Round Lake is officially open!!! This group just left our beach and paddled across to the Missing Link Lake portage. They are hoping to reach Tuscarora Lake. We are looking forward to hearing how they did!
Author: Sue Ahrendt
Fishing Opener 2013
Fishing opener has come and gone with out the usual excitement. We sent out one brave father and son team to try their luck on Ham Lake. They didn’t come back the same day so they must have made it to a campsite! They were a pretty determined duo. The day before they did some exploring up the Gunflint Trail, taking in a few hikes while waiting for the ice to break. While exploring they heard some favorable reports about the ice on Larch Lake and Ham Lake so they gave it a try.
Today (Sunday) the wind has kicked up which is breaking up the ice on Round Lake. The sheets are crashing into each other making a cool tinkling sound and fracturing the ice into impossibly sharp shards. Andy watched one group paddle around the ice plates from public access all the way to the portage for Missing Link Lake. They had to do a lot of zigging and zagging, but they got there. Another group will be trying it tomorrow morning. Not sure yet about how Tuscarora Lake looks, but that was their goal.
Ice shards on Round Lake
A little bit of open water!
Staff members have been busy raking, raking, raking! All of the canoes are out and ready to go as soon as the ice clears. We are slowly getting the water turned back on to the summer buildings. Our dining hall is all set and ready for our first French toast breakfast. The shower house is back in action too so we are ready for guests! If the weather keeps getting nicer each day as forecasted, we should all be out paddling any day now!
Denali supervising the raking
Getting Closer!
Round Lake from our beach this morning
To answer the question on everyone’s mind, yes we still have ice on Round Lake. However, spring is happening in fast forward all along the Gunflint so we are getting closer! Last weekend was pretty chilly again. Nights were below freezing and grey skies shed a wintery mix on us during the day. It felt like we spring had stalled for a while there.
We opened our gates for the outfitting season on May 1st, technically speaking, even though it didn’t feel like summer yet. We have been juggling jobs based on what the weather is doing. We are trying to get some raking in. It is a little strange to be raking around the slow melting snow plow piles but at least we are outside. We are doing some spring cleaning inside as well and getting the suburbans tuned up. Summer staff is starting to arrive which gets everyone excited. With more hands around, we started to pull out the Kevlar canoes from winter storage. A sure sign of spring if ever there was one!
Taking the Kevlar canoes out of the dining hall
Shuffling the canoes from the dining hall to the canoe yard
We drove up to the End of Trail campground to check things out on Sunday afternoon. The creeks and ditches along the side of the road which were full and overflowing two weeks before have slowed down some to a more normal spring level. The smaller beaver pond ice is starting to turn black and break up into chunks which is a good sign. The rapids into Gull Lake were flowing fast and strong. Seagull Lake and Saganaga Lake are still frozen but there are some good sized holes and fissures showing up. It is definitely at the point where it is a little sketchy to be walking on it.
Gull Lake rapids
On Monday, the staff couldn’t resist the urge to paddle on Cross River just down the drive way. We put in along side the road right above the rapids and paddled towards the portage toward Ham Lake. The portage was still covered in a layer of snow so we didn’t get to far, but at least it was a paddle! The Cross River dock is still surrounded by ice flows, but the waterfowl are enjoying the open parts.
Paddling on Cross River
Skirting the edges of the ice
Just making sure you can’t paddle through the ice…
Cross River rapids by Round Lake Road
Yesterday we ran to Duluth to get some summer supplies. All the small rivers were flowing fast and rock cuts along the road were covered in ephemeral water falls. We couldn’t resist a stop at Gooseberry State Park to take a look at the falls! Along the way back we spotted 137 deer, 3 fox, 1 bobcat and a wolf all on the side of the road! For those of you planning on traveling up Highway 61, please be careful!
Gooseberry State Park
This week has been warm, sunny and just beautiful! We still can’t tell you for certain when the ice will be out. The larger lakes like Saganaga will take longer than Round Lake to clear. We are still thinking we will have ice for fishing opener on May 11th. The following week we have high hopes for however! For those of you with early trips, keep checking in. Don’t worry, when the ice goes out, we will be posting on everything from the blog to Facebook. We are just as impatient and excited as all of you!
Round Lake this morning
Round Lake this morning
Melting!
Suddenly, spring is in a big hurry to get here. Starting Thursday, the temperatures have been up into the high 50’s, low 60’s. The sun is shining warmly, the birds are singing, and Denali is basking on the deck. The 2 feet+ of snow that is on the ground has been melting with force. Round Lake road is suffering a bit from the rapid melt.
The driveways and outfitting yard are clearing nicely. At first the melt was dammed in by the snow banks creating a slushy pond in the center. This morning things are looking much better. The mud is pretty thick but at least everything is flowing in the right direction now.
The Cross River, just down the road, is open and flowing down the center. The ice is still around the dock, but it is looking more and more slushy each day. The open water is attracting all sorts of birds who arrived looking for spring but are now forced to wait it out with the rest of us. So far I’ve noticed common & hooded mergansers, common goldeneyes, Canada geese, mallards, a kingfisher, bald eagles, and a turkey vulture all hanging out around the open water.
Round Lake is covered in watery slush. Almost a good foot of it. Ice reports in the area still are in the 20″+ range, but at least things are starting to move in the right direction. The snow may be in a hurry to melt, but the ice can’t be rushed. We still can’t tell when the ice will be out for sure. The forecast calls for rain and wind, both will help. If the temperatures stay warm, that will help as well. We need to wait and see how things progress, but it is feeling decidedly spring like around here! ~Rachel
Ice Conditions
We sure have been having a chilly spring this year! The temperatures feel a lot more like what a northern Minnesota springs should be like. We have been a little spoiled the past few springs! A slow moving weather pattern has been dumping some wet, heavy spring snow on us for the past week now.
I went out last week to drill a hole in the ice on Round Lake. We still have a foot of snow on top the ice which is keeping it very insulated (this was before received about 18″ of snow on Thursday night!). The ice is still around 26 inches thick. Reports from Sagananga Lake and Gunflint Lake are reporting around 30 inches of ice as well.
For those of you concerned for you upcoming canoe trips, we will keep you posted! It is a little to soon to tell for sure when the ice will come out. What the weather decides to do next week will make a lot of difference. We do know that the late spring should keep the water temps down making for some nice fishing opportunities. All this snow should keep the water levels up for the spring and the fire risk down as well!
The DNR has a nice website that shows ice out conditions across the state – http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/ice_out/index.html. Keep your eye on that and on our blog, we will let you know as soon as the ice goes out!
