1f5d Poplar Creek Courier Brought to you by Boundary Country Trekking » Ice Conditions 30f3

Poplar Creek Courier Brought to you by Boundary Country Trekking

March 25, 2012

Gunflint’s Earliest Ice Out

Filed under: News, Weather, Ice Conditions, History — admin @ 11:05 am


Ice-free lakes that we have seen or heard about from neighbors are Seagull, Gunflint, Loon and Little Iron. All these lakes are in the area affected by the Ham and Cavity Lake fire and because of the burned over areas surrounding them likely receive more direct sun exposure.

Poplar Lake that was not affected by any of the recent fires still is ice cover but this ice should be going out soon. The Ice has gone out most of the smaller lake in the mid Gunflint Area including; Swamper, Road, Squint and Hooker. This morning the ice left Little Ollie Lake

Never before, that anyone can remember or has documented, have any Lakes on the Gunflint Trail gone out in March. 

November 29, 2011

Poplar Lake Freeze-over

Filed under: News, Ski Trails, Weather, Trail Maintenance, Ice Conditions — admin @ 2:46 pm

While Little Ollie and the smaller lakes froze over more then a week ago, Poplar Lake just froze last night. Today the surface of the lake is cover with a thin ice sheet but with little or no wind and temperature expect to be around 10 degrees tonight, Poplar should get a good layer of ice by tomorrow.

IMG_3377s.jpg

Meanwhile around Poplar Creek Guesthouse B&B there is about 4 inches of snow on the ground. Friday, November 25 the Lace Lake, Seppala and Tall Pines Ski were packed. Sunday, the east end of the Banadad was packed up to the Logging Camp.

May 9, 2011

Ice out on Little Ollie Lake

Filed under: News, Ski Trails, Ice Conditions — admin @ 8:51 am

Yesterday, May 8,  the ice went out on Little Ollie Lake. Poplar Lake is still ice-in and likely will not be going out for three to seven day. Most of the smaller Lakes are open, Gunflint is open and Sea Gull on the east end is open. Around Poplar Creek Guesthouses there still are patches of snow around and the Banadad has quite a bit of snow left on it. 

December 21, 2010

For Most a Sauna is Mandatory

Filed under: News, Ice Conditions — admin @ 7:08 am

 For many of us, following a ski, say along the Banadad, a good sauna is a must. But then again not everyone agrees including- 

"The Finn Who Would Not Take a Sauna" -  by Garrison Keillor

In northeast Minnesota , what they call the Iron Range , where a woman is a woman and some things never change, where winter lasts nine months a year, there is no spring or fall,
where it gets so cold the mercury cannot be seen at all.
and you and 1, we normal folk, would shiver, shake, and chatter,
and if we used an outhouse, we would grow an extra bladder,
but even when it's coldest, when our feet would have no feeling,
those Iron Rangers get dressed up and go out snowmobiling.
 
Out across the frozen land and make a couple stops
at Gino's Lounge and Rudy's Bar for whiskey, beer, and schnapps
and then they go into a shack that's filled with boiling rocks
hot enough to sterilize an Iron Ranger's socks
and sit there till they steam out every sin and every foible
and then jump into a frozen lake and claim that it's enjoible.
 
But there was one, a shy young man, and although he was Finnish,
the joys of winter had, for him, long started to diminish.
HE WAS A FINN, THE ONLY FINN,
WHO WOULD NOT TAKE A SAUNA "
It isn't that I can't," he said, "I simply do not wanna.
To jump into a frozen lake is not my fondest wish,
for just because I am a Finn don't mean that I'm a fish."
 
His friends said, "Com on, Toivo! Let's go out to Sunfish Lake !
A Finn who don't take saunas? Why, there must be some mistake."
But Toivo said, "There's no mistake. I know that I would freeze
In water colder than myself (98.6degrees')."
And so he stayed close by a stove for nine months of the year
because he was so sensitive to change of temperature.
 
