6/16/22 – This summer we are fortunate to have former Sawbill crewmember Jesse Bergeson living in the area. He’ll be spending the summer exploring the BWCA and surrounding forest, and entertaining the rest of us with his stories in between trips. He’s also been writing up some trip reports and we thought they might be of interest to folks headed to similar areas this summer. The following is Jesse’s report from a trip he did out of Brule last week with his partner Mira.

-Clare

“The parking lot was less than half full and we didn’t paddle half the lake but we only saw maybe 6 occupied sites on Brule.  The ones we peeked a look at were as widely reported on entry lakes very picked over for firewood.  In just a minute or two walk past the latrine or anywhere outside of an established camp there was tons of down dry wood.  

From Brule we paddled North from Cone bay into South Cone Lake.  Some maps show the portage beginning at the nearby campsite but that is just a faint user trail and the portage landing is about 100 yards past the camp.  At current water levels most of the portage is under a foot of water, you can also paddle the creek it bypasses easily.  Once the water drops about a foot it might be a tight paddle.  

Heading North the portages into Middle and North Cone lakes are easy to find and travel.  

The portage to Cliff lake is a bit long but really nice and seems well maintained. 

Once you leave North Cone to portage into Davis lake you start to see less maintenance.  The portage is easy to follow and find but has some down trees and could use some brushing.  

Davis into Kiskadinna is pretty difficult right now.  Again, easy to find and mostly easy to follow but it is long and has all the features.  Uphill, downhill, muddy areas, tight turns and rock hopping. 
There is a beaver dam across a creek approx 100 rods into it that is a bit tricky.  The subsequent flooding makes it hard to find the trail for a second, but it clearly continues on the other side and you can walk across the dam right now.  The water behind the dam is about hip deep at the moment.  
I saw at least one map that showed the portage split into 2 separate portages with a paddle across the little unnamed pond.  This is no longer the case, it is definitely one 300+ rod portage not 2 separate ones.  

Kiskadinna to Omega is short but surprisingly steep up and down.  

From Omega down through Winchell, Wanihigan, unnamed (on my map at least), Mulligan, Lily, and back into Brule are all maintained, easy to find and follow, nothing special to report.  Same with Wanihigan into the other side of Cliff.

We also walked the portage from the north bay on Brule over to Echo and had nothing to report.

We could not find the campsite on the very NE corner of the north bay on Brule by the creek.  If anyone has been there or knows anything about it I would like to hear it.  Maybe we just missed it somehow.  

Mira caught a bass in the North bay of Brule and we saw a lot of beaver action.”

Summer is in full swing here at Sawbill, and there are all sorts of signs of life to prove it. The mosquitos have hatched to join the blackflies in what is likely the buggiest two-week stretch of the entire season, and after almost a full week of low-70s and sun we had a full day of rain today to give us a respite from the insects and to quench the thirst of the forest. We’re expecting a few days of consistent sun coming up, so we hope to see you up here at the campground or heading out on trip!

The wildlife sightings are certainly evidence of summertime. The fishing is picking up, particularly on the fire lakes (Smoke, Burnt, Flame) to the East of Sawbill. About 10 miles down the Sawbill trail (16 miles or so after turning up the trail from Tofte), a young bull Moose has been spotted a number of times in the past week grazing in the moose pond to the East of the trail. If you’re heading up the trail in the coming days, keep an eye out – it seems to be a favorite spot for the yungin’. Here at the campground, though we haven’t had reports of black bears bothering anyone at their sites, there are signs that they’re exploring the food options (pictured below). Luckily, our bear-proof dumpsters seem to be discouraging any further exploration.

Perhaps most interesting of all our recent wildlife encounters has been an unusual uptick of Barred Owl activity around Sawbill Lake. Numerous Owls have been heard by crew members and visitors alike on the south end of the lake, echoing their distinctive “who cooks for you” hoots around the campground around dusk. The other night, crew members Jessica, Katie, and Owen heard a loud cacophony of Barred Owls just meters from the crew lodging, before watching as three distinctive shapes swooped across the trail and over towards the Sawbill store.

Last but not least in the list of evidence that the summer season is underway, our last remaining full-season crew members arrived this weekend! Diana arrived this afternoon as she prepares for a second consecutive season, and Evan arrived from Northfield on Sunday and has quickly plunged into his first ever days as a Sawbill crew member. If you make it up to Sawbill this week, make sure to say hello! After you stop to see the moose, of course… — Owen S.

