3/20/10 – Cindy Hansen sprained the heck out of her ankle this week, causing her to develop a raging case of cabin fever. The thing she is missing most while waiting for the swelling and pain to subside, is taking the Sawbill dog pack for its daily walk. I volunteered to facilitate her return to this routine by pushing her around the campground in the garden cart. – Bill

Homer and Roy are excited for Cindy’s return to the daily “walk” while multi-tasking with recycling duty.

3/19/10 – Our long-time campground host at Crescent Lake Campground, Joanne Koski, has retired from hosting. We are looking for a new campground host for the Crescent Lake Campground. Basically, the host does a couple of hours of light work per day in exchange for free camping in a premium site and a monthly stipend. The job lasts from mid-May to mid-September. If you’re interested, or know someone who might be interested, a detailed job description and an application form are available on our website. The application deadline is April 15th.
I’d like to thank Joanne for all her years of service and friendship. Joanne camped at Crescent Lake all summer for many years before she was the campground host – around 30 years all together. I know she’ll miss it! – Bill

3/17/10 – When I go for my daily ski or run, I always see something that makes the trip worthwhile. It may be as dramatic as a gorgeous sunset or a subtle as a tiny strawberry blossom.
Yesterday, I hit the virtual jackpot. Not only was it 55 degrees with warm sunshine beaming on me and the bright green pines, but it was perfectly still and silent, without a breath of wind.
About two miles south of Sawbill I encountered a moose standing in the road. It let me get within about a hundred feet and then turned and walked down the road in front of me. Every minute or so, she would stop, ponderously turn around to see if I was still there, and then continue down the road. This went on until I turned back for home.
On the way back, I was admiring the large, fluffy cumulus clouds, which are common during the summer, but pretty rare in the middle of March. One cloud was large enough that it started to produce a rain shower which, in turn, created a complete double rainbow arch from horizon to horizon.
I can’t wait to see what awaits me this afternoon. – Bill

3/12/10 – What a difference a week can make at this time of year. A week ago, we were skiing through soft snow on the lake and there was 18″ of white snow on the ground. After a week of unusually warm weather and rain, the lake snow has turned to 6″ of slush and the official snow depth in the woods now stands at 4″. It looks like the middle of April around here with a lot of bare ground showing amid piles of degraded snow. – Bill

Scott Harrison, Rick Burns and Nancy Burns enjoying a wilderness ski outing on Kelso Lake just a week ago. Scott and Nancy own and operate historic Lutsen Resort. Rick is Nancy’s brother visiting from Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

On the same trip we encountered this cozy winter camp. The canvas tent and wood stove were rented from The Canoeist in Two Harbors.

Contrast the scenes above to this shot of Sawbill Lake today. Wet, wet, wet.

You can see how soft the lake surface has become, but there is more than 2 feet of solid ice under my boot.

Large patches of bare ground are now exposed, but history tells us that more snow is very likely to fall before spring really arrives.

This snowman is just a few days old, but isn’t long for this world.

3/4/10 – Greg Fangel and Liz Wagner, Tofte and Twin Cities residents and avid cross country skiers, spent a couple of days camping in the wilderness starting here at Sawbill. They enjoyed gorgeous weather – warm temperatures, calm winds, brilliant sunshine and a night sky thick with stars. They were kind enough to share some pictures with us.

Greg show good skiing form even with a toboggan holding him back.

Multi-tasking breakfast and boot warming.

Home, sweet home.

The frozen waves of Alton Lake.

A bobcat track.

Exploring Kelso Lake.

Greg and Liz are aficionados of classic wooden winter transportation. Visit his fabulous website WoodenSkis.com.

Liz peers comfortably from her down sleeping bag.

3/2/10 – We received this kind and useful email this morning from long-time Sawbill customer Scott Oeth:
I am a volunteer with the Northern Star Council (Minneapolis-St. Paul area) Boy Scout Council and serve as the chairman of the council’s Eagle Scout Scholarship committee. I’m also a big fan of Sawbill, and have made many trips with my good friend Mike Branham to stay at the campground. I always appreciate Bill’s friendly conversation and being able to buy coffee, showers and souvenirs at your store! Our committee is working with Cliff Jacobson on organizing a wilderness canoeing school which he will be conducting the weekend of March 27th, with all the proceeds going to fund scout scholarships. The program is open to the public, but is designed for the outdoors enthusiast, in particular trip leaders. Cliff is also a big fan of and recommends many trips heading out of Sawbill!
I’m wondering if you could help us out on the promotion side. I’ve attached a detailed agenda and registration form and a link with information on the council site is below. If you could please pass this on to those you know who may be interested, it would really help our scholarship fund and to help develop canoe country enthusiast.
http://www.northernstarbsa.org/News.aspx?articleID=560
Please let me know if you have any questions. I’ll see you this fall if not before!
Thanks,
Scott Oeth

2/24/10 – Frank Hansen asked me to thank everyone who sent greetings to him on hes 89th birthday a couple of weeks ago. Since Frank and Mary Alice moved to Grand Marais a few years ago, they have really missed regular contact with all their good Sawbill friends. – Bill

2/23/10 – “Nordic Nirvana” is what we are experiencing at Sawbill right now. The local ski trails, Sawbill Lake and the rest of the BWCA Wilderness is in perfect condition for cross country skiing. Inspired by NBC’s really good cross country ski coverage, we’ve been burning up the trails. The weather has been perfect, making it all the sweeter.
This space isn’t meant to be promotional, but downhill skiing and snowboarding at nearby Lutsen Mountains are fabulous right now too. The snow is perfect, the weather mild, the slopes uncrowded and they are offering some very good lodging/lift ticket packages. There is also some fantastic music coming up at Papa Charlie’s night club. – Bill

A perfect ski trail is a beautiful sight.

Cindy and the dogs head up Sawbill in the late afternoon sunshine.

The otters are enjoying the fast snow on the lakes too!

During the summer, we call the Forest Service airplane dock “The Sawbill Beach Club.” As we skied by yesterday, we saw this sign peeking out from under the snow on the dock. It may be closed, but no one would mind if you wanted to swim there now.

2/11/10 – We were saddened to learn of the passing this year of Jim Baldwin, a long time Sawbill canoeist, scout leader, and father of Dave Baldwin who was a Sawbill crew member back in the ’80s. Our condolences to the Dave and his family. Jim introduced generations of Missourians to canoe country and a love of wilderness. – Bill

2/8/10 – I just received an unusual request from a customer. He wanted our free map/route guide of the Sawbill area so he and his wife could use it to help find a name for their soon to be born son. Of course, there are many good boy-name lakes: Alton, Jordan, Kelly, Gordon, Karl, Roy, Slim and so on. There are also many other lake names that would be inappropriate to name a baby after, but may provide some amusement: Little Hustler, Kingfisher, Frog, Sucker, Fallen Arch and Clam, just to name a few. – Bill