calls and emails about when the ice will go out. The earliest ice-out date that I can remember in the last fifty years was in 2000 when Sawbill was ice free on April 12th. Since the millennium, the ice has gone out sometime in April every year except two. Once it went out on May 1st and once on May 2nd. The latest ice out in my memory was May 24th. I can’t remember the year, but it was at least twenty years ago.
Predicting ice out dates is dicey at best. I’ve seen thin, rotten, black ice hang in for weeks during a late season cold snap and I’ve seen a solid 14 inches of ice go out in a couple of days. Within the next few days we’ll start a daily report on ice thickness and condition. I’m still hoping for at least a few good days of lake skiing and kite flying. – Bill

Plowing on April 11th!

4/6/08 – While most of the country is sliding gently into spring, Sawbill is still firmly entrenched in the winter season. While it’s true that we’ve had some significant melting recently, we awoke this morning to 6″ of fresh snow and more on the way!

Phoebe and Roy checking the new snow for tracks while on hourly security patrol.

April snows belie the impending canoe season.

3/27/08 –

Yesterday, our neighbor up on the Gunflint Trail, Hungry Jack Lodge, had a catastrophic fire. Despite the best efforts of the outstanding Gunflint Trail Fire Department, the main lodge building was a total loss. This is the third time the lodge building has burned, first in 1931, then again in 1972, and now 2008.
Hungry Jack Lodge has a rich history in the area and a direct connection to Sawbill Lodge, our former next door neighbor who went out of business in the ’80s. After the 1931 Hungry Jack fire, a teenager from Chicago, Wilson “Nibs” Arbogust, was hired by the owners to help clean up and reconstruct the lodge building. Although he didn’t actually do any of the log work, Nibs studied the techniques and practiced on his own. On a visit home in January of 1932, Nibs raised the idea with his father, step-mother and siblings that they should start a wilderness lodge in the style of Hungry Jack.
To make a long story short, they did carve Sawbill Lodge out of the wilderness with many, many great stories created and it eventually became one of the premiere resorts in Minnesota. Sawbill Lodge opted to go out of business when the BWCA Wilderness Act was passed in 1978. The Forest Service paid them for the property and returned it to nature. The Sawbill Lodge building was moved to Solbakken Resort in Lutsen where it can be visited today.
Our sympathy and best wishes go out to Forest Parson and his staff for their loss. – Bill

3/20/08 – In our continuing coverage of cute kids born to former Sawbill crew members, today’s feature is Natasha Warner (aka Tasha B A), her husband, Ray White, and daughters Willow (3) and Olive (1). Natasha settled in the nearby town of Grand Marais after working at Sawbill. –

Ray, Natasha, and future canoeists Willow and Olive relaxing at home.

3/17/08 – Winter continues here at Sawbill with deep snow, cold nights and frosty mornings. It’s hard to imagine that summer is coming with it’s deep green foliage and water warm enough to swim. Now is a good time to be planning your wilderness canoe trips and think about reserving an entry permit. Almost all entry dates are still open for the season, so you can choose your favorite route. You can check permit availability (and make a reservation) by following the links below.
Sawbill Lake #38
Kawishiwi Lake #37
Hog Creek #36
Baker Lake #39
Homer Lake #40
Brule Lake #41
Brule Lake Only #41A
All other entry points

Temperatures swing widely at this time of year. When the conditions are right, every twig and branch is coated with a rime of frost.

Sawbill Lake looks frosty and cold, but soon will start it’s transition to blue and liquid.

Phoebe, Chief of Outfitter Security, (left) with her deputies, Homer and Roy, on lake patrol.

3/6/08 – This is a little bit off subject, but the local Grand Marais Jazz Festival is shaping up to be a very interesting and enjoyable event this year. There will be great jazz performances scattered around the area on the weekend of the fishing opener. Fishing during the day and listening to live jazz at night – sounds good to me! – Bill

3/3/08 – We experienced a natural phenomenon yesterday that is unique to our 51 years at Sawbill. From late afternoon through the night, the trees were making strange popping noises. It was a spooky, hard to describe sound that sounded like people tapping on tree trunks with resonant sticks. With some quite close and the rest fading into the distance, the sound was nearly continuous. The air was perfectly still and combined with a star filled sky, it gave one a profound sense of the forest as a living organism.
My best guess is that some sap started to flow during the last couple of warm days. Last night the temperature quickly dropped to about ten below, causing the trees to refreeze and make the popping sound. On the mysterious side, we’ve seen sudden temperature drops many times in March and have never heard this before. Also, it was a much quieter, mellow sound than the cracking that trees do during extreme cold snaps in December and January. – Bill