7/31/18 –

This past week Sawbill had many a celebration from Boys Night Out in Grand Marais to Christmas in July.

“Just hear those loon calls a-callin-ya, wolf packs a howlin’, yea…come on it’s lovely weather for a canoe ride together with yooouu”

Oof..OK, I tried…

But, tis the season for…Sawbill Crew’s annual Christmas in July party!

60 frosted sugar cookies later (well, 50…we had to make sure they were tasty!) and the crew was so deep into the holiday spirit that we swore we heard reindeer hooves on our rooftop (it was probably just the rambunctious red squirrels). Our Christmas meal, generously and deliciously made by Clare and Dan Shirley, was nothing short of a feast worthy for the Who’s in Whoville. Sawbill elves busily put together their Secret Santa gifts of which all were so beautifully executed and thoughtful. I am consistently impressed by everyone in this community!

This week we also celebrated the last annual Dome Dance. The dome was filled with lively music, of which one could hear winding through the trails to the campground like the pied piper beckoning folks up towards the twinkling lights of our dance. It was a wonderful evening and we were excited to be joined by so many of you. Thank you!

Last but not least the Sawbill Boys had their opportunity to enjoy the big city life of Grand Marais this weekend. From snacking on a gourmet spread of smoked fish and cheese while cruising on the Schooner Hjordis to topping it off with even more scrumptious food at the Angry Trout, they did it all with total style:

While the boys lived out their nautical dreams the Sawbill Babes held down the fort with a cozy craft night weaving birch bark beads and watching classic films. There is never a dull moment up here, even on a night in.

Hope everyone had as much fun this week as we did! Now, onward to another busy week up here at Sawbill. Go, go, go!

-Anna

7/28/18 – We were sad to hear of the recent passing of longtime Sawbill camper and friend, Gary Freiermuth. Here at Sawbill, many customers turn into something more like family over the passage of years. It’s one of the best parts about our job here. Bill had the following to say about Gary:

“The whole Sawbill/Crescent Lake family is saddened by this news. Cindy and I spent many happy hours in conversation with Gary over the years. He was a gentle, compassionate and funny storyteller. His love for the northwoods and the wilderness was always front and center. His encounter with a black cougar on the Grade Road is a story that will be told for years to come. I always reassure people that Gary was a completely credible source for that amazing story. We still laugh about the time he came in to report being chased by a pack of wolves, also on the Grade Road. When he stopped to get out his camera, the “wolves” surrounded his car and he realized that they were Dave Freeman’s friendly sled dogs who had escaped from their kennel. I can still hear his laugh.

7/22/18 – Greetings to all near and far, the much anticipated annual Dome Dance is swiftly approaching, and we are all putting our snazziest Chacos on!

The other night, chattering over a campfire, the flames illuminating our excited faces, dressed up in pioneer attire (don’t worry, I will explain later), I heard experiences of Dome Dances of Sawbill Past. How the Crew member reunion years are a wild romp, when the outfitter turns into a soiree. As a new member to the Sawbill family, I ate this up.

Always a sucker for a good party (especially one where you can bust some moves…), I reminisced on community Contra dances that I have attended before. Everyone is smiling, spinning around and round to the fast paced tune of the fiddle. When the song ends cheeks are rosy, breath is short, but smiles are stretched across the dancer’s faces. What a sweet and electric way to be engaged with folks around you, swinging your partner on the floor, making eye contact with someone and both giggling over how much fun you’re having breaking a sweat while cutting a rug! Wouldn’t you love to hear that good ole’ banjo pluckin’, feel it sweep you away into a night of toe tappin’?

WELL THEN, if so! Please join us on Saturday July 28th at 7 pm for the party, located in the geodesic dome alongside the canoe-yard. Campers, paddlers, meanderers alike, one and all. What a wonderful way to meet your fellow wilderness adventurers by gathering together in a giant, empty building (slightly resembling a beaver lodge), for a night of lively music and community dance.

We hope to see you there!

P.S. Oh, right, I nearly forgot! The current crew had a lovely Themed dinner this weekend. Inspired by the Oregon Trail (the classic computer game from the 1990’s, of course). We donned our best bonnets, despite a few of us having been stricken with measles, and nestled around a campfire. We enjoyed forged mushrooms and wild rice, brats and delicious cake. Spirits were high, the dinner luxurious, despite the fear of dysentery and snake bite. It’s always good to have a little fun!

Hope all of you out there are enjoying your summer months, having themed dinners of your own, surrounded by good food, good company and some good pioneer fiddle tunes.

