Loon Lake Tales

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Family Time

1:43 PM

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.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

New Season

5:28 PM

We have been doing some travelling ourselves the last month. We were in Alaska for 2 weeks with our daughter Lindsay and her kids Mya and Tanner. They live in Anchor Point which is close to Homer. Time with the grand kids is aways great. In that area eagles and moose are common sites. There are literally hundreds or bald eagles. This one was just sitting along the road. The moose seem out of place in town. I didn't have my camera with when we saw one standing in front of the bowling alley or another time when a young bull was just walking through the McDonald's parking lot!

Things are happening on the Gunflint Trail. Last weekend we had the Ham Lake Run. It is a half marathon that runs from Gunflint Lake to the end of the Trail--13 miles plus. There were 190 runners and we were lucky to have a beautiful day. Everyone seemed to have a good time. Just so you know neither Terry or I ran the race. I know you are all surprised.

The weekend there is Gunflint Green Up. This will be the forth on these events to help replant the area burned over during the Ham Lake fire back in 2007. Over the past years we have had hundreds of people travel from all over the country to help in our efforts. We have dinner on Friday and Saturday nights with entrainment and during the day on Saturday we work. This year we will release the trees that have been planted in years past. That means we will cut down the junk growing right around our planted trees to give them a better chance to survive. Check it out at the Green Up web site.

Fishing season is just around the corner so check out our spring specials!

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

The last good weekend?

3:07 PM

The last good weekend? The boys from Duluth were up last weekend and it was just great. The weather was ideal and all of the trails were in generally good shape. We skied the Banadad Trail on Saturday and around Loon Lake on Friday and Sunday. As the sun rose higher in the sky the trails did slow down and got a little slushy. Then you would hit a shaded area and they were icy. That made some of the skiing challenging especially if you were going down in the shade and then hit a spot with the sun was shinning. You would slow down in a hurry. One time I went end for end with a beautiful face plant to finish it off. The picture is of John and Greg at the west end of the Banadad Trail.

Summer is coming and we have some early season specials we are running. Check us out on the web to get all of the latest specials.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Great Weather!!

2:43 PM

This post is for Mary. She is our neighbor and she emailed me to let me know it has been a few weeks since my last post. I need an occasional push to get this done. So thanks Mary.

The weather has been great as of late. It gets up to 30 degrees during the day and then drops back down to 0 plus or minus a few degrees at night. With that type of temperatures the snow stays firm and you can ski, snowshoe or snowmobile anywhere. The top picture is me with my sister Dawn (far left) and daughter-in-law Janelle overlooking Gunflint Lake. It was a beautiful day with a lot of sunshine. The lower picture is of our granddaughter Hannah. She looks a little like a bobble head doll with her dad's helmet on. Everyone got out and enjoyed the day.

Just a couple of reminders -- Ham Lake Half Marathon is May 2nd and the Gunflint Green Up weekend is May 7 and 8. Check out their web sites. We have had a great time the past few years at both events. No we don't run the race but we do volunteer and the Green Up weekend is always fun. It looks like we will be helping serve the food this year so we get a chance to talk to all of the people.

One more reminder--it is time to check your summer vacation dates. Check out our web site to see what dates are available and if you want you can even make your reservation right online. It is easy and quick.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

The dogs are running!!

10:53 AM

The John Beargrease Sled Dog Race is off and running. The end of Gunflint Trail is the half-way point of the 390 mile race. The first teams got to Trail Center early last evening and most teams rested 4 to 6 hours. Terry and I were manning the crossing at highway 92 which is the road to the Iron Lake campground. We just had to make sure there was no car traffic to interfere with the racers. We had lots of dog teams but not one car! The first teams were heading back to Duluth by midnight and there are a number of teams in the hunt. The 92 crossing is one of the few were teams are going up to the final loop on Gunflint and Loon and then heading back to Duluth so there was a lot of times to record. That makes the time go by quickly when you our sitting out in the woods most of the night.

The pictures are of team number 4 which is the last place team at this point. He is running about 10 hours behind the leaders. The one shows the team approaching the Lodge follow by one of them heading up our driveway.

We always have fun watching the different teams. Weather is perfect for the dogs with temps ranging between 10 below and 10 above. Most mushers prefer the colder temps to keep their dogs from overheating.

Have a good day and remember it is time to starting about summer!!!!

Sunday, January 31, 2010

Great Day

1:32 PM

Terry and I had a chance to go out snowmobiling today. We don't get out too often and it was a great day. Rollie and Mary from the north side of Loon Lake along with Terry and I went down to Hungry Jack Lodge. The weather is nice with the temps around 0 but it was sunny. We took the snowmobile trail down and it was a bit rough. They haven't groomed the trail lately and it showed. We meet some friends from Gunflint for lunch. Everyone had a good time. On the return trip we followed the lakes which made for a smoother ride. No major problems but we did hit some slush on Little Iron Lake.

