Under Attack by Mother Nature




South Lake Trail at Rockwood

  This past week we have been attacked along mutliple fronts!  A strong storm front came through the area about 3 am Monday morning and seriously damaged trees in both the BWCAW and at our Lodge. You can barely see the South Lake Trail sign and the path from our drive up to the Gunflint Trail
for the down trees. The force of the wind actually broke one of the picture windows in our house. Nothing but wind touched our home but there are 8 large trees on the ground within 3 to 10 feet of our house.

Paddlers are reporting that trees are also down along most of the portages. The portages are still open but Mother Nature has added a few obstacles to make things more interesting. Many of the locals believe that this was the worse storm to have hit the Gunflint Trail area since the blowdown in 1999.

On Saturday a bear showed up in camp and managed to search every garbage can for goodies. What a mess! When the bear came back again we had already emptied the cans before his arrival. Hopefully after finding empty cans he will stay away for a while. It is really hard to explain why he is even here since we are experiencing a bumper crop of blueberries this year.

The good news is that the mosquito attacks are less intense.  Lake levels are finally dropping and the mosquito breeding puddles are drying up. The evening "humming period" is starting later and ending sooner.