5/30/26 – One of the most reliable and understated gear items in our outfitting department is getting upgraded. The humble Therma-rest inflatable sleeping pad has been the standard bearer innovation in sleeping pads since the evolution from the closed cell foam pad. Over the years, the technology has remained largely the same; a durable fabric shell with a simple valve for inflating. As such, and due to its relatively mild wear and tear, we have not needed to turn over our stock much over the years. Unlike most of our other gear items that get turned over much more regularly (ie, 3 years for canoes), we have some Therma-rests that are just fine after 20 years.

But, the technology has evolved enough at this point making wider and thicker pads are more common. They are engineered well and utilize materials that allow them to still pack down pretty small.

So, out with our trusty Trail Pros for the new Trail Pro Max Wide. These new pads will hopefully have the same reliability as their predecessors and make sleeping on the ground in the Wilderness, just that much sweeter.

Look for the retired pads for sale in our store this summer, on our online store and at the Duluth Gear Exchange in Duluth.

-Dan

5/26/2026 – This week potentially marks the start of the Forest Services prescribed burns within the Kawishiwi Lakes Roadless Area (KLRA) and surrounding lands around Sawbill. The KLRA includes a total of 1,913 acres of land split into two “units”, with a bit just off of the Sawbill trail. Each unit having a designated reason and purpose to their burn. We take mention of this prescribed burn for a few reasons as it may sound intimidating or fearful. These burns are only executed with the most ideal conditions. We of course know the dangers of what wildfires can do if loss of control were to take place, however these prescribed burns are for mitigating that danger. For Unit 1, which is 330 acres, there will be a low to moderate intensity fire beneath the mature red and white pines in the area. Specifically here the goal is to enhance the growing conditions and to protect the canopy trees through reducing the fuel from the balsam fir or ladder fuel elements. Secondly, in Unit 2 it will be higher intensity fire to improve the habitat conditions for moose. By having this higher intensity flame go through this region it creates a more diverse age range of the trees thus providing new browse for the moose. Each of these burns is monitored closely with fire staff using precise ignition to start them through to the end when it is declared out. These burns will not cause any closures of recreation sites or roadways. If the smoke is deemed to cause visibility issues then warnings would be placed in those designated places. The jist is this – if you are to come out to Sawbill in the next week or so you may see a number of Forest Service vehicles or even the flames themselves off of the Sawbill trail, it is nothing to be of concerned with, rather something to spark intrigue on why it is happening! All good things for our wildlife friends and this is simply to make their habitats less likely to be a landscape for future wildfires.

-Annika

5/23/26 – The Hansen family has been up to so much as of late! The publishing of a new book titled She Does, written about the local business owners along the North Shore who are also mothers features our very own Clare Shirley. This publication gives insight into the powerful and inspirational journeys of these ladies. If you were to become any more curious about exactly what this book is as a whole you can order it directly from their website, https://she-does.org/book, or you can find it in the store here at Sawbill. You are an inspiration to all of us Clare!

In other news, a groundbreaking ceremony for Cook County Schools ISD 166 remodel is pictured below. School board chair Dan Shirley gives a speech with State Representative Roger Skraba, State Senator Grant Hauschild, Grand Marais Mayor Tracy Benson, and Grand Portage Tribal Council Member Toby Stephens. Dan is proud of the hard work put in to planning and funding this project and grateful to the citizens of Cook County for voting to pass two referendums to support our local students!

Along with all of that, the Hjørdis, for which Bill is a Captain, has started taking reservations for this season! The iconic boat offers daily sailing and you can run up a chat with the very finest Bill while you sail around Lake Superior. Their website is found here to make any reservations https://northhouse.org/programs/daily-sailing ! He’d love to be joined by any of our Sawbill friends out on the water!

– Annika

5/20/26 – We have some fun advancements regarding our crew members for this season at Sawbill – we have five new crew members that have joined us in the last three days or so! We get to introduce Isaac, Morgan, Owen, Lea, and Evelyn to our 2026 season. All of them are first year crew and each come from various backgrounds and places. Isaac we welcome from Minneapolis, MN. He just finished his freshman year at Montana State University! He’s an avid fly fisherman so he’s your guy if you ever want to have a chat! Morgan has come from Texas and is a student at Texas A & M. She also just finished her Freshman year. She comes with a deep passion for agriculture and soil integrity! Owen is from Stillwater, MN and goes to UW LaCrosse. His family has been coming up to Sawbill since the 70’s so he is a well seasoned vet up here! Next is Lea, Lea is from Milwaukee and just graduated from Syracuse University. Welcome Lea! Lastly, Evelyn comes from Iowa and goes to University of Iowa! We are happy to get some of that Iowan energy here at Sawbill. All of these folks are anxious to have their first official day tomorrow just in time for Memorial day weekend!