6/4/22 – It’s official folks! Summer has arrived here at Sawbill. Daytime temperatures are in the mid to upper sixties and the recent thunderstorms created a verdant landscape for visitors and residents to enjoy. The warmer weather has also coincided with the return of our favorite summertime friends, the black flies. Despite their unwelcome arrival, we are thoroughly enjoying the buds on the trees, young plants, and beautiful wildflowers that are starting to spring up. The water is also warming up, leaving all of us hopeful for comfortable swimming in the near future!

Crewmember Katie and Sawbillian-turned-campground host Jesse went for a quick foraging trip late last week, keeping their eyes out for ramps and morels in the maple forests down the trail. Though they returned empty handed, they did see some other notable species during their frolic through the woods. Spring Beauties (Claytonia virginica), lilies-of-the-valley (Convallaria majalis), and wild violets (Viola sororia) speckle the floor of the Superior National Forest.

Additional species will continue to pop up throughout the spring and summer here, so keep your plant ID books ready and your eyes peeled! What kind of new growth have you noticed in your neighborhood this year? – Katie

Happy memorial day, one and all! The holiday weekend has historically marked the beginning of the Summer season here in the North Woods, and this year is no exception – the canoes are out on the lake, the ice machine is churning, and the aroma of pan-fried walleye is wafting through the campground. Much remains the same around here, though it’s fun to note the new happenings as well. One exciting new development has been a friendly beaver frequenting the south end of Sawbill lake. If you look hard enough, you can notice beaver sign in a variety of places, such as the chewed-up log pictured below. The Sawbill crew has noticed our beaver buddy swimming around the lake a few times over the past week, including a close encounter where crew and beaver startled each other during an evening paddle! Keep an eye out if you’re paddling Sawbill in the near future, you just never know what you critters you may see! – Owen S.

5/22/22 – This week we’ve been visited by a number of forest friends who seem just as excited as we are that Summer is on its way. We’ve received reports of moose, bear, and owl sightings on the Sawbill trail over the past few days, and have been lucky enough to spot some rare wildlife of our own! A rose-breasted grosbeak hung around at the crew house during our lunch hour on Friday, and a pine marten caused some excitement when it ran into the outfitting porch Saturday afternoon. — Owen S.

This year in many places like the Twin Cities, it’s felt like the seasons have changed unceremoniously from Winter to Summer without any Spring weather to allow folks to acclimate to the heat — but up here on the edge of the Boundary Waters, we’re enjoying a more extended transition to warmer weather. The ice is out on the lakes, the spring peepers are croaking, and the forests are becoming tinged with hints of green as low-lying plants and deciduous trees begin to bud. It won’t be long now before leaves expand and flowers unfurl, adding their hues to the color palette of the North Woods! — Owen S.

5/16/22 – Yesterday, the 2022 crew continued the tradition of opening the swim season (nearly) as early as possible. Credit for the true first swim of the year goes to the group from Lake Superior College who jumped in a full week before us!

To round out the weekend, we sat around the campfire Sunday night looking to the southeast sky as Earth’s shadow slowly engulfed the moon during the blood orange lunar eclipse. Living on the edge of the largest dark sky sanctuary in the world has some perks. – Matthew

5/14/22 – Today’s the day! There’s still a little ice persistently hanging on as of this post (11:30am), but a lot of progress has been made even since this morning, so it should be out by the end of the day. -Jessica

5/12/22 – Last night, after a long day of prepping the store for opening, the crew measured our waning ice coverage. Owen was eager to get his hands on the auger, recording 16 inches total with about 6 inches of rotten ice on the bottom, the rest consisting of a slushy mixture.

With about an inch of rainfall overnight, sustained warm temperatures, and constant wind, the lake looks considerably darker and less icy by the hour.

-Matthew

May 11, 2022 – The crew headed down to the landing on Sawbill Lake yesterday evening (May 10) for the daily ice check. This time, third year crew member Katie Kelley did the honors. Katie and Owen Slater, who arrived for his 5th season, are here just in time for ice out and beach club opening in a day or two.

Katie reports that there are 18″ of degraded ice. About 8″ were pretty solid and the rest is slushy. She was able to stand on it, but it was very easy to auger through. The ice is heavily candled and is getting very dark. Lot’s of convection currents visible rising as you look out across the lake. With the warm weather, we are expecting the ice to be out in the next day or two.

The ice is receding west to east, so there are many lakes west of here that are open. We had one customer check out Kawishiwi Lake yesterday and saw enough of an open water path that they were able to launch and head out on a trip. Based on satellite imagery, Baker Lake also appears to be ice free as of yesterday.

-Dan