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Dragon Boat Races

7/6/14 – The Fourth of July has come and passed yet again and we hope you all had a wonderful and patriotic holiday! Here at Sawbill we held our 7th annual Sawbill Dragon Boat Races! Each year we divide the crew and any friends who wish to participate into teams of four, put them in Wenonah Minnesota II canoes, and race up the shore of Sawbill Lake. The teams battle it out for the fame and the glory of being the least dysfunctional team. It was a blast, and we had a beautiful sunset to race under.
The race was one of the closest ever, with only 23 seconds separating the first and fifth place teams. Shouts of “Go, Go, Go!”, and “Don’t hit the rocks!” could all be heard over the water (sorry campground visitors). All in all, spirits were high and it was a great way to celebrate the fourth. Maybe we will see you next year at our 8th annual Dragon Boat Races! – Mark
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Crew member Emma moments before her team paddled to victory!
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Our Sawbill Babes Team: Annie, Michelle, Sandy, and Beth
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Team AARP: John, Cindy, Denise, and Bill
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Crew Team 1 (and your victors): Jessica, Mark, Emma, and Buck
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Crew Team 2: Peter, Britta, Lindsey, and Rachel
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Crew Team 3: Nils, Ana, Laura, and Carla (and photobomber Bill in the background)
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The teams all lined up and ready to start the race under the sunset!

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Sawbill babes Sandy, Beth, Annie, and Michelle

7/4/14 Yet again, we have some returning babes up at Sawbill right now! Pictured below are Sandy Zinn, Beth Rolf, Annie Strupeck, and Michelle Thieman with their boys. These four ladies have come just in time for our fourth of July dragon boat races, which they will be participating in. May the odds be ever in their favor! – Mark
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From left to right- Back row: Sandy Zinn, Beth Rolf, Annie Strupeck, Michelle Thieman
Front row: Wyatt Rehfuss, Will Rehfuss, Franklin Strupeck, Jack Sperle
Not pictured: Anders Decker (represented by the moose), and George Strupeck (represented by the bear)!

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April Knight Update

7/2/14 – You may recall about a month ago we told you all about fellow paddler April Knight’s expedition from Sawbill to Hudson Bay. April’s latest updates of her expedition have come in, and she is having quite the adventure! Recently April found herself in the backyard of the Christensen family while portaging around some raging rapids, where she was invited into their home for good food, good company, and a shower.
From there, she made her way to Gimli, a small Icelandic community north of Winnipeg. There April met Ellie, the harbormaster’s wife, and her family. They were kind enough to allow her passage on the barge up to Poplar Point /Poplar River the following Tuesday. In the week she stayed in Gimli, April was able to celebrate & experience Canada Day in this small, warm community.
If all that was not enough, she ran into none other than Mike Ranta at the Macarthur damn. Mike Ranta is a canoe blogger, who is currently attempting to break the record for the longest solo canoe trip! What an adventure.
April reports, “Between wind bound days and going through water that resembled blue whales playing just below the surface, I have a new vigor for the journey and meeting so many wonderful people!”
April has now made her way on via the barge to Poplar and Nanowin Rivers Nature Preserve off of Lake Winnipeg. We wish her the best of experiences and cannot wait to hear about all the adventures that await her! – Mark
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April and some hungry fisherman she met on the shore of Lake Winnipeg
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Mike Ranta, his dog, and their decked out canoe
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April with Captain Walter Lea, the harbormaster of Gimli

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We had a great time hosting the Adventure Crew 835 from Woodridge Church of Medina, Minnesota

7/2/14 – We had a great time hosting the Adventure Crew 835 from Woodridge Church of Medina, Minnesota last week. It was a pleasure having this group of outstanding youth and their competent leaders in the Sawbill Campground. They were kind enough to send along a group picture. – Bill
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Crew 835 from Woodridge Church.
Here is this week’s edition of the Cook County West End News from WTIP, North Shore Community Radio.

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Sunrise on Brule lake

7/1/14 – Watching the sun rise on a nice clear day over a lake is always a worthwhile idea. Nothing is better than getting up while it is still just dark, hopping into your canoe, and paddling out to enjoy a peaceful sunrise. That is exactly what some of our crew went out to Brule Lake to do, where they captured the awesome image below. For those camping overnight in the Boundary Waters, or just staying on the other side of the boundary, capturing your own sunrise is a great way to start your day off right! – Mark
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Sunrise over Brule Lake!

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The season is picking up!

6/28/14 – The season is really starting to pick up here at Sawbill, and some of our crew members have taken off to the waters for a few days of blissful relaxation. Crew member Carla, and her sister and friend will be exploring the Kawishiwi and beyond this week, while crew member Peter and a few buddies from home will be headed up to Brule Lake to start their excursion. We can’t wait for pictures from both of these groups once they return. It’s great to see our own crew getting to experience and do what it is we love to do and help you guys experience as well. As fellow paddlers, we’re sure the canoe bug is always biting you too.
In addition we would also like to welcome the families and friends of crew members Ana, Lindsey, Kevin, and Matthew. It’s a full house up here at Sawbill! – Mark
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Carla and her crew get ready to paddle out for the week!

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Christmas in June!

6/25/14 – Merry Christmas in June! Here at Sawbill we have gone all out to celebrate this much-anticipated holiday. Cookies and pies, turkey and mashed potatoes, Christmas carols and presents, and snowflakes and decorations everywhere. Season’s greetings to everyone from the Sawbill crew! – Peter
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Last night the whole crew got together for a festive dinner cooked by Emma and Mark, culminating in a Secret-Santa gift exchange.

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Little Sag West Loop

6/21/14 – Crew members Carla, Britta, and Jessica got back last night from a 5 day trip around the Little Saganaga West Loop, paddling from Sawbill through the Lady Chain lakes, then passing Malberg and Makwa on their way to Little Sag and Tuscarora. They saw lots of wildlife, including a bear and her three cubs on Duck Lake. Unfortunately no pictures of the bears, but Carla was able to get plenty of other keepers! – Peter
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Our intrepid paddlers, from left to right: Jessica Hemmer, Britta Dornfeld, and Carla Hill.
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Some daring people dive off these cliffs on the northwest side of Makwa Lake into 60 feet of clear, cold water. The girls stayed at the beautiful campsite here.
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Carla captured this incredible series of photos of a sunset on Hazel Lake during their first evening on the water.

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Snoosing

6/19/14 – Several Sawbill crew members have gone out paddling recently, which has opened up plenty of opportunities for the traditional crew prank of snoosing, that is, hiding useless junk in the gear packs of the snoosees for them to discover while on the trail.
Last week Mark and I carelessly left our packs out the night before our departure, so we ended up paddling and portaging 60 miles with an impressive collection of miscellaneous equipment hidden in our stuff.
Since then, vigilance has greatly increased. We were barely able to hide anything in the packs of the Sawbill ladies for their trip this week, and before Nils left on Tuesday he was able to extract everything except a big crescent wrench and an air hockey striker.
Legendary snooses of the past have included a vacuum cleaner, a giant plastic penguin named Roscoe, and of course the infamous time that a pair of determined snoosers caught up with their victims while on the trail, stole their lightweight kevlar canoe in the middle of the night, and swapped it for the biggest, heaviest Grumman they could find.
To read more about the heroic snoose exploits of a decade ago, take a look at our newsletter entries from July 11-13, 2004. – Peter
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Mark on Tuscarora Lake with some of the items that we discovered in our gear that evening. The big pancake griddle was a bear to portage, but we know that it could have been a lot worse!