The End Of Another Great Season



Today's Sunshine

 Today marked the "official"  closing of Rockwood Lodge & Outfitters for the 2012 season with the taking down of the US flag. The sun is shinning and the temperature is quite mild here in northern Minnesota. All of the nasty closing closing chores have been completed: waterlines drained and blown, canoes stored for the winter, rain gutters cleaned, septic tanks covered with straw, etc. We have now moved onto more enjoyable things like replacing some entry door lock sets, trimming trees and getting the snowmobile ready for winter.


Two Weeks Ago  -- Hesitation

 Looking back, it is had to believe that two weeks ago we snow, sleet and cold weather to contend with.  We want to thank everyone who visited with us this past season and look forward to seeing many of you again next year. We plan to spend most of the "off" season getting ready for next year. New canoes and packs have been ordered and we are already working on selecting new items for our outfitting food menus. Even though we are officially "closed" the Lakeside unit will be open throughout this winter.

THANKS,
Mike and Lin    

Winding Down

Things are starting to slow down here at the Lodge, finally! After almost two weeks of cold nasty weather we are experiencing a change to the better. Instead of lows in the low 30s and high 20s our lows are 10 degrees higher and our high temperatures are now 20 degrees warmer. 

The cold spell caused the grouse to move down the the lakeside and the trees are glowing in their fall colors. Hopefully we have seen the last of the "camp bear" and we can take our time closing down the resort for this winter. We drained the shower house and outfitting building this week and will start draining a couple of cabins on Monday.

All of our bunkrooms were full last night and six of our cabins are rented for tonight. However, as things move a little slower this Fall everyone is enjoying the change of seasons here in the northwoods. 

Hanging a Food Pack

This has been the year of the "Bears" here at the Lodge. We haven't had any reports of bear problems out in the Boundary Waters.  However it is still a good idea to hang food packs or hide bear barrels away from the campsites as a precautionary step towards avoiding accidentally feeding the bears.

One of our guests shared a few pictures that display how he was hanging his food pack while on a recent visit to the Boundary Waters.  Each year when he arrives I give him an extra 10 feet of bear rope and every year he manages to use all of the rope to hang his packs.  

Today, we heard about a group paddlers that were crossing a portage when a bear cub ran past them crying for his mom. They dropped their packs and quickly jumped into their canoes and didn't go back for their gears until some of our guests tested the portage to prove that it was safe to return. 

Summer Staff

Summer is upon and our summer staff has adjusted to their summer routine. They can plan on cleaning a few cabins, some bunk rooms, a few canoes and some dirty camping gear almost every day. Andrew and Rachel are working a little over 40 hours a week for us but still have lots of free time to fill. They both spend a lot of time on the Internet but they are slowly adjusting to life with slower and limited Internet access. It has been a struggle!

As soon as the growth of what passes for grass in the north country slowed down we found Andrew a job weed whipping at a neighbor's estate.  After weeks of training he now possesses a mean weed whip and his services are in demand. Tomorrow, he is helping a neighbor on a nearby island haul take-off shingles from an island cabin to a dumpster on the mainland and tonight he is working at the Trail Center restaurant.

Rachel has only been here a couple of weeks. Since she came late in the season she hasn't had much of a chance to meet our neighbors. Today Lin is taking her and two of the summer staff from another resort into Grand arais for grocery shopping. So far Rachel's main activity outside of working is to feed Andrew. She claims that he really likes bananas.

To fill their free time they are venturing into fields where no staff member as gone before. Andrew won't tell us what the project in this picture is suppose to end up being. However, it is obvious that Rachel know what it is suppose to be and has some serious doubts about it ever working.

Feasting in the Northland & Summer Staff

This is the time of the year when we really get to "pig out". Last week one of our guests from Iowa brought us some sweet corn and a neighbor returned from Alaska with some frozen Halibut for us. In another week we will have friends who will be bring homegrown tomatoes and garden fresh green peppers. Anyone who has shopped in Grand Marais knows that our produce sections often have an "end of the road" appearance. There is a local famer's market but somehow we alwways seem to be busy at the Lodge and never get away to shop for fresh produce.

We are going to Duluth tonight to pickup Rachel our a new summer staff member. Andrew has been a great help this summer but Lin and I have had to do a lot of the daily chores that are normally done by our second staff person. With Rachel around we will have more time to do the visit with our guests. It is especially nice to know that she will be here to help when Andrew leaves on Sept. 2nd.