5/6/25 – It’s official, the ice is out on Sawbill Lake as of May 6th, 2025! Let the paddling season begin. The crew did paddle over to Alton and it is still locked up with ice, which is normal. Alton and Brule are so big, they typically go out 3-4 days after Sawbill does. Other area lakes like Kawishiwi and Baker are also ice free. Looks like it’s shaping up to be an open water fishing opener.

-Clare

5/5/25 – May is a big month for birthdays in the Hansen and Shirley families and today we are celebrating Bill Hansen! The kids and I stopped in at Bill and Cindy’s house in Grand Marais before school this morning to drop off presents and big birthday hugs. Although he’s totally retired from Sawbill, his summer schedule is quite full as the captain of the Schooner Hjordis, which sails from North House Folk School in Grand Marais. If you’re in the area and looking to catch up with Bill, your best bet is to book a sail and request him as your captain! You can find more info about Hjordis and the excellent Folk School here.

In other exciting news, the ice continues to melt rapidly out on Sawbill. The crew took an aluminum canoe up the shoreline of Sawbill yesterday evening and were only able to make it as far as the first point on the southern end of the lake. The ice has mostly candled, a spring phenomenon where the melting water filters down through the ice, creating small column like structures throughout the ice pack. When handled, the columns fall apart and shatter, creating endless fun and satisfying sounds when smashed against rocks. Thanks to Corr for capturing some great photos of this ephemeral condition.

The forecast today is for low 70’s, wind and sun. My guess is that the ice won’t go out today, the bottom layer still seems too substantial, but my money is on sometime in the next 72 hours. Just in time for fishing opener!

-Clare

5/3/25 – We’re still looking at ice on Sawbill lake, but it’s getting darker and darker by the day. Our low this morning was 27°F, but we’re now up to a balmy 65° and sunny.

Another plus to these clear skies is a MODIS satellite image over Lake Superior giving us a little more intel as to the status of ice elsewhere. From the below image taken just after 2:30 this afternoon it appears Kawishiwi Lake might be ice free, or at least very close to it. Perent Lake on the other hand has some ice hanging on and Brule still has a ways to go. -Jessica

5/1/25 – Dan did a small reconnaissance drive yesterday evening to a couple of the other entry points around Sawbill. He went to entry points #36 (Hog Creek), # 37 (Kawishiwi), and # 39 (Baker) to check how the ice was doing. According to Dan, Baker is out as well as Peterson, but the portage situation might be hairy due to high water right now. Hog Creek is in a similar state, ice out but high water that is moving fairly quickly. We recommend the utmost caution if anyone is heading to those entry points in the next several days. Kawishiwi still had ice, but it was very dark in color, so we expect ice out to happen soon there.

A few of us early crew members wandered down to the lake after lunch to check out the ice coverage. The ice looks quite dark and the ice has pulled further away from shore. – Sawyer

4/30/25 – The first crew of the season arrived today! As is tradition they were promptly sent out to check on the ice. Sawyer volunteered as tribute and reported about 17″ total from top to bottom with about 8″ of it consisting of rotten ice, slush, and water. Across the lake things are looking pretty dark.

As of yesterday, Baker Lake, which is always one of the first entry point lakes to go out in our area, was looking very close to being open with just some black ice holding on. Stay tuned for more updates. -Jessica

4/29/25 – Current conditions as of 2pm: 28°F, breezy, overcast, and flat out chilly. Curious since the forecast for today predicted a high of 43° and mostly sunny. I guess it wasn’t totally wrong. Just after midnight we did reach 42° and soon after the temperature steadily dropped until it reached the low of 24° around 11am. As far as the mostly sunny part, that has not come to fruition yet…

Around noon Dan scooted the trusty Alumacraft out to drill a test hole. He found 21″ from the bottom of the ice to the top of the slush and estimated about 9″ of that was solid ice. In all yesterday we received about an inch of rain and that seems to have helped the ice along as it’s now broken away from shore which has resulted in the water rising and topping the railroad ties of the canoe landing. A key step in the transition to ice out. -Jessica

4/28/25 – Passing thunderstorms all day today, like much of the state. During a break in the action I snuck in a quick peak at the lake around 6pm.

I didn’t drill a test hole during this reconnaissance mission, but on Saturday Dan walked out quite a ways and measured 22″.

Also of note; the drift just above the canoe storage area on your way to sites 2 and 3 is still going strong. It’s probably a good few feet deep, at least, in the middle. -Jessica

4/24/25 – If you spend much time on social media, you’ve probably seen some hub bub today regarding the Forest Service Ranger Stations and their ability to issue Boundary Waters permits this season. If you haven’t seen the hub bub yet, good for you. Here’s the skinny: Ranger Station hours are going to look different this season. Below is the updated information directly from the USFS.

Here are some FAQ’s and answers we’ve put together based on the questions we’ve been getting so far.

