5/18/05 – Jo Winkler-Bley and Bob Winkler sent this photo of their celebration of Bob’s Friday the 13th birthday on Cherokee Lake.

Check out the wool hat, wool gloves and the angle of the flames on the candles!

5/17/05 – Jasmine Hanson, our second crew member for this season, arrived yesterday and immediately took up her broom for her favorite job: sweeping the porch. We’re so glad to have her back!

Also, congratulations to John Feldman (second from left), who today celebrated thirty years of canoe trips at Sawbill. Hope to see your sixtieth anniversary! -Molly.

Freshly showered and beaming after their trip are Tim Karas, John Feldman, Gary Haeny, Ken Steffke, and Dennis LaCasse.

5/15/05 – This has been a classic Minnesota fishing opener. Friday morning, is was 31.5 degrees, pouring down rain with a 25 mph east wind. The rain was freezing so the canoes were covered with a layer of ice. The white pines turned white in their tops and started to droop as the ice slowly built up. Saturday was rainy, windy and cold all day. A driving snow squall greeted us this morning with the high winds continuing, now from the northwest. I haven’t heard of anyone even attempting to fish, much less catching anything. All this on top of more than 4″ of rain this week has made for a very soggy wilderness. This is good for the fire danger and the emerging plantlife. All the returning parties have been exhilarated but glad to be back to central heat and warm showers. – Bill

Yes, those are snow flakes coming down on the 15th of May.

5/7/05 – A beautiful, warm evening lured Molly, visiting crew member Pat Nash, and I out for an evening paddle. We paddled past the pair of loons that make south Sawbill Lake their home, saw three bufflehead ducks in Alton pond, also a sharp-shinned hawk, turkey vulture, and bald eagle. – Bill

This pair of loons live within sight of the Sawbill Lake canoe landing.

Molly watches some of the abundant bird life.

Pat listens to the beautiful music of crystal clear Alton Creek.

4/30/05 –

Mike Hoover, Larry Smith, Rick Hoover, all of Berrien Springs, Michigan, and Rich Howland, of South Bend, Indiana, returned today from a ten day canoe trip. In the 49 years that we have been here, this is the first ten day canoe trip, that we can remember, that began and ended in April. Although the weather was cold and snowy, these four gentlemen greatly enjoyed their trip. They have taken a canoe trip right after the ice goes out for many years and are not put off by cold weather (note snowbank behind them).

In another first today, Wayne Eslyn, of Watertown, Wisconsin, whipped out his cell phone and called his wife to come from Tofte to pick him up after his three day solo trip. Cell phone service is new to Sawbill with the construction of a new tower in the Lutsen area. Reception is fairly reliable right here at Sawbill, but probably not reliable in the wilderness to the north of us. – Bill

4/26/05 – I awoke this morning to a sight that made me think I was still dreaming–the trees outside my window were strangely white. I blinked again, and this time I realized that the light snow that had been falling last night was still in full swing, and it was no longer melting on impact. Ah, April in Minnesota! -Molly.

Even our vehicles don’t know what season it is…

4/24/05 –
Clare and Carl returned from their first paddle the other night with the news that they had seen a loon, the first of the season. They had not heard any calls, though.

Carl had to lean far out of the canoe to get this picture of the first loon of the spring.
Tonight, as I stepped out the door after finishing up my dinner dishes, I heard a haunting call from the north end of the lake. It drew me down to the canoe landing, where the water was very still under the sunset sky. A bird startled me as it took off from the bay at the south end of the lake where Sawbill Lodge stood, but in the dusk I couldn’t tell what it was. A few minutes later, it took flight again from the northernmost place in my line of sight, and this time I saw the telltale splash during takeoff, much like a plane on pontoons makes. As the sky faded to a pale peach, the loon came back and circled the south end of the lake. In a moment I heard another call. The Sawbill loons are back. -Molly.

4/21/05 – We just received word from the Forest Service that all the lakes in the Tofte District of the Superior National Forest, including the BWCA Wilderness, are free of ice. They flew over the whole wilderness at low altitude yesterday during their annual survey of eagle and osprey nests. – Bill

4/20/05 – Today was warm and sunny, and former crew members John (OB) and Kathleen Oberholtzer, and future crew member Hazel, came up for a volunteer work day (it was their idea!). With their help, we freed the canoes from the dome and set them up on their racks in the canoe yard, ready for the first customer. Kat also stocked our food department in preparation for our first outfitting group. Hurrah! Thanks to the Oberholtzer family for their hard work and good company.

Since the canoes were out, Mary Alice and I decided to make use of one this evening. Our first paddle of the season started in full afternoon sun, with dogs chasing us along the bank. We only ventured as far as the Alton portage, where the soft, unmarked ground assured us that we were the first ones to pass. Alton Lake was clear of ice, and the setting sun illuminated moose tracks and signs that seemed very recent. As we headed back to the Sawbill landing, the shade and the brisk breeze reminded us that it is still April and we are due for the return of more typical April weather. Still, as we crept along the shore, aware of the silence and the fact that many months had passed since others paddled these waters, M.A. raptly repeated, “It’s so beautiful!” And it was. – Molly.

Homer investigates the canoe and Mary Alice. Sunset over an ice-free Alton Lake.

4/18/05 –

The ice went out on Sawbill Lake early this morning. It is one of the earliest ice out dates in recent memory. Molly, Cindy and I revived the dormant tradition of jumping into the lake on the day of ice out. Brrr. – Bill