Ending "Iced In" -- Poplar Lake 2013

When I woke up this morning the temperature was a chilly 22 degrees.  The cold temperatures over  last weekend did little to move us towards "ice out"on Poplar Lake. What little open water we had late yesterday froze and it will take a couple hours of sunshine today before we get back to where we were. The good news this that the weatherman has finally turned optimistic. 

We drove around yesterday to see for ourselves how the lakes along the Gunflint Trail are doing.  Some of the smaller shallower lakes like Little Iron are ice free while the larger deeper lakes appear to have areas that are still choked with ice.  We would suggest checking with a local cooperator to make sure that you can paddle into the BWCAW before heading north for a canoe trip this week.

Daytime temperatures in the upper 60s with nighttime temperatures in the 40s are forecasted for most of this week.  A couple days of warm temperatures should go a long ways towards opening our lakes.  It always amazes us how fast the ice departs once it finally warms up.

 I am going to turn on the resort's water system today and not worry about  freezing nightime temperatures until late September!    


Rockwood Canoe Launch Area -- May 12th



Progress -- Ice Condition Report

There are a couple pictures that I promised to post for those hardy paddlers hoping to start on their canoe trips next week.  The first picture is an update of the picture posted just two days ago.  We have more open water along the north shore and open water is starting to show up near the island in front of Cabin #9.



May 8th



The second picture is of the bay in front of our house.  The ice is turning black and surface melting has started! (The white bleach bottle marks the water intake line for our house and helps keep the line up off the bottom of the lake.



May 8th





Starting to Look Like Spring

Finally some warm weather.  High today was in the sixties and the low last night was a warm 31 degrees. We are seeing lots of  snow melting. Our road down to the Lodge is open -- well drive able from our house to the Lodge but not from the main entrance to the Lodge.



May 6, 2013



I took this picture after dinner of the Lodge that shown only a small snowdrift remaining on the north side of the building. The snow on the roof and on the west side of the building is all gone! Compared to the Lodge picture posted earlier the snow is definitely departing. Most of the snow melt has occurred over the last three days

We have all of the canoes that were stored in the Lodge out and are starting to get things organized inside the Lodge for "opener".  Today. I moved some new beds and a sofa into Cabin #2. By opener I hope to have the old beds and a sofa sleeper moved out of this cabin and up to the "hobbit" house on the top of the hill.  (As I get older I am finding that moving sofa sleepers is definitely not a one man job.)  Tomorrow we are going to Duluth for a food show and to stock up on cleaning and maintenance supplies. On Thursday we will move the dish for the Internet and fishing license machine from our house down to the Lodge.

My second picture is for all of the people who reserved canoe permits in early May. The lake ice on Poplar has started to darken and is beginning to pull away from the shore. This shot looking west from the outfitting building shows some open water along the north edge of Poplar Lake. This is the first day this year that we have seen open water on our lake!    



May 6, 2013



Snow is Slowly Leaving

The snow comparison picture that I promised with my last blog posting shows a substantial drop in snow depth. We had three good days of melting over the weekend and things are actually better that what this picture reveals. The snow is gone from all of our roofs and yesterday I managed to drive my pickup down to the outfitting building. The lake ice/snow cover is changing to a dirty brown color as the runoff continues. Sunday I had to install a sump pump at our neighbors house to keep their basement from flooding.  

Some of the additional deliveries that I forgot to mention in the last blog posting include: some new beds, a sofa and some recliners from Slumberland, portage pads and paddles for the new canoes, sweatshirts and T shirts, and tackle and gift items for the Lodge Store. The busy spring season has started for us -- even when ice and snow still has a hold on us. 



April 29th



Fishing Opener -- and Seasonal Delays



Tuesday April 23rd



 Last weekend's snowfall has really stopped us from getting things ready for Fishing Opener.  Since the snow has stopped we have been getting lots of phone calls from people wanting to know if the ice will be out before they arrive.  A few of the calls have been for trip cancellations in May.

The  Lodge picture taken yesterday clearly shows that we still have plenty of snow on the ground. The second picture, taken earlier, shows how deep the snow was three days earlier. What you can't see is how much the snow as gone down.  I'll try to post a second picture of Lin standing the same spot on Monday that should give everyone a better idea of how fast the snow is disappearing. My best guess is that we have  already lost a foot of snow depth.  



Saturday April 20th



The Nation Weather Service just issued a release stating that we should "expect above normal temperatures through Wednesday May 1 which will lead to snow melt and rapid runoff. " So far we haven't had night time temperatures above freezing. This week we have had one night with temperatures below 0!  We're ready for a warm up.  



Today we received our first delivery of outfitting food. We are still expecting deliveries of patio doors, a new water heater for the shower house, some outfitting equipment, nine new Kevlar canoes and some more outfitting food. We hope that the deliveries will be after the snow is gone from the road down to the resort.

We kept the apartment open this winter so we won't have to restart the water system this spring. However, we're going to have a lot of work to do in a very short time to get ready for the fishing opener or ice out -- which ever comes first.