Loon Lake Tales



Shack Living Room



Shack Kitchen

The rest of the Lodge is not open.  It is like going to your own cabin in the woods except it is warm and clean when you get there and when it is time to leave you don't have to worry about closing the place down. 

If you are looking for a winter log cabin rental check us out.

We did not get our Christmas cards out this year there was just too much happening.  So here is our Christmas blog. We celebrated Christmas early with our daughter Lindsay and her family visitling from Alaska and our son Adam and his family were up from Duluth.  The kids were excited to open their gifts early!





Lindsay and Adam



Mya, Lindsay and friends



Hannah




Tanner and Mya

FROM OUR FAMILY TO YOURS --HOPING YOU HAVE A  MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR

Here it is just the first part of December and we have had lots of snow.  Officially we have gotten over 25 inches so far!  At this rate we should have a good winter for all of our outdoor sports.  The cross country ski trails have been packed but not groomed as of yet and the snowmobile trails are still being cleared of summer blow down.  The smaller lake are frozen over but the main part of Loon and Gunflint are still open with much sign of freezing.



The bay 11/29



The Bay covered with ice 12/3

 Terry is already to start skiing and I am ready to watch her.  Hope you are all getting ready for the Holidays and enjoying family time.

 Most of our weekends are booked but there are still midweek nights open and weekends in January so check us out www.visitloonlake.com

This is a quiet time of the year on the Gunflint Trail.  Many resorts are closed during this time to give the owners a chance to recharge their batteries and get ready for the winter season.  The weather has been great.  Temps have been above normal and it has given Terry and I a chance to do some hiking and just enjoying the area.  Summers are busy and we miss out on doing the things many of our guests come here to do.

Grandma Terry and Tanner

Our daughter Lindsay and her family are back from Alaska.  They are building a log cabin that replaces a cabin that was lost in the 2007 Ham Lake fire.  We don't know how long they will be here but we are thankful for whatever time we can spend with the grandkids.  We don't get to see Tanner and Mya very often so we are glad they are here during the quiet time of the year.

If you are looking for a quiet few days in the woods give us a call.  We are offering the Shack at $89 a night for 2 people from now until the 12th of December!  Check it out at www.visitloonlake.com

I can't believe the weather.  It has been just beautiful the last couple of weeks.  Temps have been 10 to 15 degrees above normal and Terry and I have taken time to enjoy the wonderful days of Indian summer.  So much so we have been slacking off getting the resort ready for winter but that will get taken care of soon or later.

Yesterday we walked to Bridal Falls.  This summer the Youth Conservation Corp came in and cleared the trail to the Falls.  After the Ham Lake fire in 2007 it became difficult to walk the trail because of new growth of Aspen, raspberry bushes and just brush.  If you haven't done the trail, it is part of the Border Route Trail and it goes from the Lodge around Crab Lake almost over to Gunflint Lake then to the falls.  It take about 2 hours to get all the way to the falls and is a moderate walk. 

It was a great walk with a number of great views along the way.  We also saw a number of ruffed grouse along Crab Lake.  When we got to the falls we sat down in front of the falls and had a leisurely lunch before heading back to the Lodge.




Signs show the damage from the Ham Lake fire.



Low water at Bridal Falls 

We had a very good summer season which kept the dinning room busy.  We started serving meals in May this year.  If you were here in 2009 you may remember we had to wait until July because we were working on the Lodge.  Well that work was finished and we were able to open this year by mid May.  We added a new chicken dish this year and we are making plans to change one or two meals for next year.  Our rib dinner continues to be one of our most popular meals followed closely by walleye, steak and duck.  The big surprise this year was the popularity of our meatloaf.  It is one of the old-time Loon Lake Lodge recipes from the Taste of the Gunflint cookbook.



So thank you to all who made this a great summer season and if you are looking for a winter retreat check out our winter page.  We will open after the first of December so give us a look.

If fall colors are what you are looking for, you should make plans soon.  I took this picture from our house yesterday.  The leaves are just about at there most colorful.  Driving the Gunflint Trail you will see lots of reds and yellow along the road.  Maple Hill just out of Grand Marais is very colorful right now.  So you have less than a week for peak colors in this area. 

I think it is safe to say summer is over.  We have had some cool temps in the morning.  We dropped to the low 30s a few days ago.  This causes fog in the morning to lay over the warmer water creating a beautiful scene.

