Category: Gunflint Trail Winter

Searching for Mavis

Lately, Andy and I have been searching for Mavis.

No, not that Mavis; Mavis Lake, located a half mile south of Round Lake and just east of Missing Link Lake. It’s a little puddle of a Boundary Waters lake that the DNR keeps stocked with brook trout. You can access Mavis from the easternmost point of Missing Link Lake via a 40 rod portage.

But what if there was a way to get into Mavis directly from Round, allowing you to bypass Missing Link altogether?

According to local old timers, back in the Leeds’ family time at Tuscarora, there used to be a portage from Round to Mavis that took off not far from the Round to Missing Link portage and cut southeast along a flowage. In fact, this portage was the preferable route into Mavis since the Missing Link to Mavis portage features a pretty steep uphill climb.

The trail’s not just a figment of locals’ imaginations. If you go onto the DNR’s LakeFinder website and look at Mavis’s fish survey, the DNR indicates that as of Autumn 2003, there was indeed a portage trail from Round Lake to Mavis.

Curiouser and curiouser.

There’s just one little problem. While 2003 isn’t exactly ancient history, it doesn’t take very long for BWCAW forest to reestablish itself and reclaim a portage path. Anyone who’s tried to bushwhack through Minnesota woods known it’s a very slow process mostly spent untangling yourself from balsam and aspen saplings. If the trail really hadn’t been used for over a decade, we also knew some of those saplings were going to be decent sized trees by now and portage’s path wasn’t going to be too obvious.

But even if the chances of success were low, we couldn’t not look for this neglected path. “Because it’s there,” as George Mallory would say.

We set out a couple weeks back, choosing to cut up the Round Lake shoreline just below the cliffs near the Missing Link portage. We waded through snow, clambered up cliffs (and occasionally slide down cliffs), had amble amounts of snow fall down our necks and while I was sure we just had to make it over the hillside to reach (or at least see) Mavis, Andy’s GPS told a different story. After a half hour crashing through brush, we’d only made it about 2/10ths of a mile away from Round Lake. We ceded defeat and turned around. At least we enjoyed some great views on a beautiful bluebird day.

January Round Lake Gunflint Trail Boundary Waters winter trip

Looking towards the Brant Lake entry point across Round Lake

But we weren’t going give up just yet. Thanks to some information that came in from a Leeds’ family member, we were able to pinpoint the starting point for the elusive Round to Mavis portage. Last Sunday afternoon, we set out again, slightly more hopeful that we’d clamp eyes on Mavis this go-round.

We found the starting point easily enough along the shoreline and we wound our way through the young forest, trying to determine if we were going through growth that wasn’t older than 12 years.

Boundary Waters winter adventure Gunflint Trail

Where’s Waldo?

But it didn’t take long before we ran into this particular winter’s obstacle of brush bent over by the weight of a very heavy snowfall back in mid-December. The bent over brush really changes the look of the forest and it was hard to tell how to navigated around the low areas most affected by the “bend over.”

Undeterred, we pressed on. . . through waist deep snow that pushed up our pant legs and through low hanging balsam branches that tried to steal our hats. It was pretty clear we weren’t on the right path, but by the time we acknowledged that, we were closer to Mavis than to Round and it made more sense to just keep moving forward, albeit at a snail’s pace through the thick forest.

Then, at long last, in the words of William Clark of Lewis and Clark fame: “Ocian in view! Oh! the joy!”

Beautiful Mavis lake.

We weren’t about to turn around and head back the way we’d just came, so we found the portage to Missing Link and looped back to Round Lake.

Oh the joy: flagging! Mavis to Missing Link portage.

By the time we were back at our starting point, it was about two hours later and we’d gone a whole . . . wait for it . . . mile.

Moral of the story: It’s totally possible to make it to Mavis Lake from Round Lake. But for this winter at least, the Missing Link to Mavis portage is the best bet. We’ll leave rediscovery of the Round Lake to Mavis portage for a time when there isn’t 30 inches of snow and miles of downed brush in the woods. For the time being, Mavis remains both lost and found. Until next time . . .

Gunflint Trail Winter / Life at Tuscarora Lodge

Meeting the Neighbors

We’re lucky enough to know our Gunflint Trail neighbors pretty well and we look forward to catching up with them at fire department trainings, carpooling into Grand Marais for English literature classes, or meeting up for some ice fishing on Seagull Lake. But wintering in a new location on the Gunflint Trail means we have a whole new batch of feathered or four-legged neighbors to meet.

Chickadees (along with Hairy and Downy woodpeckers, nuthatches, and blue jays) make for very faithful winter companions and keep the bird feeders full of happy flutterings. We love putting out bird seed by our winterized cabins so guests can enjoy the birds right outside their windows too.

