Loon Lake Tales

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.