– Anna

7/18/18 – Between June 19 and August 25th, the USDA Forest Service is conducting interactive presentations every Saturday night from 7:30 – 9:00 PM. These are informative programs conducted around a campfire on the shore of Sawbill Lake.

Each week, a different theme is presented. These themes range anywhere from cooking in the wilderness to black bears! The programs are conducted by Forest Service rangers. The rangers do a superb job at making these presentations very interesting by combining aspects such as stories, games, fossils, treats and more.

The naturalist programs are suitable for all ages and great for families. Even the Sawbill Crew members enjoy attending these meetings each week as they provide valuable information about the lands. Many of the Sawbill Crew members were surprised to realize how little they knew about the animals and nature around them!

At last weeks program, I had much fun learning about bats and was very surprised to learn that bats can eat up to twenty thousand tons of mosquitoes in their lifetime. Bats are now my favorite animal.

If you like being in nature, learning, fun games and delicious s’more treats, then the Saturday night Naturalist Programs are perfect for you! We hope to see you there.

– Nathan

7/17/18 – Sawbill had a surprise visit this week from two members of the national Dragon Fly Society of the Americas. These dragon fly enthusiast were surveying for dragon flies near Temperance River when their car broke down and was stuck upon a logging road. Luckily Clare Shirley, owner of Sawbill, passed the enthusiast along the way and gave them a ride to Sawbill.

Turns out these two enthusiast came all the way from Texas and Maryland for the annual Dragon Fly Society of America conference being held at Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center in Finland, MN. This conference was being hosted by the Minnesota Dragon Fly society. The conference was a three day ordeal in which many enthusiast, professors and researchers came together to discuss the odonata clade of flies. Odonata is the proper scientific term for a clade of carnivorous flies which include dragonflies and damselflies.

For three days, pictures were shown, data was presented and discussions were conducted, all dedicated to dragonflies.  One hundred and fifty species of Minnesotan odonatas were presented. Minnesota is abundant in dragonflies because many of it’s natural habitats such as bogs and creeks are ideal for dragonfly populations. This makes Minnesota the perfect place for dragonfly research.

Following the meetings, members would go out on excursions to collect information and pictures of dragonflies. The visitors to Sawbill reported that they saw over 76 species of odonata while surverying the land near Temperance River.

If you are interested in more information on Minnesota dragonflies and the odonata species, consider reading the book Dragonflies of  the Northwoods written by Kurt Mead. This book includes the species and descriptions of dragonflies that can be seen around Minnesota.

Dragonflies are essential for the insect population health in the north woods. These beautiful flies come in arrays of shapes and colors and have been on Earth for over 300 million years! If this doesn’t make you love them yet, dragonflies can eat up to three hundred mosquitoes per day, which I’m sure everyone can appreciate when camping in the north woods.

The link for the Dragon Fly Society of Americas is posted below.

https://www.odonatacentral.org/index.php/PageAction.get/name/HomePage

– Nathan

The wild blueberries are out! Wild blueberries have started to grow near Sawbill Lake and around areas off the Sawbill trail.

Wild blueberry season in Minnesota starts early to mid July, meaning that the next two weeks are prime time to go blueberry hunting.

If you are searching for blueberries near Sawbill, search in meadows near pine trees. These areas contain ideal soil for wild blueberries to grow. Wild blueberry hunting is a great opportunity for exploration of the wilderness. You never know what kind of wild life you might see along the way!

It is not uncommon to find an abundance of blueberries around these woods. We have had reports of customers collecting up to thirty six pounds of blueberries! While it may be tempting to utilize and harvest largest quantities, make sure to only harvest amounts that will be consumed. This ensures proper health for the blueberry plants and opportunity for other people to discover.

Happy hunting!

– Nathan

7/9/18

Burnt hues of yellow and vermilion lick the computer screen this morning.  It reminds me of stained glass.  Of entering an aged room:  A fire burning under the mantel, inconceivably tall ceilings and a stillness, as if something were about to happen.  It has been two nights since the race and the brilliance of the sun’s rays remind me of the fire that burned within me.

Three was the size of the crew in each Prism canoe:  A lightweight frame with a keen and mighty motor.  We knew we’d be fast, but most of us had not the experience of 3-manning a solo canoe.  Spirits were high and the anticipation from the crews was thick in their voices.

Three teams lined up at the end of the landing dock and on Rachel’s count, it began.  A whirlwind of paddles, shouts and calls from the boats and spectators at the landing erupted across the still lake.  The water’s still face now rippled and distorted, vibrant with the color of dusk, cold and smooth as stained glass.

