Sunday, August 15, 2010
Crab Lake Trail/Bridal Falls Trail
4:15 PM
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.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Boys can catch fish too!!!
7:14 PM
We continue to have some nice lake trout caught here at Loon Lake. The women had been been successful in May but the men are having more success as of late. Here are two examples of fish brought in this week. The first one is 16 pounds plus and the second fish was almost 9 pounds. Both were very nice fish.
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Thursday, July 15, 2010
New Hiking Trail
12:54 PM
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 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
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Big Fish
1:15 PM
People always ask about fishing. Do you have fish in the lake? Does anyone every catch big fish?
Well here are some of the fish caught this year so far. The first big fish of the season was a 17 pound
plus lake trout caught on Loon Lake by Carol. The next day her friend Kathy caught this very nice northern. Their husbands didn't have as much luck but as long as your wife can catch fish what do you care.
Herold and Matt Becker had a great week of fishing. They tried Loon, Little Iron and Crab Lakes and had good luck on all of them. They fished a few hours a day and were able to catch northerns, bass and walleye. The largest was a 28 inch walleye and it was a beauty. They also had a nice stringer of walleyes later in the week
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So if fishing is your thing -- good fishing can be found on the Gunflint Trail. Check us out at www.visitloonlake.com.
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.
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.
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.
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!!
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