Guests Enjoy Northwoods Activities

I have been looking forward to writing about the weather this week because it has been just glorious. People have been out all over exploring the lakes and woods. Even the mosquitoes have started to cooperate. The emergence of dragon flies has helped eliminate lots of the biting critters. By this time of year mosquitoes go into a long decline for the summer.

Today has been a different story. We woke up to overcast skies and fog. It has misted and rained off and on all day. Since we could use a little rain, I can’t even complain. It’s almost 7:00 p.m. now and there appears to be a sliver of clear skies in the west. Perhaps tomorrow will bring blue skies back.

Fishing has continued to be good even with the nicer weather. Smallmouth bass are biting. The big surprise is the walleyes. Every day we seem to have another fisherman come in who caught and released a 20” and up to 32” walleye. Northern Light Lake has been particularly good. The lake trout are now in 45-60’ of water but biting well.

Our resident fox, Gimpy, is still making regular appearances at the cabins. Frequently guests report that Gimpy has a squirrel in his mouth. It has always been assumed that he could not catch anything because of his bad leg. Between what he catches and what everyone gives him, Gimpy has a pretty good life.

Other forest denizens who are appearing regularly are wolves. Usually during the summer wolves are not seen but that is not the case this year. Especially past the Tuscarora road, wolves have been seen by many people. Probably the larger numbers of small game (translate into food) are keeping them in closer than usual.

As you may remember, last fall we bought a voyageur canoe for the naturalist program. Everyone has been surprised at how popular this activity is. Every time something is scheduled, the canoe is full. One day Bruce and I will have to take a ride in it.

Virtually all our staff is here now. Today was the first meeting for the full staff. We hold these meetings at 6:15 in the morning because it is the only time everyone can be there. Looking at the entire group on the porch reminded me how many people it takes to run things around here. Luckily they all are doing a great job. The meeting went well and even managed to get a laugh or two from the group. That is a great accomplishment at that time of the morning.