10/2/25 – We’ve been getting a number of inquires the past couple of days asking how the federal government shutdown is affecting the campgrounds we manage which include; the Sawbill Lake, Crescent Lake, and Temperance River National Forest Campgrounds. The short answer is they are still open! We plan to continue operating as normal through the end of the season, but as always feel free to reach out with any questions. -Jessica
9/28/25 – Things have been hopping around here, hence our long hiatus in newsletter posts. After this week it will theoretically begin to slow down as we transition into wrapping things up for the season (our last day of canoe rentals will be October 20th). Although customers will be fewer and further between, we still recommend making canoe reservations so we know to expect you. At a certain point we’ll begin pulling canoes to sell and will shorten our business hours depending on how busy things are looking.
Although we will be renting canoes through October 20th, we may transition to only plastic and aluminum canoes if conditions are right for skim ice which can easily damage Kevlar canoes. Along this same vein, the water in the campground and shower house will get turned off as temperatures dip below freezing at night.
Stay tuned for further updates as we set into our October routines. -Jessica
8/25/25 – If you’ve been following the weather in our neck of the woods this summer, you will have seen the regular rainfall and cooler temperatures. This pattern has kept fire danger low, much to our relief, although it wasn’t great for the blueberry crop which was mediocre. It has, however, been a banner year for fungi in the boreal forest. I admit, I am late to the mushroom fan club. I first noticed the abundance of fungi in our woods when my youngest was about a year old. A newly mobile and curious kid, Sig somehow managed to find every mushroom in a 100 foot radius and tried to put them all in his mouth. His love of mushrooms has continued to grow, and I can happily report that he is now adept at identifying which mushrooms are safe for him to cook and eat, and which he needs to avoid.
If you’re interested in mushrooming I highly recommend finding a class or a club near you. North House Folk School in Grand Marais often holds foraging classes, and there are a variety of clubs throughout the metro area that take folks out on educational hikes. A knowledgeable friend is always a good resource, and there are a number of books I’ve found helpful for tips and tricks on identification. We like to saute our clean and diced mushrooms in some butter and garlic, then freeze them in single serving sizes for winter gravies and soups.
Beyond foraging for consumption, I have grown to love the beauty of the fungi world. Give me a good patch of moss and lichen with a few colorful mushrooms popping out and it’ll make my day.
-Clare
8/20/25 – Kit (9) and Anna (24) here! Kit, one of the two Shirley kids, wanted to do a blog post this week so we are making that happen. Out of all of the possible topics, she really wanted to write about her annual daddy-daughter canoe trip this year with Dan, where they did the Frost River. From here on out it’ll be Kit’s story, but typed up by me:
“On day one we went up to Frost from Sawbill and we had lunch on Cherokee. Unfortunately, we packed the hikers hummus and it was the cilantro lime flavor, we just thought that we didn’t think the flavor was good, but the joke was on us because the pack was expired. Sadly that was our lunch for every day, and we needed a lot of energy to finish out the Frost River Route, so Dan choked it down, and I just ate cheese. We also had a wonderful skinny dip on Cherokee because it was very hot that day and we still had a long way to go to get to Frost. There was a storm brewing so we were in a hurry to get a site on Frost. Thankfully, there were several options available. We took the site with a sloping rock across the campsite and a big sandy beach nearby. We tried to swim from the sandy beach, but we walked out so far that our campsite was a little dot and the water was still only up to my waist. For dinner, we had pad thai and shared a special lindt caramel bar which had melted in the pack throughout the day, so it was more of a chocolate and caramel straw. The first day took us about 8 hours including the lunch stop.
On the second day we were greeted by an early morning thunder storm. Once that passed, we traveled the whole Frost River down to Mesaba. It was another eight hour day with most of that on the river. From my memory, it wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be, but from Dan’s memory, it was a lot of work. On the Frost River, the map isn’t always right, there were a lot of portages that weren’t on the map and a lot of portages on the map that we didn’t have to do. The map is helpful for the general direction of the river, but the portages change so much that you never really know what to expect. There are a LOT of beaver dams, but nothing you can’t get over or around. As we neared the end of the Frost River and were supposed to come out onto Afton Lake, the river kept going and we were worried that we weren’t where we thought we were and that maybe there was a lot more river left. We finally burst out onto Afton and we were so happy. There were three swans there to welcome us. We stopped on the one campsite on the lake (which was pretty decent) and had a triumphant skinny dip, again. Even though we were beyond the river portion, we still had about 400 more rods of portaging to do to make it down to Mesaba. We were joking that we had to get to Mesaba because before the trip, Dan was talking to our friend Paul, who was going out for two weeks, that we’d be on Mesaba that night and that maybe he should meet us there with dinner ready! Sadly we didn’t see him, but we had a great evening with more swims.
