The Taste of the Gunflint Trail is today!  It's a fundraiser for the Gunflint Trail Historical Society and Chickwauk Museum which is scheduled to open in July of 2010. 

The idea stemmed from the belief that many people think you must be staying at one of the resorts to go there.  They feel as if they're interrupting or snooping if they stop by unannounced, but this is not the case.  We are open to visitors anytime.  We figured if people felt funny about just seeing what all the resorts have to offer then perhaps we should invite them to come see.  So we decided to have a trail wide "open house" day and call it the Taste of the Gunflint Trail after the recent cookbook.  

 Participating resorts are offering "Tastes" from the recipes of the cookbook and offering the cookbook for sale.  All proceeds go to the Gunflint Trail Historical society. While 12 resorts are participating, the 3 featured resorts this year are:  Rocwood Lodge on Poplar Lake, Loon Lake Lodge on Loon Lake, and Chickwauk Lodge - Soon to be the Chickwauk Museum and Nature center on Saganaga lake.

I made the Chicken Stir Fry recipe which I donated to the cookbook.  It is no special recipe - just something I make fairly often.  It was well received as most other tastes were sweets, cakes, cookies etc.

More than once I heard participants say they never would have come had it not been for this event - this event made them feel invited to stop in!  Let me tell you all - you don't have to have a reservation to stop by - you can just check us out for future, or curiosity or stop in for an ice cream, pizza or soda - and remember the coffee pot is always on!

shari 

It's been a quiet week here in the Northwoods - great for me because the weather has been some of the best all summer and with fewer guests we can actually get out to enjoy the woods ourselves (suppose that sounds a bit selfish).   Each day is sunny and 70's, evenings cool off nicely in the 40's. 

Current guests are long time returnees - one group of fishermen, a honeymoon couple that have been vacationing here with family for years, and a couple couples who just like the peace and quiet of the Northwoods.  It's usually great weather and many of the kids are in school or sports so it's very quiet.  We started filling up yesterday for the weekend though - four more parties today and then the rest on Friday.  It's funny but even when we're full - it's pretty quiet for the most part as our campsites (all 20 of them) are pretty well spaced apart and wooded.

The fishermen have done well with bass and Northern, taking limits in both.  They have gotten a few Trout too. 

This year and from now on we decided to close at 5pm on Wednesdays to have at least one evening to enjoy a meal as a family or enjoy our surrounding area.  Guests have been very understanding and we appreciate that.  Yesterday afternoon Bob took the boys and a canoe and ventured into a small brook trout lake just in the BWCA.   They did well and returned home with 9 brookies ranging from 7-13 inches.  What a treat!  After closing up shop a friend and I went hiking into the woods to a small lake.  We drove part of the way, then hiked old logging trails into burned area - exploring and picking blueberries along the way.  

We found a couple bear bait stations and lots of bear sign (piles of poo for those who don't quite know what I mean).  The baits were well scrounged with little or no food sign left.  Bear hunting season opened the 1st.  We have registered one bear and have another one being brought in this morning (we don't usually register many or any).  The population is high and one hunter reported seeing seven while out hunting the other day.