• How do I know what issuing station I selected for my permit? You can find your issuing station listed in your confirmation email from recreation.gov.
• Will the Tofte Ranger Station be open? Yes, but only Wednesday – Sunday from 8am – 4:30pm, closed Mondays and Tuesdays. Tofte WILL be able to issue permits during their open hours. Notably, the Gunflint Ranger Station and Kawishiwi Ranger Station (located in Ely) will not be issuing any BWCA permits this year.
• Can I pick up my permit from Sawbill? Yes of course! We have happily issued BWCA permits for decades.
• How long does it take to pick up my permit from Sawbill? Generally it takes about 15-20 minutes. We have a handy tv set up on our front deck where you watch the video while we make updates and print the permit. Then one of our experienced crew will walk you through any questions you have and fill you in on any pertinent info before you sign the permit.
• Can I pick up my permit from Sawbill even if I’m not renting anything from you? Yes of course! We regularly issue permits to folks who have never once rented a thing from us. We pride ourselves on giving accurate and relevant wilderness education to each group who gets their permit from us. As such, we do ask that you bring your whole group in to watch the video.
• Do I have to watch the video? Yep! Not only is it an excellent refresher on all things BWCA, but we are contractually obligated to show it to each and every group picking up their permit. One caveat, you can take a test at a Ranger Station and they’ll give you a special card that says you know the rules that gets you out of the video 😉 You do need a new card each year though.
• Are you expecting a huge influx and will that cause delays? We do expect to issue more permits than usual, but we have honed in our system over the years and don’t expect any undue delays in picking up permits or gear.
• How do I change my issuing station? You can change the issuing station yourself in your recreation.gov account or by using their new app. Alternatively, you can call any of the Ranger Stations and ask them to change it for you. Outfitters like Sawbill are unable to change issuing stations on permits.
• I had a permit set to be issued at Gunflint Ranger Station, is my permit cancelled?? Gosh no! You will just need to change your issuing station. Your permit is still valid! You should have received an email from recreation.gov with instructions on how to change your issuing station.

Don’t see your question here? Please send us an email at info@sawbill.com or call us at 218-663-7150. There are no bad questions!

On a more personal note for this story, we have been grateful to the local Forest Service offices for doing a great job of keeping us in the loop as they worked out their summer hours during the unprecedented staffing challenges being put upon them. As a rule of practice, Sawbill will never share information from the Forest Service, whether it’s a fire ban, Ranger Station hours changes, road closures, or what have you, until we have an official press release or signed forest order. Information and rumors can swirl viciously these days, and we want you to be able to trust the information we put out. We’ll also share the source documents anytime we can, as above.

Issuing BWCA permits is something we have done for a long time, and we have to sign a new contract with the USFS on an annual basis to be able to do so. That contract includes a number of conditions we must follow including educational components, record keeping, attendance at annual meetings with the Forest Service, etc. Additionally, at the end of every permit season the Forest Service picks up the copies of all the permits we’ve issued for the season and audits them. We get a detailed report indicating any mistakes (spoiler alert, Sawbill always gets an A+ on our audits). The point is, this is an existing system of collaboration that has worked well for many decades. That is not to say that this system should be used as a replacement for the excellent work of the front desk staff at the Ranger Stations. We can be thankful that we have a system in place to help fill the gaps this year while also fighting hard to fund the Forest Service and lift this hiring freeze so they can put people back to work for our public lands.

In other news, we’ve got an ice update! Jessica ventured out onto the Sawbill landing today and augured through roughly 7″ of good old fashioned slush followed by 16″ of ice. So we’re looking at a total of 23″ of frozen stuff between us and open water. Overnight temps aren’t dipping much below freezing at all these days so that slush isn’t refreezing solid each night anymore. That makes walking conditions quite crummy, much to the dogs’ dismay.

There’s some rain in the forecast which should help speed things along. Other area lakes, notably Crescent Lake, have started to show more ice pulling away from shore and dark ice out towards the middle so hopefully Sawbill isn’t much farther behind.

-Clare

4/15/25 – As is usual for this time of year the weather continues to be dynamic. Below freezing temperatures the past couple of days, paired with snow, and decent amount wind has things looking and feeling more like winter than they did on Sunday. -Jessica

4/13/25 – A light, but steady, rain yesterday afternoon has left us with standing water on top of the ice. The forecast calls for more of the same this afternoon, but predicts the rain will turn to snow overnight and continue into tomorrow.

Other signs of spring include an abundance of birds we don’t generally see in the winter or summer (grackles, dark-eyed juncos, yesterday I’m pretty sure I saw a pelican fly over), hearing the woodcock mating call at dusk (look it up it’s super crazy sounding), pussy willows blooming, daffodil shoots are beginning to poke through the soil (most of the ground is still covered with snow but this patch of ground is usually one of the first to open up), chipmunks becoming more active, and of course the tell tail first itch of the eyes, nose, and throat that precede the full onset of spring allergies. -Jessica