10/12/09 – More snowfall! In case you haven’t checked the Sawbill weather for the past three days, Saturday about an inch of snow followed the trace snowfall update I made on the newsletter Friday. Then, Sunday, we saw another half inch. A few hardy campers and canoeists are still around, and the cold snap has knocked a significant number of leaves down off the trees. Slight chances of snowfall remain throughout the week. The early substantial snow coverage has some of us talking about getting out our Christmas socks. – Lee

10/9/09 – The first snow of the season began falling this morning just before daybreak. The Sawbill weather station registered only a trace amount of snow, but the dusting gave us enough reason to break out warmer clothes and button up a little tighter. Clear skies, sunshine and light winds complement the chilly weather, perfect for a relaxing fall paddle or hike. With more of the same forecast in the coming days, it’s prime time to find a little peace and quiet in the wilderness. – Lee

The Bell Seliga stack dusted with snow.

October canoe trip? Gloves recommended.

View from the tie-down area.

A few of Cindy’s flowers on the doghouse out front are fighting to keep their color. But for how much longer?

Picnic anyone?

10/7/09 – Fall mornings – I can’t get enough.
I took an early drive to Tofte this morning and caught a remarkable sunrise over Lake Superior. Amid an orange, purple and blue atmosphere of clouds and clear patches, the sun shone through a gap between the lake and a passing cloud layer as quickly as a wink, as if it were knowingly forecasting a fair weather morning.
On the way back up the Sawbill Trail, I stopped at the Temperance River Valley overlook to witness fog rising up through the trees from the river below. The milky white haze traced a meandering stream through the bottom of the shallow valley. Suddenly the sun broke over the ridge behind me and a wave of light crept across the distant hills, illuminating bright swatches of turning leaves.
Indeed, it turned out to be a nice morning, a cool reminder why I need to get up early more often. – Lee

Sunrise over Lake Superior.

Fog lifting from the Temperance River. Fall colors.

Upstream fog lifting.

10/5/09 – The Great Sawbill Shootout – For your information, we’re not just paddle-happy, fish-finding voyageurs up here in the north woods. In order to sharpen our skills for small game hunting season, Cindy, Clare and I popped off a few rounds at the local shooting range the other day. The gals showed up in their rodeo-going Western wear, rootin’ tootin’ shootin’ attire, or whatever you want to call it. In comparison, I was drastically under dressed, as usual. Despite our differences, we joined forces and succeeded in sending many an empty pop can to recycling heaven, and then made more than a few clay pigeons wish they had real wings to fly away. That’s how we start the fall off with a bang. – Lee

Clare The Sharpshooter.

Cindy takes aim as the cans glint and tremble in the distance.

Clare demonstrates her unique, two-handed clay flinging technique.

10/1/09 – More big changes around Sawbill. The New Mobe, a storied former crew housing unit, and hallowed former Hansen housing unit, has been demolished. It has been standing empty for almost two seasons, ever since the day the crew moved into new digs, waiting for the day the backhoe and roll-away dumpsters would show up. It stood as a visual reminder of many seasons of Sawbill history, and will be sorely missed in some circles. There’s rumor of a new fire ring being built to fill the space, no doubt a glimpse of new traditions in the making. – Lee

Our friendly backhoe operator prepares for work.

Bringin’ down the house.

The backhoe compacting the pile of scraps.

The roll-away dumpsters and the truck that hauled them.

9/30/09 – Frost! Last night was the first hard frost of the season. We had some nips of frost way back in August, which were followed by almost a month of warm, calm weather. Now, after a wicked windstorm a couple of days ago, this morning dawned crisp and cold. Until now, we haven’t seen much color in the trees. That should change quickly now. – Bill

A sure sign of fall. Frost on the ol’ canoes.

9/29/09 – Another big walleye! Sawbill camper Ellen Freiberg showed up at the store the other day holding this big fish from Sawbill Lake. Still recovering from the shock of seeing her biggest walleye yet come up on her hook, she told us it took her fifteen minutes to land it. It measured just longer than 25 inches, and more than five pounds. Nice catch, Ellen. – Lee

Ellen Freiberg and her big walleye.

9/24/09 – I spotted this ghostly white flower growing in the shade of black spruce trees during a recent trip through Cherokee Lake. The Indian-pipe flower, monotropa uniflora, grows in deep shade under conifers. It gains nutrients from decaying wood and by latching onto the root systems of living plants, thus, it doesn’t need chlorophyll and grows up white instead of green. Other regional names are ghost flower, corpse plant and ghost pipe. – Lee

Indian-pipe flowers.

A gathering of Indian-pipe flowers, also known as corpse plants.

9/21/09 – Witness the birth of a new era. Of outhouses. And potty humor. The Forest Service decided to upgrade the rest of the outhouses in the campground after installing a super-duty concrete, handicap accessible two-holer near site four last fall. One near the picnic area went in this afternoon, amid a clamor of engines growling and laborers standing around waiting their turn. The rest are set for installation tomorrow. The new fixtures appear bomb-proof and are designed to weather 200 seasons. The Caesars would be proud. But, wouldn’t you know it, the days of our beloved 40-year-old wooden toilet sheds, with the spring-loaded doors that slap shut and just enough elbow room for a penguin, have come to and end. – Lee

Recognize this spot? Neither do I. It’s where the outhouses on the way to the landing used to be. The guys are digging the hole for the outhouse vaults.

These concrete boxes are the vaults for, well, the deposits that Sawbill campers will soon be making.

This is the rig it took to drop the load in place.

That’s teamwork. Hope nobody’s in there.

Worker installs exhaust pipes. Thank goodness.

The old outhouses uninstalled, taking a victory lap around the parking lot, ready to ride off into the sunset. Adios amigos.

9/20/09 – This is the time of year when mushrooms are common in the boreal forest. A couple of old birch stumps that are right in front of the store entrance have developed an impressive brace of fungi over the last few days. As you can see from the pieces on top of the stump, the squirrels find this species a tasty treat. – Bill

These appeared overnight a couple of days ago.

Red squirrels store mushrooms in the branches of spuce and balsam trees for consumption during the winter. Old-timers used to say that you could tell how much snow we were going to have by how high the squirrels stored their mushrooms.