One night he went to Eveleth to attend the Miners' Ball.
(If you have not danced in Eveleth, you've never danced at all.)
He met a Finnish beauty there who turned his head around.
She was broad of beam and when she danced she shook the frozen ground.
She took that shy young man in hand and swept him off his feet
and bounced him up and down until he learned the polka beat.
She was fair as she was tall, as tall as she was wide,
and when the dance was over, he asked her to be his bride.
She looked him over carefully. She said, 'You're kinda thin.
but you must have some courage if it's true you are a Finn.
I ain't particular 'bout men. I am no prima donna.
but I would never marry one who would not take a sauna."
 
They got into her pickup, and down the road they drove,
and fifteen minutes later they were stoking up the stove.
She had a flask of whiskey. They took a couple toots
and went into the shack and got into their birthday suits.
She steamed him and she boiled him until his skin turned red;
she poured it on until his brains were bubbling in his head.
To improve his circulation and to soften up his hide,
she took a couple birch boughs and beat him till he cried,
"Oh, couldn't you just love me now? Oh, don't you think you can?"
She said, "It's time to step outside and show you are a man."
 
Straightway (because he loved her so, he thought his heart would break),
he jumped right up and out the door and ran down to the lake,
and though he paused a moment when he saw the lake was frozen
and tried to think just which snowbank his love had put his clothes in –
when he thought of Tina, Lord—that man did not think twice
but just picked up his size 12 feet and loped across the ice —
and coming to the hole that they had cut there with an ax —
putting common sense aside, ignoring all the facts —
he leaped! Oh, what a leap! And as he dove beneath the surface,
it thrilled him to his very soul, and also made him surface!
And it wasn't just the tingling he felt in every limb,
he cried: "My love! I'm finished! I forgot! I cannot swim!"
 
She fished him out and stood him up and gave him an embrace
to warm a Viking's heart and make the blood rush to his face.
"I love you, darling dear!" she cried. "I love you with all my might!"
and she drove him to Biwabik and married him that night
and took him down the road to Carl's Tourist Cabins
and spent a sleepless night and in the morning, as it happens,
though it was only April, it was absolutely spring,
birds, flowers, people put away their parkas and everything.
They bought a couple acres around Hibbing , up near Chisholm,
and began a life of gardening and love and Lutheranism.
 
And they live happily to this day, although they sometimes quarrel.
and there, I guess, the story ends, except for this, the moral.
Marriage, friends, is a lifelong feast, love is no light lunch.
You cannot dabble round the edge, but each must take the plunch.
And though marriage, like that frozen lake, may sometimes make us colder,
it has its pleasures, too, as you may find out when you're older.

 

Note- You will find saunas awaiting you after your ski at  both the Little Ollie Cabin and the Tall Pines Yurt.

44b8

April 14, 2010

Spring - Poplar Creek Courier Newsletter

Filed under: News, Specials, Events, Weather, Event Special, value specials, Wildlife, Ice Conditions, Reforestation, News Letter — admin @ 1:37 pm


sign -1.jpgSpring on the Gunflint Trail

 Spring arrived several weeks early this year. The ice went out the earliest on record. Our ski trail, the Banadad closed in March- this has never happened before. The spring bird migration is well under way - robins were seen by Guests at Poplar Creek Guesthouse way too early. Not sure what is going on but it is beautiful on the Gunflint. We will likely have an early green-up, the lakes are already open for canoeing and during April you do not even need to make overnight reservations for the Boundary Waters. This is great time for a visit – join us at Poplar Creek Guesthouse B&B, at one of our cabins or for the  adventuresome stay at the Tall Pines Yurt. During this time Special Quiet Times rates apply.

Plant Trees along the Banadad Trails- Join Us at the Gunflint Green-Up - May 7th and 8th

Join other friends of the Gunflint Trail at the Trail's annual Green-Up for a weekend of tree planting and treeGGUP_Logo_211w.gif care. At Poplar Creek Guesthouse B&B and cabins we plan to plant Red and White Pines seedlings in the Poplar Creek/Little Ollie area and along the Banadad Ski Trail. Please join us!

