Boreal Access

So what was I saying about not getting a good view of the warblers?  This Palm Warbler was hanging out on our wood pile just begging for a photo.  It was hopping from log to log and flicking his tail continually.  Sue McDonnell, an avid birder who happened to be here this afternoon, confirmed that behavior as one of the characteristics of the Palm Warbler.  It’s so great to get a good look and positive identification of a new (to me) bird.

NHS

Birds, birds, birds!  This photo may not seem impressive, but yesterday the sky was full of swallows darting about catching the early midges.  I’d say there were at leaset 50 of them. It’s hard to capture their energy in one still photo.

Swallows are not the only birds returning.  We’ve also had many warblers flitting through the trees at Hungry Jack.  We’ve had lots of yellow rumps and the black throated greens are singing.  I know there are many more, but my knowledge of the their songs is limited, as is my time to search them out and identify them by sight.

It’s a goal for the summer to add a few more to my repertoire!

NHS

 That line from "On Golden Pond" runs through my head every spring.  Katherine Hepburn’s quavering voice even sounds like a loon.

This guy (gal?) and his/her partner were fishing just off the shore.  I know it’s a bad picture.  Have you ever tried to get a good picture of a loon wthout a two foot, stabilized, telephoto lens?  One of our regulars has such a device and gets great loon shots.  I have the point and shoot.

These to loons (boys) were having a great time finishing off what was left of the ice on Hungry Jack.  I’ve heard that Duncan and Rose were still iced as of yesterday.  I’m willing to bet they will open today.

More bumper boats.  There’s awhole lake to paddle and they stay twenty feet apart.  But would they paddle in the same canoe?  Not a chance.

Hungry Jack Lake is ice free as of May 9, 2008.  It’s a good thing to wake up to.

DS

After dinner Will and I decided to have an evening paddle through the newly opened water.   There was still plenty of ice out there to crunch up.

It was a beautiful sunset over the partially frozen water.  The ice was all honeycombed and easy to break up.  There were still a few patches of solid ice we had to work around.   Each time the canoe slipped back into open water the silence was beautiful.  although the ice crunching was kinda fun too.

It would be tough to launch from the dock but I’ll bet the ice is mostly gone by morning.  Yeah!

Rosey didn’t quite make it onto the dock when it was time to get out.  She was shaking like a leaf for a while.  But she was also very excited about the first swim of the season.

The  ice is sinking on Hungry Jack Lake today.  There is a strong north wind and there was lots of sun this morning.  Some years the ice breaks, shifts and piles up along shore as it goes out.  Other years is just kind of disappears as the air bubbles escape.  Ours is usually one of the last lakes to go so I feel pretty safe in saying that most lakes will be ice free by Saturday morning for the opening of fishing season. 

We have some guests going in on Friday but otherwise it looks to be a pretty quiet weekend around here.  I may even get Nancy and the boys out for a few hours of fishing!

The Gunflint Green Up was a huge success this past weekend.  About 50,000 tree seedlings went into the ground and around 500 planters and volunteers worked together to make it all happen.  This was truly a community event and one that will be remembered for a long, long time.  The Forest Service, local residents, visitors who love this area and many other organizations and businesses came together for the purpose of celebrating life and the renewal of the forest.

The weather was not looking so good on Friday and we were worried things would not go so well.  Saturday morning we woke to about three inches of snow and slush!  Fortunately the end of the Trail did not get as much snow and the sun started to peak out around 9:00 AM. By noon we were getting warm and feeling the sun.

These are some of the Girl Scouts and Brownies from Cook county who came up to help plant trees.  They worked hard all day and will have the satisfaction of seeing these trees grow as they do.

The Forest Service had team leaders giving planting instructions and safety guidelines to all the planters.  You can see the white on all the trees in the background.  People found ways to take advantage of the snow.  You could see where others had been planting so it was easier to keep the seedlings spaced.  It was also cool enough that nobody was getting overheated.  Planting can be hard work so the cool weather was nice.

The extra moisture in the ground made for really easy planting and will help with the survival rate of the trees.

This is Nancy’s sister Judy, planting in a very burned area near Round Lake.  She was having a great time.  The Forest Service and DNR supplied tree bags and planting bars for people to use.

We had some guests drive all the way from Missouri to be part of the event.  Vernon and David said they wanted to give something back to the forest they have enjoyed for over 30 years.

After all the planting we had a nice dinner at  in a huge tent set up for the event at Gunflint Lodge.  There was some time for thank yous to key players in the organization of the event and a band after for dancing away any energy we had left.

There are lots of people to thank and many happy memeories were made.  Too many names, too many stories to do justice to here.  One person I do need to thank is Nancy (The Green Up Elf).  She nurtured this project from the moment the lightbulb went on a few days after the Ham Lake Fire was under control.  We’re still not sure who actually came up with the idea that planting trees would be a good thing to help our community heal from the fire.  All I can say is that it has been good and very rewarding for many many people.  While it was the efforts of many people who made this such a special weekend I can truly say that this would not have happened without her vision, caring, persistance and spunk.  I’m very proud of her efforts.  I’m also grateful to all the people who played roles  in making this healing celebration a reality.  You really can make the world a better place - a little bit at a time.

DS