8/4/10 – I am profoundly sad to tell you that my dad, Frank Hansen, died yesterday morning after a short illness. He was 89. Frank and Mary Alice founded Sawbill Canoe Outfitters in 1957 and he was an icon in this part of the world. Almost everyone seems to remember him sitting in the co-pilot chair in the Sawbill store, telling stories, discussing the issues of the day, eating red licorice and dispensing wise advice.
He will be sorely missed by his family, the Sawbill community, and the many, many people that he knew in his long and productive life. I’ll post his full obituary here when it is available. – Bill

8/2/10 – Every Saturday evening from now until the first week of September, a trained naturalist visits the Sawbill campground to lead a themed campfire talk. The program, hosted by the USDA Forest Service (and supported by Sawbill with free tasty, tasty smores), is called “Minnesota Wild!” and covers a new topic every week. The program is open to the public for all ages, and families are welcome. Past topics have included moose, wolves, and bears (oh my!).
This week, naturalist Mundell visited to talk about loons. I think I can safely say that everybody present heard something new. I learned that, although experts still debate on this, the most established loon relative is the far away penguin. Also, the loon is a prehistoric bird, with fossils dating back nearly 50 million years (imagine a loon swimming among some of the last dinosaurs). Finally, loons rarely gather together before the winter migration, except for when they fail to raise chicks that spring. Mundell suggested that these are “loon support groups.” I suggest “loon bachelor parties.”
The program wasn’t just talk – we also got to examine and pet a real (stuffed) loon. Later, Mundell played a tape with different loon songs and explained their meaning. After the “distress call,” a real loon from out on the lake called back, probably wondering what was wrong. One listener even got to dress up as a loon, complete with loon cape, red goggles, and webbed feet.

A loon, making a great loon pose.
The program is hosted near the canoe landing at the Sawbill campground from 7:30 to 9 p.m., including time for smore making, every Saturday.
-Kaj

7/31/10 – The Sawbill crew relaxed last night by going to the opening ceremony of the official North Shore Dragon Boat Festival in Grand Marais (this year’s slogan; Do it for the dragon). The ceremony was lively and well attended, unstopped by damp and misty weather. The ceremony was followed by a live performance by the Splinters. Sawbill’s own Bill Hansen played lead guitar, with Jeff Deshaw on bass, Rick Brandenburg on drums, Chris Gillis on trumpet, and Leah Thomas on the accordion and vocals. The Splinters play lively accordion dance music, or, as Leah Thomas says, “A kind of Zydeco electric waltz/folk.” Regardless of what you call it, festival goers danced away until the very last song of the performance, and then the next two songs after that.

Leah Thomas and Bill Hansen perform in front of a very moody Lake Superior

The Sawbill young’uns pose for their own album cover on the shore. Roo refuses to pose.
– Kaj

7/30/10 – I am sorry to report that Frank Hansen, co-founder of Sawbill Canoe Outfitters, has been diagnosed with acute leukemia. He is in hospice at the Care Center in Grand Marais. He is fatigued and weak, but in full possession of his faculties. In spite of his poor prognosis, he is busy providing for the future of the Sawtooth Mountain Clinic (where he has been chair of the board for many years), providing ad-hoc counseling for the Care Center employees, and spending many hours visiting with family and special friends.
If you’d like to send him a message, it is best to do it through his Caring Bridge website. – Bill

Frank Hansen

7/29/10 – Sawbill crew member and future National Geographic photographer (at least he should be) Luke Opel got this majestic shot of a Bald Eagle on nearby Alton Lake recently. Mr. Baldy here has been riding the thermals for a while, undoubtedly preying on some fresh Alton fish. Bald Eagles have eyesight eight times stronger than our own, fine enough to read newspaper print from across a football field – or to spot a pike from 500 feet.

