8/25/07 – Two of the greatest things about working at Sawbill are our fellow crewmembers and being able to spend time with each other while taking care of our work. This week Tiny and Lee cleaned up outfitting stoves and lanterns while discussing important topics ranging from the correct number of pumps required to pressurize a stove to women. All in a day’s work. – Caitlin

Lee and Tiny work on outfitting maintenance with a little bonding on the side.

8/24/07 – We received this beautiful picture from a recent Sawbill customer, Mark Manteufel. It was taken on a cold evening from an island site on the north end of Kawishiwi lake. I don’t think you can help but feel more peaceful when looking at it. Thanks Mark! – Caitlin

Dusk on Kawishiwi lake.

8/21/07 – Rain! It’s not often that grey and rainy skies are greeted with so much excitement and gratitude. It didn’t last long and was certainly not enough to lift the fire ban, but it was a start. You can see on the weather history section of our website just how light the precipitation has been in the last three weeks especially. Keep it coming! – Caitlin

A colorful Barberry bush catches a few raindrops.

Hazelnuts are favorite treat of the native Black Bears.

8/20/07 – Always looking for a challenge, Kari and Lida cruised around the Louse River loop last week in just 16 straight hours. This route typically requires 4-5 days to complete. These two extremely experienced crewmembers hit the water by 5:30 am and returned back to Sawbill by 9:30 pm exhausted but triumphant. Well done ladies! You can see in the picture below that the water levels are low, but still passable. – Caitlin

Kari pauses only long enough to strike a pose.

8/19/07 – The lack of rain is certainly not good for the wilderness, but the clear skies sure do make for some beautiful vistas. Liz took this photo on Little Sag during her recent trip. – Caitlin

8/17/07 – A complete fire ban in the Superior National Forest went into effect this morning at 8 am. Under this ban fires are not allowed in the Sawbill Campground, Temperance Campground or Crescent Lake Campground. Fires are also prohibited in the entire BWCA wilderness. Due to extreme drought conditions this ban is not expected to be lifted in the near future. – Kari

8/13/07 – The string of disappointing blueberry seasons of the last few years has finally been broken. This summer, blueberries ripened along every road and hillside. It was the kind of overwhelming abundance that almost makes you crazy. You try to go out picking for an hour and end up staying out for four without even knowing it.
Sawbill caught this blueberry fever in a big way and as a result our freezers are now overflowing with frozen blueberries. The champion picker was Katie who closed the season with an unbelievable 115 cups (about 25 lbs) of blueberries! Anyone driving up the Sawbill trail over the last few weeks was sure to pass about a dozen people in the ditches along the way hunched intently over the bushes. And all the hard work will be even more worth it when we get to pull a blueberry pie out of the oven in January. – Caitlin

Katie’s blueberry cache.

8/12/07 – If you have the energy and a good dark sky where you are tonight be sure to stay up and check out the Perseid meteor shower. This particularly well-known meteor shower peaks around the 11th-13th of August each year. This year it is predicted to be especially fantastic because the moon will be new and therefore not providing any light pollution to dull the viewing. During its peak hours there may be up to two meteors per minute. The peak is expected to occur around 2 am EST on Monday, which will be 1 am here at Sawbill tonight.
These meteors are now known to consist of the debris trail from the Swift-Tuttle comet. Every year when the Earth passes near to the orbit of this comet the dusty remains run into our atmosphere at about 37 miles per second causing the fiery streaks that cause us to ohhhh and ahhhh. – Caitlin

8/11/07 – Every once in awhile the crew members are able to sneak away for a few days on our own canoe trips to stretch our legs and check out the routes we send other people on all summer. Lida, Clare and I returned this week from a fantastic trip complete with moose sightings and great weather. Most impressive of all, however, were our bear pack hangings. We were so proud in fact that we had to take a picture. Needless to say we had no nighttime visitors! – Caitlin

The perfect bear pack hang.

Clare and Lida enjoy a perfect summer evening.

8/10/07 – Most of the people that come through Sawbill to be outfitted are setting out on canoe trips with at least one other person, often many other people. Some, however, choose to take on a solo trip in which they rely wholly on their own strength and experience. Scott Sorenson, a music teacher from Michigan, recently returned from a 25-day solo trip. He covered territory in both the BWCA and the Quetico. He arrived back at Sawbill in great spirits and 15 lbs lighter than when he left. He also collected some great stories including one involving a trio of wolves feasting on a moose! These solo trips are nothing new to Scott, and next year he hopes to travel through not only the BWCA and the Quetico, but also the Voyageurs park. – Caitlin

Scott points out the extent of his route which reached beyond the scope of Sawbill’s maps.