We provide tree-planting instruction, planting equipment and tree seedlings, two nights lodging with Barbara's famous breakfasts each morning. One day planting trees with a trail lunch. Also included during your stay, Ted will make a presentation on the area's "Fire history, and Reforestation." Rate for two nights is $89/person/plus taxes, double occupancy.

To register for the Green Up at Poplar Creek call 800-322-8327 or email  us at bct@boundarycountry.com.   

Additional Tree Planting Weekends

Unable to make the Green-Up weekend but still want to help reforest the area, no problem. Join these additional tree-planting weekends. Same deals as during Green-up To register for these weekends call 800-322-8327 or email  us at bct@boundarycountry.com

·        April 30 and May 1 - Rate for two night is $89/person/plus taxes, double occupancy

·        May 14 and May 15 - Rate for two nights is $89/person/plus taxes, double occupancy

Banadad Trail Association Contributes to Tree Plan

  1. For the third year running the Banadad Ski Trail remains carbon neutral. The Banadad Trail Association is contributing $168 to offset the CO2 produced in the grooming and maintenance of the Banadad this past winter. This contribution will go towards the purchase of 372 red and white pine trees seedlings to plant along the Banadad during the first three weeks in May. 

Guests Encounter Lynx along the Banadad

!cid_B8EC4063-F8C4-4AFD-86E1-53B5688E2C6A@eau.jpgEarly this March guests staying at the Poplar Creek Retreat Cabin had quite an experience. The event is told in the following article from our local newspaper-

Cook County News herald- Faris and Bonnie Keeling of Duluth had an adventure many northlanders can only imagine—an encounter with a Canada lynx. The Keelings spent the weekend on the Banadad Trail where they said they enjoyed “blue sky, sunny days and clear, starry nights and skiing and snowshoeing.” However, the highlight of the trip was seeing the lynx.

Reached by phone on March 9, Bonnie Keeling said they spotted the animal far ahead on the trail and quickly leashed their German Shepherd Fernando. Barely “a dot,” the creature dashed into the woods, only to appear back on the trail a few minutes later within 10- 15 yards of the Keelings and their dog. “There it was, a Canada lynx— uncomfortably bigger than we thought they were. For several seconds it carefully examined us with a fierce, intense stare. Then it apparently decided we were harmless and uninteresting, neither predator nor prey—despite ‘Nando’s yipping and whining and straining at his leash, wanting to give chase. It casually turned its back on us, showing off its high haunches, its short, black-tipped tail, and its tufted ears in profile.”

Keeling said it continued leisurely traveling up the trail ahead of them for at least a quarter mile, occasionally stopping and staring back for a few moments, as they followed at a respectful distance.

Barbara’s Kitchen

Breakfast chef Barbara-This summer at the Bed and Breakfast, I will be serving some new entrees.  These were tested this past winter and came up winners. You might be served Ebelskievers filled with spiced apples or croissants filled with scrambled eggs into which boursin cheese has been stirred.  The fruit plate always amazes guests as they count the number of artfully arranged fruits.  Of course, I will continue with some favorites such as the stuffed French toast and puffed oven pancake. Do not forget there is always breakfast dessert.

 

Lesley continues on our staff. This past winter she put together and served quite a few Firepot dinners at the Tall Pines yurt. If there are four or more guests that want to order this special supper, just let us know a couple days beforehand.  We still do this at the yurt during the warm months too. Lesley also cleans the rooms and cabins and guests have commented on the cleanliness. We are so glad to have Lesley here!

Earliest Ice-Out Ever- Early Spring

The ice went out in Little Ollie Lake on April 2 followed by Poplar Lake on April 6. While we have not kept records for Little Ollie, we have been keeping records when the ice went-out in Poplar. Guest what? For Poplar this is earliest ice-out date we know off. Prior to this year the earliest the ice went out was on April 16 in 2005 and 2006. Between 1990 and 2000 the ice went out six times during May with the latest May 22. After the year 2000 the ice has gone out six times in April and only three time in May.

