11/11/10 – Dave Freeman and Amy Voytilla are former Sawbill crew members and guides who founded WildernessClassroom.com. They are in the middle of an 11,500 mile North American Odyssey – around and across North America by kayak, canoe and dog sled. They have returned from the trail with tales to tell about their epic journey.

Please join them for a pizza bake and slide show at North House Folk School on the harbor in Grand Marais on Friday, November 12th to celebrate their successes in wilderness travel and their outreach on behalf of wilderness to schools across the continent. The evening will be full of stories, photos, and fun.
So bring your favorite libations, and pizza toppings. The Wilderness Classroom will supply pizza dough, cheese, sauce, and stories.
Schedule of Events:
5:30 Pizza Prep/Happy Hour
6:00 Pizza Bake
7:00 Slide Show

11/7/2010 – Roy Wonder, our lovable deputy of outfitter security, turned three years old today. He celebrated by barking at squirrels all morning and going for a lovely canoe on Sawbill Lake this afternoon.

Roy Wonder, Deputy of Outfitter Security.

Cindy and Homer waiting on the landing for a lovely late season paddle.

Roy celebrates his third birthday on a 50+ degree, calm November 7th.

11/1/2010 – Bird migrations are in full swing as the season turns from fall to winter. Evening grosbeaks, pine grosbeaks, purple finches, snow buntings, and several other species have appeared recently.
A barred owl had taken to hanging around our house and has startled both of us by perching just outside the house and staring into the windows. Last night, the owl was staring at Cindy and as she moved, the owl’s head would move so he(she?) could keep eye contact with Cindy. A little later, Cindy was outside and spotted the owl in a nearby tree. She gave her best imitation of the barred owl’s call – “Who cooks for you?” The owl’s head would swivel around every time she did it.
I’ve been told that when owls exhibit strange behavior, it usually means that they are starving, but I haven’t noticed any shortage of owl prey around here. Rabbits and squirrels are everywhere and the mice seem to be waging an organized campaign to get into the house.
We’ve moved the camera over to the house now, so hopefully we’ll have a good barred owl picture posted here soon. – Bill

10/27/10 – Here are some better pictures of the rare albino chickadee.

10/25/10 – This years crop of chickadees produced a very rare treat, an albino chickadee. It was a little confusing and shocking at first, to see a mysterious white bird at the feeder, but after having it around the feeder for a few days, it definitely seems to be a chickadee that lacks the normal coloration. Even though he has been hanging around for a few days, he has been fairly camera-shy. These are the best pictures that we have so far. Hopefully he will become comfortable posing for the camera in the near future. -Marc

The chickadee sitting on the ground outside our store.

A close-up of the previous picture.

10/23/10 – Sadly, the canoeing season is almost finished for 2010. Highs in the 30s and snow in the forecast seem to signal that the beautiful fall weather is over. Luckily, we managed to sneak out early last night to go for a paddle under the nearly full moon. All six of us in one Quetico 18 made for a crowded canoe, but I feel that it was more cozy than uncomfortable. Today, we decided to use the last good weather of the week to put our Kevlar canoes in the Dome for winter storage. Standing that many canoes on their noses can lead to problems, but this year it went off without a hitch. No one even ran into the garage door. -Marc

We set out from the landing.

My hat at the bottom of the picture proves that photographing yourself and five other people while riding in a canoe is no easy task.

The moon isn’t full until tonight, but it was definitely bright enough last night to fully light our path along shore as we paddled along.

Bill stands the first of the canoes up in the dome before sliding it into place.

Cindy spends some of her free time while Bill maneuvers the canoes into place tap-dancing around the cement floor.

Liz carries in the last canoe.

10/22/10 – The season is quickly winding down here at Sawbill. We’ve had a lot of sunny, blue days, but also some cold nights to remind us that winter is on the way. We want to sneak out tonight for paddle under the almost full moon. – Bill
We received two interesting pictures recently:

Jon and Denise Ward sent up this great picture of a wolf that they took a few weeks ago just a couple of miles from Sawbill.

Thelma Williams, from Cross Lake, Minnesota, sent a picture of a Turtlehead flower that she snapped in the Sawbill campground back in August. It is a member of the figwort family, which sounds like something Harry Potter would use for an invisibility spell.

10/12/10 – Jeff and Kelly Zwonitzer, from Maple Grove, Minnesota, long time Sawbill campers, sent along a note and few pictures from their recent visit.
I just wanted to let you know what a spectacular trip we just had. My wife and I decided to take a few days off and head to Sawbill for the second time this year. Our goal was to hang around the campfire, take a few day trips and just enjoy and recharge. It’s good to have goals…
We arrived Thursday, Oct 8th and headed back home on the 10th. Just a short trip but awesome to say the least. Absolutely great weather for October!
I also wanted to share some photos of the juvenile loons and some other reflection shots I took. The two loons seemed to be the last remaining ones around, at least on the southern end of Sawbill. I’ll be curious to find out when they leave. The calm winds and warm weather begged us to take one last paddle before we had to pack up and leave. So glad we did.
Jeff and Kelly Zwonitzer




(Photos courtesy of Jeff and Kelly Zwonitzer)

10/10/10 – It’s that time of year again. Crewmembers Leif, Sarah and Jessica and former crew member Dan Seemon came up this weekend for a visit. The four of them enjoyed the glorious weather by going out paddling on the lake and hunting in the woods. Last night, we got out this year’s pumpkins and had our annual carving contest. More pictures of fall festivities will follow as they occur. -Marc

The visiting crewmembers gut their pumpkins.

Luke contemplates what to carve.

Bill got out his headlight and chisels to perform face-surgery on his pumpkin.

Two of Cindy’s blind mice.

My hand-turkey, Jessica’s funny face and Leif’s Two Harbors logo.

Tyler did Sawbill proud and reproduced our logo.

Bill’s portrait of Clare

Sarah’s Jack-o’-lantern pumpkin

The whole group.

10/5/10 – The slower pace of the Fall season allows us to take occasional nights off. Last night we headed down the shore to go bowling at Silver Bowl in Silver Bay. Aside from having tons of fun and eating lots of greasy food, we also managed to bowl some fairly good games, considering our lack of practice. Luke and Andy both managed to bowl over 130 with Bill, Liz and I not too far behind. We have already started discussing building our own bowling lane in the Dome once used as the outfitting department, but we will have to wait until next year, when Andy, our resident carpenter, has enough time on his hands to complete the task. I can’t wait. -Marc

Liz explains how bowling scoring works.

Andy throws one of his many strikes.

Bill celebrates after his first strike of the evening.

Happy and tired canoe outfitters after a night of bowling.