– Annika

5/18/26 – We find ourselves in this immense place with only the wilderness to explore sooooo, the few crew members that are here (while we wait for the rest to arrive) took the oppurtunity, on a not so cold night, to go for a paddle after we closed up shop for the day! I certainly can say that the BWCAW is my favorite place on planet Earth, as I’m sure most other people say the same, so it is only right to take advantage of the oppurtunity of working up here and having the proximity we do to this land of beauty. Getting to know the people I have the great honor of working with only deepens my gratitude for this land I get to call home for my summer break. On any note, we all got into a three-person kevlar and decided to do the Kelso loop! Gary threw some casts to see if any fish would bite, unfortunalty there was not even one caught on that night (sorry to out that for you man). The water was as still as could be. Seeing the reflection of the rocks and the pines mirrored onto the water is one of the greatest views we know from this land. We paddled while we watched the jumping fish over Alton just taunting our fisherman, hearing the loons call out, and with the sun setting behind us. Truly we couldn’t have had any more perfect of a night (besides our feet in the freezing cold water as we got out at the portages). The quality time is in full effect for our current crew!

– Annika

5/16/26 – Our season is in full swing nowadays. These last few weeks since our official season opener we have come to see the start of all the faces of the wilderness deprived guests that we get to welcome! The trees and fresh air have been calling to be apprieciated by all! As a first year crew member here at Sawbill, I can’t say these last few weeks haven’t kept me in any short supply of new things to do. Some very cool (yet non-original) things have happened since my arrival that I think are worth a reasonable spotlight. For starters, we got to introduce 40 new Northstars and Wenonah canoes to our yard this season! I mean it just truly doesn’t get better than seeing those suckers come down off of the 12 foot high trailer they ride in on. Truthfully it was definetly a first for me but sure was a great test to get us newbees off on the right foot.

On that note of all of our new additions – we got our canoe yard all set up! This is a highly anticipated point we get to do for each season. It is a team excerise to the greatest extent to set them all out but with success we got ‘er all done! Our good ole pal Gary had his first day back the day we got to set it all out! We needed all the manpower we could get to do this task. Here he is, oh so cooly, getting our aluminums out and about.

That’s all for now but I’ll have some more just soon enough!

– Annika

5/6/26 – Official Sawbill Lake ice out happened yesterday evening, May 5th, although you wouldn’t have been able to launch from the canoe landing until this morning due to ice blocking your path. The last remaining ice, per our reconnaissance up the lake path, had been blown to the south end and was blocking the way. This morning no ice remains, although it is quite brisk out with a cutting wind and a cross between snow and graupel, but more on the snow side of things, is dropping from the sky.

The above pictures from the landing were taken around 9am this morning. All other entry points in our area, except for Brule, are freshly ice free. Brule is probably soon to follow, but it’s hard to get a good gauge on that one due to the positioning of the canoe landing in proximity to the main body of the lake. Historically speaking Brule is usually the last to go out in our area, but is typically one to three days after Sawbill. -Jessica

5/3/26 – The countdown continues! We measured 10″ of ice just off the landing on Sawbill Lake today. We try to measure in generally the same area each day for consistency, but as of last night the ice has been shifting around a bit. Where there was more open water in front of the landing, early this morning the ice sheet was pushing up into the gravel. By early afternoon, it had moved back towards the island. We have a dedicated ice measuring aluminum canoe, which is getting it’s moment of glory this week as we shove each arriving crew member out to check the progress!

Today’s ice measurement is brought to you by first year crew Annika! Annika just completed her junior year at Loyola University in Chicago and is already reveling in the abundance of nature and wilderness just outside her new front door here at Sawbill. She’s a seasoned BWCA traveler, with several trips out of the Sawbill area in recent years. Welcome Annika!

-Clare

05/02/26 – We welcomed a new crew member to Sawbill yesterday evening! Kay travelled to us from New Jersey via DC and lucky for us, she plans to stay the entire season. As is tradition, we sent her out to measure the ice today. We are happy to report there is less ice than yesterday, just about 12″, and it is quite dark and rotten. As always, we’ll keep updating everyone on the ice conditions pretty much daily! – Sawyer

5/1/26 – I arrived the evening of April 30th for my eighth season. It feels so good to be back in the wood where I belong. And since I was the first person to arrive, that meant I got to go out and measure the ice. After a small mishap that got my boots (and socks) very wet, I managed to scoot my way out onto the ice in an old Alumacraft canoe. Unfortunately I must report that there is still 14 inches of ice, but the good news is that the condition of the ice is very poor so we are heading in the right direction! -Sawyer