Calmer Days Ahead

The water-filled excitement of the last two days has subsided, and left in its place is a wind that is causing Gunflint Lake to roll.  It's a westerly one, at 10-20 mph, though in my opinion, more of the latter and less of the former.  It's not unusual to have the wind kick up like this when a pattern changes, but fortunately, it is only predicted to last through the day. By this evening, and for tomorrow, it is supposed to diminish.  That will be good, because then folks will once again be able to get out on the lake more easily.

Our personal challenge in this latest series of weather events has been keeping the boats all floating.  Our fleet (as it were) is pulled up on shore, but the boats tied to the dock haven't fared as well.  Greg and Paul have been busy using the water pump to help empty a boat or two, so that they can once again float.  Just another example of the power that Gunflint Lake and the weather can dish out to us, the often unsuspecting.

Also in the wake of the storm are reports hitting the headlines across the country about the flood damage in Duluth and along the North Shore.  The pictures have been incredible to see, and having grown up in Duluth, I can recognize many of these places.  Reference has been made to the flooding back in 1972.  When talking to my sister last night, fragments of that emerged in my memory----some folks canoeing down our neighborhood street one summer day, and my siblings and I wading through waist deep water.  Until now, I could not remember what year that was.  It seems odd that a city built on a hill can actually flood, but if enough rain comes down, I guess it is possible.  On the flip side, I like to think about what the numbers would be if that much moisture fell in the winter instead.  They say that an inch of rain is roughly equivalent to 10-12 inches of snow.  Can you imagine over 100" of snow in one storm?  That would be something to see.

Those afore mentioned reports are giving the impression that the highway between Duluth and Two Harbors is completely shut down.  During the height of the storm, I believe that large sections may have been, but at this point, the only section that is closed is at the Knife River bridge on the expressway of Highway 61.  A detour is in place that takes travelers a short way down the hill to the scenic highway.  You can continue on the scenic highway to Two Harbors, or you can go back up to the expressway.  Either way, it won't add much more time to your trip.  Other areas through Duluth and along Highway 61 may have some slower spots, but from the reports I've been hearing, everything is moving along just fine.

My folks live in Duluth, along the shore, and when I talked to my mom on Wednesday evening, they had just returned from a trip to the grocery store.  She said that they had no problems getting around to where they needed to go.  So all in all, I expect that travelers may encounter a bit of a change from the normal drive, but it shouldn't be bad.  On the good side, the waterfalls along the way should be absolutely spectacular!  My dad always told us when we were passing by the Cross River in Schroeder that we had to look out the window to see the water rushing down.  To this day, I still continue the practice, and sort of want to take a drive down there just to see it right now! 

I'll close with a photo taken a week ago, when the lake was much calmer than it is right now.  We'll see this again, I know, as the next few days are supposed to be warmer, sunny and calm.  Sounds like a welcome change to me.

And it's still raining....But the phones are back!

Oh, yes, it's still raining, although not as hard.  Considering that the rain gauge is now up to 3.5 inches, we are doing really very well here.  Maybe we are getting better at this.  Or maybe our boats were already pulled up as high as they can go.  The cabins are all in great shape; the roads haven't washed out; we checked on a couple of the neighbors docks and boats, and all was well.  We did have one boat a bit under the weather this morning, but with the help of several guys and a pump, even that wasn't a bad task.  All in all, we seem to be faring well.

When the big rains came over the Memorial weekend, the forecast talked about "copius amounts of moisture from the Gulf of Mexico." This system didn't have quite such a fancy description, so I am not sure where all of this water has come from.  But it's finding it's way into Gunflint Lake, and we are again on the watch for escaping boats and docks.  The next few days are supposed to be nice and sunny, so perhaps we'll just have to go for another barge ride.

This is a good representation of how dark and grey it has been the last day. But my favorite part of this picture is that it's good to see Eduardo prepared for the weather.  His hard hat surely is keeping his hair a lot drier than his sombrero would have.  And he's ready for work!

Phone and Email Update

And rain it did.  I was up early today to check on things, after listening to rain and wind all night long.  The rain gauge indicated that we received 2 and a quarter inches.  Not bad, especially after hearing about how much fell south of us.

To that end, the five or so inches that fell in Duluth and on the North Shore was enough to knock out our phone service.  Currently, the phones only work in our local exchange.  If you need to reach us, our internet still works, as it is satellite. However, we are not able to receive emails, as the same lines that serve our phones also serve our email system. 

You can send me a note through our "Contact Us" form, and I will get back to you as soon as I can.

So it goes on the Gunflint Trail!  But it's also this way all along the North Shore right now, and in Duluth, too, so I guess we are not alone. 

The Space In Between

The weather forecasters are prediciting a boatload of rain for us this afternoon.  It's a huge system, waiting to happen, with possibly one to three inches of new water for us.  Whereas the fall, winter and early spring were drought conditions, we still are happy to accept all the moisture that mother nature chooses to send our way.  The lake continues to be at a good level, and we even have a bit of beach exposed once again. Kids have been in swimming, so the water must be warming up as well.

Just a bit ago, we had an opening shot in this rainstorm, but now it has stopped and we are in that space in between the rain cells.  It's always an interesting spot to see.  The clouds are building, and there is a sense of something BIG about to happen.  I still remember the moments leading up to the blowdown storm, thirteen years ago.  The air felt heavy and charged, and the lake was extremely calm.  We watched a funny little chipmunk at our feet, acting strangely toward us. Then the skies got that greenish hue......So far, thankfully, nothing since has matched the eerie feeling of that time block.

Yesterday, we got to watch somebody else's storm a-brewing.  On my way to work out at the point, I noticed the dark skies in Canada, so I went back to retrieve my camera.

 

The northern skies were dark and thundering, while the southern half was calm, blue, and bright with sunshine.  We had a few clouds, but just the typical cumulus ones--no big storm clouds.

It was neat to watch the Canadian storm, while feeling totally safe and dry from my perch on our shoreline.  I saw a few faraway bolts of lightning, but the thunder indicated that it was several miles away.  Still, I kept a watchful eye and ear.

Wisely, these folks were watching, too, and decided to make a run for it back to safety, should things turn bad.  As they zipped by, I saw a loon dive under the water.  He had been on patrol, watching the shore, but he didn't seem too concerned about the weather.  That's the life of a loon, I guess.

Shortly after that, the wind picked up all over the lake, and our skies grew dark.  The waves got larger, and it seemed as though we were going to become a part of the storm, rather than just audience members.  But the rains didn't come, only the wind.  With it came a drop in temperature and humidity.  When I returned to the lodge, I saw that the thermometer had fallen from 80 to 68.  Nature's air conditioning had returned.

On a different note, since I mentioned loons, I should say that it is once again the season of babies.  I read that the loon pair at Chik Wauk museum successfully hatched two chicks last weekend.  And some of our guests who portaged in to Topper Lake yesterday were treated to the sight of a little one swimming alongside its parent.  Time to be on the lookout--I have yet to see one of these fuzzy little grey things.