8/14/13 – While we are usually hard at work sending customers into the wilderness, occasionally we get the chance to sneak away on trips of our own. Here are a few pictures captured on various trips by Sawbill crew members throughout the summer. Enjoy! -Jessica

Laura took this picture earlier this summer while paddling between Square and Kawasachong lakes. Notice the charred remains from the Pagami Creek fire.

Laura, Ana, Joe and I paddled Brule lake just before sunset late last week.

Carl and Crista recently got back from a trip they took with their friends, Baily and Cory. This picture was taken from a lookout point adjacent to their campsite on Brule lake.

8/12/13 – One of our favorite customers, Hanna Zmijewska-Emerson, came up for a canoe trip over the weekend and shared this great picture of a cluster of ghost flowers. These flowers lack chlorophyll (hence the lack of color) and are known by a variety of names including; corpse plant, Indian pipe, and fairy smoke. Because these flowers can’t produce energy using chlorophyll they need to get it through other means. Over time they have formed a relationship with fungus. Fungal roots relays energy from the roots of trees to the roots of the ghost flower. It is usually safe to assume that an abundance of ghost flowers in July and August will lead to an abundance of mushrooms in late summer and fall. -Jessica

Ghost flowers found on a canoe trip out of the Baker lake entry point.

8/9/13 – Every year the Sawbill Babes and Boys get treated to a night out courtesy of Bill and Cindy. This year the Boys camped on Brule lake for a night. They enjoyed a stellar sunset off of an overlook located near their campsite, of course they didn’t bring a camera, and feasted on brats cooked over the fire (very manly). The Babes on the other hand were treated to an afternoon in Grand Marais where we enjoyed the shops and outstanding food. -Jessica

Sawbill Babes enjoying fine dining at the Angry Trout in Grand Marais.

8/9/13 – Here is this week’s edition of the Cook County West End News from WTIP, North Shore Community Radio. – Bill

8/6/13 – Lately a few of us have become novice cloud watchers after reading Gavin Pretor-Pinney’s book, The Cloudspotter’s Guide: The Science, History, and Culture of Clouds. After beginning this guide to the skies, I noticed I have been spending much more time admiring clouds than in the past. As a result we have built up quite the collection of cloud related photographs. Joe, Britta, and I compiled a small collection of our favorite photos from the last few months. -Jessica

I took this picture a few weeks ago. It features pink Cirrus clouds, likely at an altitude between 35 to 45 thousand feet, along with fluffy Cumulus clouds at a much lower altitude.

Britta captured a towering Cumulonimbus cloud looming in the distance. Sandwiched between it and a Cumulus cloud on the right, floats a Cirrus cloud composed entirely of ice crystals.

This possible shelf cloud passed through just before a thunderstorm that brought nearly 4 inches of rain, over one night’s time, just less than a month ago. Shelf clouds are usually associated with multicell or supercell storms. Photo by Britta.

Joe took this picture of the bottom of a Cumulonimbus shortly after the shelf cloud was spotted.

Finally, Nils took this picture of a double rainbow just as the sun was setting after a rainstorm. Notice how it is brighter within the bow than outside of it. Also the outer rainbow is in reverse order of colors than the primary one.

8/5/13 – Here is this week’s edition of the Cook County West End News from WTIP, North Shore Community Radio. – Bill

8/4/13 – Resident photographer Carl Hansen snapped a few pictures of Phoebe closely examining this Gray Treefrog on the deck behind the store a few days ago. Enjoy! -Jessica

Phoebe and the frog.

A fine specimen of the Gray Treefrog.

7/31/13 – JJ, the border collie that was lost in the BWCA Wilderness for two weeks, has been found and joyfully reunited with his owners.
He was lost when he was startled by lightning on the portage south of Cherokee Lake on July 17th. He was sighted on the portage on July 19th, but ran off when called to.
On July 29th, he was sighted on north end of Sawbill Lake. Hearing this news, his owners, Nicole Paradise and Greg Rohleder, from West St. Paul, drove up and started searching on Sawbill Lake.
Eventually, they connected with some campers on the west side of Kelso Lake who had been feeding the skittish dog all morning, but were unable to capture him. They waited the rest of the day, but JJ failed to turn up again.
Nicole and Greg returned to their lodgings in Lutsen and a short time later JJ returned to the campsite where the campers, Dave Krings and Mike Raub, from Lakeville, were able to lure JJ into one of their tents with hot dogs. JJ stayed contentedly in the tent until early this morning when Nicole and Greg returned, delighted to have their dog back!
Here is a video of the moment that they were reunited. – Bill

7/29/13 – JJ, the border collie that was lost south of Cherokee Lake on 7/17/2013, was seen by a canoe party on the far northwest side of Sawbill Lake at noon on Monday, July 29th. They were eating lunch at a campsite, when the dog appeared in the site. When they called to him, he ran off, headed south.
If you are paddling on Sawbill, or nearby lakes, please keep a sharp eye out for JJ. – Bill

He is extremely skittish, so should be coaxed to yummy food very gently.

7/28/13 – Lately, there have been a plethora of puppies at Sawbill. The main pup is, of course, Hank. In addition to stealing all of our hearts, Hank has also doubled in size since he’s been here. That makes him a little too big to play with the terriers, but luckily, he’s had some more appropriately sized playmates visit. First is Huckleberry (also known as Huck), an English Springer Spaniel puppy about three months older than Hank. Most of the time Huck lives in Montana with his owners, Clare Hansen and Dan Shirley, but he came with them on a visit over July 4th. There’s also Ernie, an adorable yellow lab mix who has been up on a few visits this summer with his owners, Patrick Nash and Katie Nulicek. Both dogs have had a great time playing with Hank, and we’ve loved seeing them romp together! – Britta

This is a current photo of Hank, all dressed up for Christmas in July. What a handsome pup! Photo by Jessica Hemmer.

This is Huckleberry, looking majestic while on a recent canoe trip. Photo by Clare Hansen.

It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s . . . Hank Anders Hansen! Hank leaps through the air in hot pursuit of his prey, the elusive bear rope. Photo by Carl Hansen.

Huck demonstrates an advanced jumping technique, the Into the Water Leap (you can imagine the splash that followed)! Hank hasn’t mastered this skill yet, but we’re hoping he’ll soon follow his canine companion’s example.

Oh, Ernie and his Yoda ears are so cute! Ernie had a great time on his canoe trip, but he got sick from eating pancake batter that had been improperly disposed of by previous campers. Remember, dispose of waste properly- you don’t know who might come to eat it!

Hank gets pretty tuckered out at the end of the day!