1/5/09 – Happy New Year to all. It has been a great winter so far with mostly very cold temperatures (-15 last night) and lots of snow (24″ on the ground right now). The snow has stayed on the trees for now, making a postcard view where ever you look.
We have been extremely busy here with many wonderful visitors. Every year, we invite our current and past crew members to visit around the New Year holiday. This year we had 35 people show up! By far the largest group we’ve ever had. Uproarious good times were had by all, as you can see in the pictures below.

Along with eating, drinking, dancing, visiting and laughing, sliding was one of the popular activities of the holidays.

Caitlin, Kari, and a third unidentified rider careen down the hill.

Clare, unidentified, Adam and Nathan stop abruptly at a tree. No injuries were sustained.

Ellyn and Kari enjoy hilarity.

Better than the beach.

Lest you think it was all play and no work, here is part of the firewood hauling crew hard at work.

12/25/08 – If you ever wondered what happened to Cindy Lou Who when she grew up – now you know. She left Whoville, moved to Sawbill, got married and changed her name to Cindy Lou Hansen.

Happy Holidays everyone.

12/17/08 – Our snow-pack has settled to a very satisfactory 18″ now, but the recent snow was so cold, dry and fluffy that it is very hard to travel through. Even our big trail grooming snowmobile is having trouble handling it. We decided to snowshoe most of the ski trail today to pack it a bit and give the trail groomer some help. The 5 kilometer snowshoe trip turned out to be surprisingly difficult, taking us about an hour and a half. The dogs came along, although Phoebe had to be carried for about half the distance. Afterward, everyone was tired and a little stiff.

The ski trail leading away from our house after we broke the pristine snow with snowshoes.

Tired trail breakers at the end of the trip.

12/14/08 – Our two college students are home from Montana, triggering the urge to select our Christmas tree. We ventured out into the teeth of a significant snow storm to find a non-traditional tree. After much discussion, we selected a multi-forked birch.

Snow fell at more than an inch an hour today. We got 12″ from this storm, followed by bitter cold and high winds. Winter is good in northern Minnesota!

Carl, Roy, Homer, Clare and Phoebe Hansen cram into the back seat of the pickup truck to go tree hunting.

The tree felling crew at work. How many people can you see in this blizzard?

Roy was a big help straightening out the lights.

After all the fun, the final result drew ooohs and aaahs from the crowd.

12/1/08 – Cindy and I traveled to Missoula, Montana for the Thanksgiving holiday to visit our children, Carl and Clare, who are both students at the University of Montana. We had a wonderful time in that beautiful part of the world, feasting, playing cards, hiking in the Rattlesnake National Recreation Area (no snakes seen), and attending the Montana Grizzlies football game (they won!).

Carl and Clare protecting Cindy from rattlesnakes.
While we were traveling, my brother, Karl, and his wife, Lee, Sawbill-sat for us. They brought along their two dogs to add to our three which ended up being quite a pack! They enjoyed the quiet time (they normally live in the bustling urban center of Grand Marais, Minnesota) and took advantage of the frozen lake for hiking.

Lee exercising the pack on Sawbill Lake.
Also, while we were gone, Tim Velner and Gus Gustason stopped by for their annual Thanksgiving visit. For many years they camped in the Sawbill campground for Thanksgiving, enjoying a boil-in-a-bag feast, biking, hiking and touch football in the snow. This year they had to forego the camping and football, but kept the biking part of the tradition alive. – Bill

Tim Velner, from Duluth, rides in the snow at Sawbill.

11/23/08 – Skating! This is a day we wait for every year. I would call the conditions very good this year. There are large expanses of black ice more than 4″ thick. Due to high winds there are some cracks that allowed some up-welling. Those areas have now refrozen, creating periodic rough spots that have to be crossed carefully. Plenty of room for uninhibited skating though. Snow is forecast for tomorrow, so this may be the only opportunity of the year. – Bill

Roy, Cindy, Homer and Phoebe exuberantly taking advantage of smooth ice on Sawbill Lake. You can see the campground’s boat storage area in the far background.

Broad swathes of black ice.

A view of Alton Lake from the Sawbill portage. Alton is even smoother than Sawbill.

11/18/08 – Sawbill Lake froze over for the second time today. This time it looks like it’s frozen for the season. Sadly, enough snow has fallen recently to mess up the possibility of good ice skating.

The ice on Sawbill Lake is (barely) thick enough to walk on. I didn’t dare go out over deep water and there were ominous cracking sounds underfoot.
On my daily run I noticed large, fresh wolf tracks running along ahead of me. At my turn around point I glanced up just in time to see the wolf emerge onto the road less than 100 feet in front of me. He was a perfect specimen of a grey wolf – wooly, healthy and alert. He was slightly startled to see me, but didn’t run away so much as strolled across the road a disappeared into the woods. It is a tremendous thrill to see a wild wolf at such close range. – Bill

11/16/08 – Sawbill Lake has thawed out again after being frozen completely over with nearly an inch of ice. This relatively rare phenomenon occurred due to somewhat higher temperatures, but also to the typical ceaseless November winds. The water is super-chilled now and will freeze, probably for good, as soon as the wind drops. The forecast calls for low single digit temperatures tonight, which likely means clear skies and calm winds. As always, our fingers are crossed for smooth skating ice. – Bill

Roy, who just had his first birthday, inspects newly thawed Sawbill Lake.

11/11/08 – Sawbill Lake froze last night. We saw a canoeist paddling up Sawbill late yesterday afternoon, causing us to worry that he might get frozen in. His car was gone early this morning, so apparently he was just taking the last little day paddle of the season. Our low temperature was 10 degrees last night and the wind was calm for the first time in days. – Bill

Looking north on Sawbill Lake.

11/8/08 – We have another fine addition to the Sawbill extended family! Graham William Oberholtzer was born this morning to John and Kat Oberholtzer. Most of you probably remember John as “OB”, Sawbill’s longest tenured crew member. OB and Kat live right here in Cook County. This is their third child. Congratulations!

Graham William Oberholtzer – Sawbill crew 2026?