Day three took us back to Sawbill. Of course there was a stiff south wind in our faces the whole way because that is always what seems to happen to us. The way back seemed easier because we didn’t have to do the river again, so we leisurely paddled back – or as leisurely as you can against the wind. The long Lujenida portage I have done many times and a lot of people are nervous to do it. It is actually a really nice portage especially if you take enough breaks and do it in 10-15 minute shifts. I really enjoy doing this portage because the breaks give you plenty of time to talk about your day. When we got back to Sawbill I took a shower immediately and then came to the store to say hi to the whole crew!”
The Frost River Route is definitely one of our more challenging routes, but it is totally doable if you have the time to do it! Dan and Kit were able to do it in 3 days, but we have it on our website here as a 5 day loop. Regardless, the river itself definitely takes a whole day to complete as it is ever-changing. Don’t hesitate to give us a call about the Frost River or any other routing advice or information!
– Anna
8/16/25 – Well, we are into another busy weekend in our campground here at Sawbill! August tends to be quite the time for camping, so our campground has a tendency to get close to full most weekends. We manage the Sawbill Lake Campground, as well as the Temperance River Rustic Campground and Crescent Lake Campground. We introduced the Sawbill Campground host, Hawk, on the blog, but Jack is also the host at Crescent, along with Reggie, his black lab.
The Sawbill Lake Campground is right here on our property and right along Sawbill Lake. There are 51 sites total, with just over half of those being reservable on recreation.gov, and the rest being first come, first served. At Sawbill we have water and outhouses throughout the campground as well as fire grates and picnic tables at each site. There is water access, however only for carry-down boats, not motorized boats. You are also right on the edge of the Boundary Waters and can easily fill out a day use permit and paddle into the Wilderness. We also have ample canoes to do day use rentals.
Temperance River Rustic Campground is about halfway up the Sawbill Trail, right after the pavement ends. There are only 9 sites at this campground and they are all first come sites. However, there is also water, outhouses, fire grates, and picnic tables. The Temperance River is easily accessible from this campground and is a good fishing spot
Finally, we manage the Crescent Lake Campground which is along The Grade, about 13 miles from Sawbill. There are 32 campsites, with around half being reservable on recreation.gov, and the rest being first come, first served. Here, there is water access as well, and there is motorized access in addition to carry-down water access. Similar to the other campgrounds, there is water, outhouses, fire grates, and picnic tables.
All of the campgrounds are great and each site has its own unique feel and set up to it! While Sawbill Lake Campground is the biggest and closest to us, the other two are great options as well and are also close by if for any reason we are full at Sawbill. They are all $20 per night and an extra $10 if you will have two vehicles in the site (each site includes one vehicle, and two are the maximum). There is also a limit of 9 people per site. If you are seeking a woods and lake getaway and have some free time, come on up and check us out for camping!
– Anna
8/9/2025 – This summer I have been doing a lot more biking around Sawbill! I have never really done gravel biking before, but brought up a bike and decided to give it a try. There are tons of great roads around here for bike rides, including the Sawbill Trail. It has been very fun to do some out and backs over to other entry points, like Baker, but there are also some loops you can do.
Roads like the Sawbill Trail, Perent Lake Road, and the Grade are all wider and driven more frequently, however, there are also a lot of single track roads like Jabbo, Rice Lake, and Pancore Lake. Regardless there is something in it for everyone and as long as you’ve got decent tires for gravel, you are totally okay with any bike you have. I have been using my grandma’s bike from the early 2000s, which has done the trick and is more than okay for the routes I have done. As long as you’ve got a bike (and don’t forget your helmet!) you are all set!
We also get a lot of people coming through Sawbill who are doing the “Straddle and Paddle” bikepacking route which you can find more information about here. Similarly, crew member Damon (aka D-Dawg) has been exploring a lot of the back roads on his motorcycle which has allowed him to get places faster than a normal bike! Regardless of how you go about it, there are a lot of fun ways to bike. Just remember to leave no trace on the back roads, I have picked up a bunch of trash from other people on those roads so leave them better than you found them!!
-Anna
8/8/2025 – For a fun crew extracurricular activity this morning, Isabelle, Anja, and I decided to get up bright and early to go for a sunrise paddle on Lake Superior at Tofte Park. Tofte Park is a great stopping spot at Lake Superior as it is right at the base of the Sawbill Trail! Paddling on Superior is a very rare thing for us to do, but we made sure it was safe and the water was calm before heading out, as Lake Superior can be so unpredictable and conditions can change very quickly. We were happy to see that the water was like glass and paddled/floated around a bit while watching the gulls, geese, and fish all around us as the sun was rising. There was also a lot of beautiful fog along the Sawbill Trail both on our way down at around 5am, and on our way back up around 6:30.
Tofte Park is such an ideal spot to stop when you’re passing through Tofte on the trek to Sawbill. Perfect for swimming, picnics, playground time, or sitting on the rocks. Whatever you do, it is a great stop along your Sawbill adventure to give you not only some BWCA time, but also some time at the big lake!
-Anna
Meet the Sawbill Campground Host
8/5/2025 – Tom “Hawk” Jensen is our Sawbill Campground host for the 2025 season. He is a retired NICU RN from Minnetrista, Minnesota.