 

The weather has been great here. If it continues it should be an early green up and that means we will likely be planting our garden in May instead of our usual time of mid June. Spring on the Gunflint Trail is a beautiful season - Very quiet, no mosquitoes, hike, mountain bike, animal viewing and bird watching or just relax.

 Spring Quiet Season Special Rates at Boundary Country- March 29 through May 13, 2010

 

Poplar Creek Guesthouse B&B - all rooms about 20% off-

·        Dorothy's Room $95/night with breakfast for two

·        Ollie's Room $120/night with breakfast for two.

·        Barbara's Suite $105 without breakfast. $125 with breakfast for two.

Little Ollie Lake Cabin - Great Savings

  • Regular Rate weekday $150- Special Rate $99/night
  • Regular Rate weekend $175/ night- Special Rate $125/night
  • Regular Weekly Rate $999/week- Special Rate-$750

Also Checkout our new last minute Specials for even more savings!

 

 

1f48

April 7, 2010

Poplar Lake Records Earliest Ice Out

Filed under: News, birding, Ice Conditions, History — admin @ 6:28 am

Yesterday, April 6 marks the earliest day that the ice went out on Poplar Lake in our record history. Prior to this year the earliest the ice went out was on April 16 in 2005 and 2006. Between 1990 and 2000 the ice went out six times during May with the latest May 22. After the year 2000 the ice has gone out six times in April and three time in May.

Spring is arriving quite early this year- our first robin was spotted over the weekend of March  26 by guest at Poplar Creek Guesthouse B&B and we have seen many more since then. Trees buds are ready to burst open and the creeks are open and flowing.Labels

April 3, 2010

Ice-Out on Small Gunflint Trail Lakes

Filed under: News, Ice Conditions — admin @ 7:36 am

Last night the ice went out in Little Ollie Lake. Most of the smaller lakes along the Gunflint Trail have also become ice free in the last few day. This is the earliest ice out anyone along the Gunflint can ever remember for these lakes. Looking at the weather prediction for continue above average temperature it is likely the rest of the lakes will lose their ice in the next week or two.

February 11, 2010

Banadad Re-opened following Storm

Filed under: News, Ski Trails, Weather, Ice Conditions — admin @ 7:42 am


The ice covered alder brush and small trees clogging the Banadad Ski Trail from last months storm, and that forced the closing of the trail, has finally been removed. The Banadad is once again open.  The re-opening of the trail took nine-four hours of hard-wet-cold hand labor by trail crews.  

 

Groomers have now finished packing the fresh snow and the re-setting of tracks begins today, February 11. It is expected that the track setting of the Banadad will be completed by tomorrow.

 

According to trail maintenance manager, Ted Young, “the brush that clogged the trail from this storm was by far and away the worst I have ever seen in my twenty-seven years of working on the Banadad. The crews that helped re-open the trails did a great job!  Young continued, “I wish to give a special thanks to Jim Morison, Peter Spink, Pete Harris, John and Barbara Bottagar who volunteered their time along with paid trail workers, Jim Raml, Mike and Matt Hendrickson.  And thanks to other members of the Banadad Trail Assocation who, contributed moral support, including support from as far

May 9, 2009

Little Ollie Lake Tree Planting Weekend

Filed under: News, Weather, Ice Conditions, Reforestation — admin @ 5:32 pm

May 9- one inch of snow covered the ground this morning along the mid-Gunflint Trail area and the snow continued to fall until about 10:00 am. By late afternoon the fresh snow was gone.

On the other hand, Poplar Lake did see its fishing opener, even though most in the area were saying Poplar and other mid  size lakes in the area would still be ice covered for the opener.  The ice actually went-out  yesterday, the day before the opener. 

Here around Little Ollie Lake, as a follow-up to last week's Gunflint Green Up,  several  neighbors were out  planting more trees.  Most planted on their own property.  Poplar Creek Guesthouse B&B, this year,  planted white pines on the trail to the Tall Pines Yurt.  While walking along the Little Ollie Road it was clear that most of the white pines and spruce planted last year along the road had  survived the winter and appeared to be doing fine.

Copyright © Boundary Country Trekking, Grand Marais MN. All rights reserved.

0