The John Beargrease Sled Dog race is off and running today. They leave Duluth and follow highway 61 to Grand Marais then up the Gunflint Trail as far as Gunflint Lake then circle back to Duluth. We watch them come across Loon Lake and up to the Lodge following our driveway to the snowmobile trail. The entire race take a little more than 3 days.

It won't be too long until spring!!

Monday, January 18, 2010

Mild Weather

11:48 AM

We have been having great weather this past week. The high temps are 28 to 34 degree range everyday! It has been great weather to get out and enjoy the woods. Our granddaughter Hannah enjoyed a day of sliding down the hill behind cabin 2 with Grandma. Like with everything there is a not so nice side to the warm weather and that is a lack of real good snow. Yes we do have snow but we could use more. Sounds like it is coming this weekend. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

Some upcoming events will be the John Beargrease Sled dog race which leaves Duluth the end of January. The last I heard it will come through Loon Lake again this year. The dogs always impresses me with their strength and desire to run. Something to see.

Winter Tracks will be taking place the later part of February. I will get you some updates on what will be happening around the Trail during that weekend.

With the great weather there is always something to do on the Trail. Remember the Shack is open with some great mid-week rates. Give us a call - 1-800-552-6351.

Monday, January 4, 2010

Update

2:07 PM

Sorry it has been so long. Where does the time go. I know I should be better at this but there never seems to be enough stuff to write about and the next thing you know it has been 7 months!! My New Year's resolution is to do a better job on updating the blog. So there you have it. Help me keep my resolution and email me if I start to fall behind.

Since last I wrote a few things have happened -- like an entire summer season! We did rebuild the front of the Lodge building and put a new roof on the front of the building. This next spring we will finish with the roof project and put new flooring in the dining room. We upgraded the sprinkler system and did extensive brushing around all of the buildings. I didn't know if people would like the open feeling but it has been well received. Steve returned for his second season. He didn't get out fishing as much as he wanted but it is nice for us having someone around who knows how everything works. Joining Steve this year was his brother John. Both guys are in college this year -- Steve at the University of Minnesota and John at the University of Wisconsin. We don't know if either will return for another summer season.

Over all the summer was cooler than most. We had our nicest weather in late August and September. Considering the economy was down we had a good summer. Things started out slow and picked up in July and August. Many guests from past years and a few new faces trying us out for the first time. The biggest group of the summer was the Droneck family get together the first week of August. The biggest fish of the summer (pictured above) was caught by Jake DeWoskin group in May. It was a very nice Lake Trout over 15 pounds. Biggest surprise of the summer was a cougar siting by Mike and Anita Focht. They were driving up the Gunflint Trail just about a mile from our drive and saw it crossing the road. Since then there have been other sitings in the area.

These are just a few of the things I should have been writing about but that is in the past. Winter is here and we have about a foot of snow on the ground. The lake is frozen with 14 inches of ice in the bay and the Shack is open for those of you looking for a winter experience. It has been a little on the cold side these last few days but Terry is out skiing most days and says the conditions are great. Give us a call if you are looking for a winter retreat.

Saturday, May 9, 2009

The ice is gone but........

7:12 AM

Well the ice went off the lake mid week and things looked great. As you can see by the picture things have turned cold again. We woke up this morning to the new snow. It really isn't that unusual to have snow opening weekend but that doesn't mean we have to like it. The good news is that it won't stay around very long. Warmer temps are predicted for later in the week.

We have been working on the Lodge building. Last fall we cut out a portion of the front wall, the end of the porch and parts of the dining room floor. We then pored a concrete footing along the front wall out to the porch. Taking off the roofing, replacing roof boards and starting to replace the front wall are the first order of business this spring. We want to keep the old Lodge building but it was time to do some major repair work. The dining room will not open until mid June at the earliest.

Our new online reservation program has been very well received. The nice thing about it is you can also check for availability to help you plan for your summer vacation. So give it a try and let us know what you think. Don't forget we are running specials until the end of June!

If you look closely at the picture you can see a boat just off to the left of the birdhouse. We have some hard core fishermen trying their luck.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Fishing Opener is coming!!

1:18 PM

The fishing opener is just 3 days away and with any luck the ice will be off the lake. I took this picture yesterday from our deck. With some wind and a little rain it should be gone within a day or two. With the ice going out this close to the opener the fish should be in shallow water and most likely near the river coming from Little Iron/Little Mayhew. Minnows and frozen ciscoes are always a good bait early in the season.

If you are looking for a lakefront log cabin we are running specials during the early part of the season. Be sure to check them out and also check out our new online booking. We have been using it for the last couple of weeks and so far people seem to like the ease in checking availability and making a reservation. Make sure you let us know how it works for you!