And the ubiquitous red squirrel? Yep, they’ve found the feeders too. (Surprise, surprise.)

The fox’s been roaming around Tuscarora since early winter and while we’ve grown quite fond of him/her, we’ve resisted the urge to name it. Apparently, a steady supply of sunflower seeds and the occasional minnow, is enough to keep him/her hanging around for the foreseeably future. Fox’s favorite hobbies include sitting in the road/yard and staring at humans, hiding behind trees and staring at humans, and sneaking up behind you while you’re filling bird feeders or walking to the mailbox.

Caught in the act.

We crossed paths with another canine neighbor a couple weeks back. We first ran into the wolf running down the Gunflint Trail. As we headed up Round Lake Road, we found the same wolf running across the frozen Cross River.

Sometimes, we don’t see the animal – just the evidence that they were recently there. Here, it appears that an owl found a tasty snack (probably a very small four-legged something) hiding under the snow near Brant Lake.

We been seeing lots of otter slide marks along the Round Lake Road and the Centennial Trail, but sadly we have yet to put eyes on the actual animal. Otters have the most fun.

Maybe not ideal moose viewing, but a good, safe distance to spot a moose at when you’re driving the Gunflint Trail

We’ve been seeing plenty of moose on our trips into Grand Marais too, usually in the Swamper Lake and Iron Lake areas on the Trail.

What “neighbors” have you been hanging out with this winter?

Gunflint Trail Winter

How Thick is Ice on Gunflint Trail Lakes?

Looking for current winter conditions on the Gunflint Trail? Check out our weekly winter reports!

We’ve been getting a lot of questions about ice conditions on Boundary Waters lakes in northeastern Minnesota, so we decided to take matters into our own hands and take some ice thickness measurements:

Bat Lake: 6″ as of Jan. 4th
Round Lake: 12″ as of Jan. 8th
Missing Link Lake: 10″ as of Jan 8th
Seagull Lake: 8″ as of Jan 8th

We’ve also received these reports:
Clearwater Lake: 5″ as of Jan. 6th
South Lake: 5″ as of Jan 3rd
Tuscarora Lake: 7″ as of Jan 4th
Gillis Lake: 3-4″ as of Jan 7th
Gunflint Lake: 3-5″ as of Jan 8th

Despite all that talk of the frigid conditions for the big Vikings/Seahawks game tomorrow, it’s been a pretty warm winter so far and this isn’t much ice for this time of year. Happily, there isn’t too much slush on the lakes. As always, be sure to use caution and common sense during your winter adventures and feel free to give us a call if you want up-to-date conditions.

Boundary Waters Trip Tips and "How To" / Fishing / Gunflint Trail Winter

Day Trip Ice Fishing on Bat Lake

“People always catch fish on Bat.”

When Nathan, a family friend who happens to take a lake trout fishing focused winter camping trip each Martin Luther King weekend, told us that last fall, we knew we had to check it out. After all, Bat Lake is practically just a hop, skip, and jump from Tuscarora. So just four days into the Boundary Waters winter lake trout season, Andy and I headed across Round Lake to see if we could prove Nathan wrong.

Thanks to a bunch of ambitious winter campers who headed into the Boundary Waters just after Christmas, there are miles of very well packed trail from Round Lake through the Brant Lake entry point route. Since we weren’t pulling sleds and we also snowmobiled across Round Lake, we were able to reach Bat Lake in less than two hours.

Down the stairs on the portage from Gotter Lake into Flying Lake

Along the hike, I kept stopping to take photographs of the icicles on the shoreline cliff faces. This cliff face on Flying Lake is just past the portage into Green Lake.

When we reached Bat Lake, we set up speedily. With just six inches of pure blue ice, it doesn’t take long to drill enough holes for tip-ups and jigging, even with a hand auger!

Still, by the time we had lines in the water, it was after noon, so we weren’t exactly capitalizing on the “morning bite.” Although the action was a little slow for a lake the DNR says has abundant (but small) lake trout, we were able to prove correct Nathan’s theory that people always catch fish on Bat Lake. About an hour into our afternoon on Bat Lake, I reeled up this little guy. Andy unhooked him quickly and popped him back into the drink.

While we waited for more action on the lines, we took a timeout to make some coffee and cocoa as we watched the tip-up lines. With the shadows growing long, we knew it was time to start the trek home.

After a stop to chat up some winter campers, we walked home with a beautiful sunset at our backs. It’s amazing what a little snow and ice can do to transform a boggy lowland into a spectacular vista.