My team did not win.  We did not come in second either.  But we were met with smiles and applause as we crossed the finish.  A nod to the great sportsmanship of the people there.

The fire that burned in me that night now burns low.  Stoked by this early morning light, the flame burns a little brighter.  I wish to go again.  To have that fire burn great and bright again.  To spit flames from our paddles in the Dragon Boats.

-Paul

7/6/18 – Last week a lucky couple got engaged on Sawbill Lake! The engagement occured on a campground in North Sawbill Lake. The engagement ring was hidden within an agate and left for the bride-to-be to discover. What a lovely Minnesotan surprise!

It is not uncommon for couples to get engaged on Sawbill Lake. So if your significant other suggests a trip to Sawbill, you might be next!

– Nathan

7/2/18 – This week, a volunteer from the Minnesota Loon Monitor Program has come to collect information about loon populations near the Sawbill lake area. The Minnesota Loon Monitoring Program is a project conducted by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. The project recruits volunteers to gather information about Loons in different areas of lakes around Minnesota.

The program collects information on Minnesota loons from six different sectioned areas called “index areas”. Index areas are mapped areas containing one hundred lakes each. These index areas are spread all throughout Minnesota, which ensures full coverage of the loon populations. Since there is such a large area of lakes to survey, the DNR benefits immensely from the volunteers generous work.

To ensure data consistency, volunteers have an eleven day window from June 29th to July 9th to collect their data. The counting process of loons must occur between 5am and 12pm. Other factors such as weather and shoreline conditions are collected as well.

The MLMP has been conducted since 1994. The longitudinal data collected by this project is used to monitor population health of the Minnesota Loons. The data has shown that loon occupancy, the statistical chance of seeing a loon, has stayed relatively equal for the past eight years. For the greatest chance of seeing loons, head over to the Itasca index area, this area has the highest reported loon occupancy according to the MLMP. 

Kevin, an MLMP volunteer who is staying in the Sawbill campground this week, is currently in charge of surveying five small lakes near Sawbill. He states that loons are territorial birds and groups or families of loons inhabit designated sections of lakes. The smaller lakes he is surveying such as Agnes, Finger and Tomash only have up to one family inhabiting them. On larger lakes such as Sawbill, multiple families of loons inhabit different areas.

The state of Minnesota is blessed with the presence of such a beautiful bird. It is everyone’s responsibility to protect and preserve the precious biology of the wilderness. If you are interested in getting involved with the preservation of wildlife, consider visiting the DNR website link posted below. A link for the Minnesota Loon Monitoring Project is posted below as well.

https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/volunteering/index.html

https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/eco/nongame/projects/mlmp_results.html

– Nathan

6/30/18 – He has tirelessly worked on Sawbill Lake for almost eighty consecutive years. He is the oldest, most dedicated staff member at Sawbill Canoe Outfitters. His name is Uno, and he is made of wood.

Uno is a wooden dummy who arrived to Sawbill Lake in 1940 and has never left since. He was originally placed at the Sawbill Lodge. Sawbill Lodge has closed but was once a wilderness resort located at the south end of Sawbill Lake, where a handicap fishing dock now stands. At the old Sawbill Lodge, a wooden mill wheel was installed into Sawbill Creek. Uno’s hands were attached to the crank of this mill, making him appear to be cranking the wheel. This created a silly yet memorable sight that the customers of Sawbill Lodge could return to and reminisce about each summer.

Uno’s unique name is one of a kind. The original owners of Sawbill Lodge posted a sign that read “U NO U R at SAWBILL!” at the beginning of the lane leading to the lodge. This sign (with questionable spelling) became associated with the wooden dummy and and his name became Uno. This name has stuck with him ever since.

In 1980, the Sawbill Lodge closed due to the 1978 BWCAW bill which changed the land around Sawbill Lake into a federally regulated wilderness. This bill turned Sawbill into a no-motor lake, leading the owners of Sawbill Lodge to sell their land to the Forest Service. After the Lodge closed down, Uno relocated to next door and found new work at Sawbill Canoe Outfitters.

Uno has stayed with the Sawbill Crew ever since. Today, Uno resides in the kitchen of the crew house. Here, he watches over crew members cooking and hanging out. Every once in a while, he may suddenly appear in a new room, creating quite a surprise for the crew members. Sparking new crew members’ curiosities, Uno serves as a time capsule and reminder of important history to the area around Sawbill Lake.

– Nathan