This is not Hawk’s first time working for Sawbill. He was a part of the Sawbill Crew during ‘74 after Frank originally hired him to dig a trench. He ended up staying on and working through the winter shoveling snow off the roof and keeping the wood stoves well stocked. His favorite memory during this time was trying to keep Liebchen the dachshund out of the cheese supply in the office.
So, how did Hawk find himself back at Sawbill over 50 years later? Well, Bill and Hawk had stayed in touch over the years, with Hawk frequently expressing interest in spending a summer back at Sawbill. This summer, the stars aligned and Clare and Dan were able to extend him the invitation.
Now, Hawk fills his days with greeting campground guests, keeping the restrooms squeaky clean, and driving his golf cart around. In his spare time, Hawk enjoys taking his dog, Bella, for walks, spending time with his wife, Connie, and taking naps. His favorite thing to get from the Sawbill store is his sweet treat of choice, a Blue Bunny Alaska Bar.
Happy Camping,
8/4/2025 –
“Bum bum bum
bum bum budam
bum bum bum bum bum”
“Smoke on the water
A fire in the sky
Smoke on the water”
Over the course of this summer, the Boundary Waters have experienced certain days when the smoke rolls in and settles for a few days from forest fires happening across Canada. Recently, we have received many phone calls from individuals concerned about the air quality in our area. Usually it starts with a bit of haze on the horizon of Sawbill Lake. The smoke will stick around for a few days. Sometimes there is a taste of it in the air but not usually. Today, we have clear skies and beautiful weather.
For any additional weather or health concerns, consult your local weather station. Or here is a great article to reference where our very own Clare made a comment on the situation.
https://www.fox9.com/video/1685173
Best Wishes on all your summer adventures.
8/2/2025 – This was my first canoe trip of the season. Two friends and I took a Wenonah Minnesota 3 canoe. Our route plan was to leave from Sawbill and get up to Wine Lake to base camp for two nights. This was both of my friend’s first canoe trip.
7/22 – We pushed off from the Sawbill dock at 9am. We opted to take the north western portage from Sawbill into Kelso River. Getting onto Kelso River went great for our first portage. We were carrying 2 Duluth Packs and a 20L day pack. The mosquitoes at the end of this portage were out but as soon as we were on the water they disappeared. Our first sighting of people was on Kelso Lake where a crew of ladies was base camping on one of the northern sites on Kelso Lake. The northern section of Kelso River is very beautiful.
The lily pads were blooming despite the overcast weather for the day. We continued to navigate up into Lujenida Lake. Finding the portage to Zenith Lake was slightly tricky to see from a distance. We unloaded our gear from the boat and prepared for the 480 rods that we were about to embark on. At this point it was 11:30 a.m. and the rain had just begun to fall. As we trucked on, we came upon many rocks we had to climb over, trees we had to work around, and mud puddles that wanted to swallow us whole. We finally reached the end and set out onto Zenith Lake aiming south west towards Frederick Lake. On some maps, it is shown that portaging is not necessary between these two lakes. However, with some recent dam development with the local beavers, there is now a 15 rod portage.
The portage from Fredreick to Wine is quite steep and leeches were very attached to us at the landing. Wine lake has three campsites on it. Our goal was to stay on either the island site or the eastern site near the portage. We ended up choosing the island site. We rolled up to camp at 5:00 p.m. Our view from camp was quite rewarding after a busy day of travel.
We set up camp and made some chicken pasta for dinner. Notice how I have not mentioned that the rain stopped? That is because it did not. We were hoping to have some clear skies overnight. Exhausted, we all went to bed at 8:00 p.m.
7/23 – Well the rain never did quit. I’m very confident that a thunder cloud thought it was its personal mission to sing us a bedtime story all night long. When we woke up to assess the weather situation, we found all our gear to be wet. The tent floor, the food bag, even the life jackets under our tarp were soaked. To make the most of the day, we played cards in the tent, read, and went for an afternoon paddle around Wine Lake. We swam, made dinner, and again went to bed early.
7/24 – Of course our final day is the day that the rain finally stops. As we packed up camp, we did get a glimpse of the sun peaking through the clouds. At 9:30, we pushed off after a breakfast of peanut butter tortillas. As we retraced our steps back through Wine and Fredrick, we noticed the significant increase in the water level. The portage from Fredrick to Zenith had tons of water flowing over the beaver dam. When we reached the Lujenida portage, we were very determined to be successful getting across in one piece. However, the portage had other plans. Both my friends broke their shoes. Remember those mud puddles I talked about earlier? Well some of them go mid thigh deep on 5’1” women.
After some tactile duck tape application, we huffed on. Seeing Lujenida lake was such a relief. To enjoy the sunshine on the last bit of our trip, we stopped for lunch on Kelso Lake. We docked back at Sawbill at 5:00p.m.
Overall, this trip was a crazy rollercoaster. From duct taping shoes to tromping through torrential rain to trying to find a dry place in the tent. However, when you have good friends who are willing to put up with your crazy ideas, it makes for lasting memories.
-Lauren
