Update on Catching Up

The large cavity in the Lodge foundation has been filled! Our first time stonemasons, Mike and Carl, did a great job in nearly completing this repair. They instructed me to finish the tuck pointing before the end of the summer. Actually they strongly hinted that the tuck pointing should be completed by June 13th, but I have never been one one who could follow instructions.

Thursday I picked up Andrey, one of our summer staff, who is from the Ukraine at the Duluth airport. He has excellent English comprehension and is a very fast learner. Still a little shy about speaking English but as his confidence increases he is starting to open up and is becoming more comfortable speaking with us foreigners.  If you get a chance to come up to Rockwood this summer be sure to visit with him. We are expecting that Ting, our other staff member from China, will be here in a couple of weeks. 

We went from a campfire ban on Monday to flooding and road closures by Friday. The water level on Poplar Lake has raised over 10.5 inches in the past 5 days!    All of the feeder creeks are flowing and there is water seeping out of the ground is places that were bone dry last week. 

New Trail, Facelift for 87 Year Old Building

We are presently hosting a crew from the Border Route Trail Association who are working on the construction of a new hiking trail. The route for the new trail was flagged last Fall and trail clearing began earlier this Spring. Running from the South Lake Trail to the Caribou Rock Trail the new trail will follow the south shoreline of Moss Lake. It will have some great views overlooking this clear lake full of Lake Trout.




Meanwhile, here at home, work is progressing on filling a large hole recently discovered in the Lodge's foundation. With the next blog posting we should be able to show you the results of our first adventure in stonework.

False Spring, Drought, Spruce Brown

We are seeing signs of the early ice out and the warm temperatures that we experiencee several weeks ago. No the trees have not yet leafed out! Instead of green-up we are seeing the Spruce trees that line the Gunflint Trail turning BROWN. The early warm temteratures were followed by last week by temperatures in the mid-teens. The spruce trees welcomed the early Spring and started to put on a growth streak. When it turned cold last week the spruce trees along the road started turning brown! According Canadian Public Radio the stress of the sudden cold spell and the extended drought is turning the trees brown. This is especially pronounced in areas where the trees are not protected by other conifer trees -- like along a roadway. The good news is that while some of the trees will die some of the less stressed trees will undoubtedly bounce back.

Spring Break

Last night's snowfall has been a welcome relief for everyone living along the Gunflint Trail. The early ice out and several weeks of warm weather has allow us to get a lot of our pre-season work done. The propane line to the Lodge has been replaced and the trenches for the new waterline down the Cabin #2 driveway can be filled once it warms up enough to leak test the lines. Meanwhile, the snow makes a great excuse to take a "Spring Break" from working.

Actually, the snow is just what we needed. This winter's light snowfall has resulted in lower than normal water levels. It has also left us with less soil moisture than anyone who lives in an area prone to wildfires would like. In the last 24 hours we recorded had over 2 inches of water in our guage from a light steady rain and the wet snowfall. Because the ground is not frozen most of this moisture will soak into the ground instead of running off.

Moose Down, Digging Trenches and Water Treated

Last week between our Lodge and the snowmobile trail a murder of Ravens showed us the way to a nearby moose carcass. Ravens are noisily scavengers and had nearly completed the processing of the moose. Judging by the wolf tracks around the carcase the Ravens were only doing cleanup. We don't know how the moose died but it is especially sad to find one within a mile or our Lodge.

I spent two days this week digging trenches around the sewer tanks that we put in last Fall. The shortest trench was for the propane line from Cabin #2 to the Lodge. The long trench was for the main waterline that had to be routed away from tanks and sewer lines. We ended up with over a 100 foot run that had to crossing two sections of driveway. In the next couple of days we'll start plumbing shutoff valves and drain valves for the new waterlines.

Today we primed our lake water pump then filtered and chlorinated 1100 gallons of water. Hope to treat another 700 gallons tomorrow. We won't charge any of the waterlines outside the water treatment building for a couple of weeks -- until we are sure that the lines won't freeze. This sounds like an excuse for my not completing the waterline work between Cabin #2 and the Lodge for a "couple of weeks".

Poplar Lake is ice free and our first canoeing guests will be here in four weeks!