I had to resist using the word “majestic” a lot more writing about this one.
-Kaj

7/29/10 – We received this wonderful letter and photos the other day:
Hi Bill,
My wife Andria and I were at Sawbill last weekend with a couple of friends. Andria and I were celebrating our 5 year anniversary, and I have to say for me personally this is one of the best camping trips I’ve ever had. We couldn’t have picked a better destination to celebrate our marriage. In fact, 5 years ago after our wedding we stayed at a cabin on the North Shore. We didn’t get to do any canoeing on that trip, and have been looking forward to this last weekend for a very long time.
We stayed at the campground all weekend, and I’d have to say, we definitely made the best of our 2 days on the water. Saturday we paddled to the North end of Lujenida and back. Sunday we made it all the way to Flame where we had the lake to ourselves for about 4 hours where we did some fishing and spent most of the time sitting on a group of rocks in the middle of the lake just staring off into the wilderness. The scenery was truly amazing! Around every corner, one of the 4 of us said “WOW!”…….by the end of the weekend we had named our trip “Wow Weekend 2010”. Hopefully there will be a “Wow Weekend 2011”!
On our way back from Flame, we were portaging from Burnt into Smoke.
Andria and I were already in the water waiting for our friends on shore when we heard some loud thumps, rustling, and branches snapping—-pretty sure it was either a Moose or a Bear, but we didn’t actually get to see it—even though we estimated it was probably only 20 ft away from our friends on shore.
The campground at Sawbill was great. All the amenities we needed and more. And I’d have to say, everyone we met—other campers, and Sawbill employees were polite, informative, and friendly. We left Sawbill completely exhausted, but wanting more. We all can’t wait to get back. I would imagine that Sawbill will be one of our favorite destinations for many years to come.
Thanks again for everything. Hope to see you again soon.
Sincerely,
Mark, Andria, Jonah & Katie

7/28/10 – Over the past few weeks I have been trying to make it a point to walk down to the landing to take a few quick photos of Sawbill Lake. It’s amazing to see how much it changes with the influence of different lighting, wind, and weather. Here are a few of my favorite pictures. – Jessica

The lake during a foggy day.

Sunny day on the lake.

The lake just after sunset.

7/26/10 – The blueberry season is in full swing and the crop is excellent this year. Not only are they plentiful, but the individual berries are quite large and succulent. As a side benefit, the black bears have been content with the berries and are staying away from campsites. – Bill

Ahh… blueberry heaven.

Dan Seemon, former Sawbill crew member, in an undisclosed location.

7/23/10 – This season Sawbill acquired some brand new sleeping bags for use in the outfitting department. As a result of this purchase some sorting needed to be done in order to weed out some of the not so new ones. This seemed like a daunting task when considering that we possess over 150 bags.
Luckily Sarah, Meg, and Ellyn were up for the job. The first order of business was to unpack all of the sleeping bags and lay them out in piles according to style. Secondly, they sorted out the ones to sell in the fall. They then had to stuff the bags back into their appropriate stuff sacks. Finally and most importantly, they had to make a giant sleeping bag fort out of it all. – Jessica

Meg, Ellyn, Sarah, and Leif taking a break on the piles and piles of sleeping bags.

Meg stuffing the sleeping bags into their stuff sacks.

Homer testing out the fort.

7/21/10 – Last night after all the work for the day was finished, the entire Sawbill crew convened for a delicious and festive dinner. Crew members Tyler, Luke, and Liz concocted a delectable fish fry along with some fresh greens, potato salad, bruschetta, and baked beans. Appropriately, the selected theme for the attire to be worn to the banquet was “fishing”. Many bobbers made an appearance, along with a variety of fishing lures and a few fishermen. All in all, it was a jolly good meal with a wide array of amusing costumes. -Meg

The entire crew, featuring Cindy as a daredevil lure in the foreground.

A rainbow trout, a seafaring pirate, and a fisher-woman from the show “The Deadliest Catch”.

Mr. Twister fishing lure wiggling around.