 
The fog stays around until the sun heats up the air and burns it off.  A great time to sit on the dock and just take it all in.

The leaves are also starting to turn but not as fast as I would have thought.  Moisture or lack of it is a major factor in leaves changing colors and we had a very dry summer.  So I thought by this time we would have more yellow in the bay.

We had some excitement just before the Labor Day Weekend.  A small fire became visible just a couple of miles west of Loon Lake.  The Forest Service says it was started by a lighning strike from a thunderstorm that passed through 7-10 days before.  When it was all over it burned less than 60 acres and we were never in any danger but the air show was impressive.

First on the scene was the Beaver aircraft.  They are used to spot fires and fly over the area one to three times a day depending on the fire danger.  They were called in to assess the danger posed by the fire and what resources should be called apon.  It was decided to let it burn but not to the area where it would be a danger to people or structures.

Then large Bombardier CL215s were called in to drop water on the north and east perimeters of the fire.  They would come towards Loon from the west down the bay then turn and land on the main part of the lake.  They never stop but drop a 4 inch pipe into the water and fill up their tanks on the move then power up and take off.  They would circle back to the fire and repeat.  This went on for 5 hours a day for a couple of days. 

So it is all over now.  It is an interesting thing to watch how professionals deal with fire.

Good news for our hikers.  The Conservation Corps has cleared the trail to Crab Lake and around Crab to Bridal Falls. The trail to Crab hasn't been too bad but it was cleaned up and the grass was mowed.   It hasn't been possible to get to the Falls from Loon Lake since the fire in 2007.  That area around Crab Lake was burned and when summer came brush and raspberries took over the area and it was impossible to even find the trail from the end of the Lake to the Falls.  Terry and I walked part of the trail today and it is very easy to follow even better than before. 

Big  lake trout are still being caught on Loon.  Joanne Johnson caught this 16 pounder just last week.  Very nice.

The Centennial Trail is one of the newest hiking trails on the Gunflint Trail.  It is a combination of the Kekekabic Hiking Trail and a new trail cut along what was the Port Arthur, Duluth & Western Railroad.  This was the railroad that was built to haul iron ore out of the Paulson Mine.  The trail ran from what is today Thunder Bay to the north side of Gunflint Lake and then onto the site of the mine.  Built in the early 1890's by hand with much of the work be done by Italian immigrants for Canada.  After all of the work, only one car load of ore was ever taken from the mine before it failed!

The first 1.2 mile of trail is along the Kekekabic Trail which has been around for many years.  It starts on the Gunflint Trail and ends outside Ely and is well maintained.  Just after you come to the Paulson Mine you will cut back to the east and follow the new Centennial Trail.  This was cleared late in 2009 by retired smoke jumpers.  Every year they clear different trails around the country for public recreation.  It is called the Centennial Trail because the Superior National Forest was 100 years old in 09.

The Centennial follows the old grade and is a diffuculte hike.  The old trestles are gone and you have to climb up and down hills in a number of locations but I think it is a wonderful hike.  Total length is about 3 and a half miles counting the part of the Kek you also hike.  You will see old test pits, the Paulson Mine, historic railroad bed of the PAD & W and some great vistas of the area.

                              Sign at the Kekekabic Trail                Sign at the Centennial Trail
It is a great hike but it is not for everyone. 

The season has been moving along faster than I want.  Blogs are always hard to get to.  Never seems to be enough time in the day to get everything done.  We have been working on the Lodge and the cabins.  We now have finished the new Lodge roof.  New roofing and a lot of new wood.  It looks very nice.  Cabin 2 and 3 have new bathrooms.  Cabin 3 is completely new from the ground up and cabin 2 got new flooring and a new shower.  We are now finishing new steps from cabin 7 down to the lake.  We will add a new dock and low voltage lighting along the steps so when you come in from fishing you can dock there and find your way up the hill!

We just had our first family get together of the summer.  The Sheatsley family from Minnesota and West Virginia were able to spend some time together here at the lake.  Jim and his wife Sandy meet up with his sisters and their families in the cities and then most headed to Loon Lake for a few days of great family time.  They spent their time swimming, sitting around the campfire and just hanging out.  As far as I could tell there was now fighting and they all left as friends.  Jim's parents started coming to Loon Lake in the early 70's.

You still have time to book your stay at Loon Lake this summer.  Check out our web site and see what cabins are open.  We would love to have you visit soon.