4/20/10 – Our first 2010 crew member has arrived. Luke Opel hails from Apple Valley, Minnesota. He’s a very experienced canoeist who spends his winters working in the downhill ski business and coaching the high school ski teams at Apple Valley and Rosemount, among other things.

Luke Opel, new crew member, getting very familiar with t-shirt pricing.

4/12/10 – On the way home from town tonight I was held up by a sleek, healthy looking cow moose that wouldn’t get out of the road. As I waited for her to get out of the way, it became obvious that she was deeply concerned about something on the north side of the road as I waited on the south. She would occasionally glance at me, but she was staring intently the other way with her hackles up. Every so often she would startle and take a few running steps in my direction until she was just a few feet from my front bumper.
I couldn’t see anything in the darkness beyond my headlights, but I imagined that it must be a pack of wolves, or a cougar, or a sasquatch that could cause terror in the heart of a 1400 pound moose. When she finally got spooked off the road I pulled cautiously ahead, hoping catch a glimpse of the fierce predator – and there it was – a snowshoe hare. – Bill

4/4/10 – The ice went out on Sawbill Lake today. In the 54 years that we have been observing, this sets the earliest ice-out record by exactly a week. The historical average ice-out date for Sawbill Lake is May 1st. We took advantage by going for a gorgeous sunset paddle with good friends and former crew members Eric Frost and Jessa Wallendal, before sharing Easter dinner. – Bill

Some ice was still floating around the landing, but the lake as a whole was more than 90% ice free, which is the official criteria.

We planned to break through the ice around the landing, but it proved to be much too solid, so we went to Plan B – paddling around the edge.

Plan B didn’t work, so Plan C – portaging down the lake shore to open water – was implemented.

Homer The Retriever wonders why we are portaging after only paddling about fifty feet.

Even in silhouette you can sense the joy that Frosty and Jessa feel with open water under their bow.

But, they have to wait in the sunshine while their companions get three dogs loaded up.

The always alert Sawbill Outfitters security team on the first marine patrol of the season.

We found this large piece of ice floating in the mouth of Kelso Bay.

Lake ice is always interesting, especially at break-up. Cindy thought this looked like the satellite photos of the Lake Superior ice pack. Nature tends to repeat her forms.

Frosty and Jessa enjoy the evening.

Cindy and Bill reluctantly head home.

4/2/10 – Cindy and I just returned from a quick vacation to visit our younger children, Carl and Clare, in Montana. Carl is a student at the University of Montana and Clare is working in Missoula. We enjoyed some excellent big mountain snowboarding near Missoula and then traveled up to Fernie, British Columbia. Our brother and sister-in-law, Karl Hansen and Lee Stewart, took care of the business while we were gone – many thanks to them.

The gorgeous Fernie Alpine Resort.
We returned to Sawbill last night and found Sawbill Lake partially clear of ice. Usually, we drill holes and report on spring ice depths for a few weeks before the ice goes out around the 1st of May. This year, it is already too thin to stand on and will likely go out in the next day or two. That will set the record for early ice out by about a week.

Very thin ice as seen from the Sawbill Lake canoe landing.

Open water along the west shore of Sawbill Lake.

Homer and Roy take advantage of the open water for the first dip of the season.

While we were away, the first load of canoes for the upcoming season arrived.

3/22/10 – Dave Freeman and Amy Voytilla were married yesterday in a very unique setting on White Iron Lake near Ely. Dave was a Sawbill crew member for many years and recently has been a wilderness guide for many Sawbill canoeists. Amy has guided here for the last couple of years as well. Both have worked for many winter seasons at Wintergreen Dogsled Lodge near Ely.
The site of the ceremony was accessible only by lake. Many of the guests rode dogsleds out to the ceremony, some walked, but four of us who worked with Dave and Amy at Sawbill chose to ice skate.
Congratulations to Dave and Amy. In a month they will leave on their “honeymoon” – a three year, 11,700 mile journey across North America by kayak, canoe, and dogsled. – Bill

Adam Hansen and Jeff Greensmith demonstrate wedding travel – Sawbill style.

Former Sawbill crew member Eric Frost (center) conducts the wedding of Dave Freeman and Amy (Voytilla) Freeman.

Cindy Hansen and John “OB” Oberholtzer look on approvingly.

After the ceremony, Dave and Amy walk to their dogsled limo.

Amy and Dave mush off into their future together.

3/21/10 – The return to cooler weather allowed me to get out on Sawbill Lake yesterday for some rare spring ice skating. It was mostly really bumpy and difficult except out in the middle where there were large swatches of smooth, black ice. – Bill

Skating north in the BWCA Wilderness on Sawbill Lake.

Roy and Phoebe enjoy running into the wind.

Ice is a mysterious, complicated and intriguing compound.

Footprints in the snow from much earlier in the season are preserved in solid ice.

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.