Ely Winter Festival Snow Scuptures

These are just some of the examples of amazing snow sculptures exhibited by some wonderfully talented artists in the park in Ely now as part of the Ely Winter Festival.

Ely Winter Festival - February 3 - 13, 2011

We celebrate winter in Ely, Minnesota.  The Ely Winter Fest is February 3 - 13.
 
I snapped this photo in 20 below Fahrenheit temps this morning.  The massive snow cubes are set up in the park in Ely.  The next step is for the snow carvers to start there work beginning on Feb. 3.  They will be wonderful artistic creations by this weekend.  We're in suspense to see what the artists create to top all the great ones done last year.  Check back here for photos of the snow sculptures.

For full Ely Winter Festival details go to www.elywinterfestival.com.

Dog-Sled-Mobiling?

Much of the country has been getting record amounts of snowfall. While Ely itself may not be breaking records just yet, we are enjoying a real winter this season. Every few days or so, it snows another couple inches or more. Unlike with cars, extra snow while dog sledding is not too problematic, normally. More snow gives us more padding on our trails and generally freshens things up.

With all this repeated snowfall, our packed dog sledding trails get covered anew. Recently, during a day of dog sledding, it snowed about eight inches, a hefty amount for us. Here, Otok and Patches pull Nancy and Colleen through the collecting snow.

The day after this eight inches of snow, my dog sled group was out breaking open the same trails from the day before. Two Wintergreen staff also headed out that morning on snowmobiles to pack down some of the trails for us. As we were leaving our lunch spot on Saturday, we got word from one of those staff members saying he'd got the snowmobile pretty well stuck in slush and thin ice and thought he needed the help of our dogs to get it out.

We gallantly headed on over, with the "Here We Come to Save the Day!" theme in our heads. We found the snowmobile on a trail over a small creek. The weight of the snowmobile had pushed through some wet snow and down into the ice above this beaver creek, where it's not uncommon to have thinner ice because of moving water underneath. Because the snow had not been well packed down earlier in the season, the left side of the snowmobile had dropped down through thin ice. Despite attempts with logs to give it traction, our valiant staff member could not get the machine up and out.


So we removed the team of six dogs from our sled, backed them up (easier said than done!... sled dogs pull forward), and attached them with a tow strap to the sled. We revved up the snowmobile and gave the dogs the "Hike!" command while another guide prepared to lead in front.

The dogs didn't hesitate to jerk forward and pulled it right out of its hole. Success!


In the next instant, though, after the snow-go had made it out by a few feet, the tow strap came loose of the dogs.

They went running like mad without any weight behind them, taking over the front guide. She heard our yells, saw that the dogs were in fact entirely loose though attached to each other, and tackled some of them. Two more of the guides ran up as fast as possible and got the lead and wheel dogs held down. We held tightly until the dogsled could be reattached to the gangline, and we got people standing on the brake again.

Our group thought it was great! That hole in the ice, now exposed to the cold air, froze promptly. To ease the minds of those yet to be dog sledding this year, the snowmobile punched through because of its weight. The dogs are individually light enough to run right over that trail, and the sled's weight would be spread across its runners evenly.

There's never a guarantee, but here's to hoping the next snowmobile run goes smoothly! This was a meeting of technologies that doesn't occur terribly often.

Severe Slush Continues on Ely Area Lakes

The ice road on Shagawa Lake has been shut down due to slush, and advanced dogsled camping trips are making major reroutes due to severe slush on Ely area lakes.  While guiding dogsled trips, I am virtually always staying on previously used trails to avoid the slush.  This photo shows an example of what happens when you're off packed trails and in slush.  The dark spots are boot prints.

Lily the Black Bear Gives Birth to Two Cubs Near Ely, MN

Lily the black bear, one of the research bears studied by the Wildlife Research Institute near Ely, MN, gave birth to two cubs on Friday.  This is the second year in a row that Lily gave birth on the Institute's live webcam.  To see what's going on in Lily's den and try to spy a glimpse or sound of the cubs, see the webcam at http://www.bear.org/livecams/lily-hope-cam.html.

"Very Nice Weather"

I'm wrapping up guiding a four-night dogsled trip and Jan, with utmost sincerity, says, "We've had very nice weather this week." 

You'd never know Jan experienced the coldest week this year - with lows dipping to 38 below zero Fahrenheit.  That's actual air temp.  Another morning hit 27 below.  While this wasn't a camping trip, we dogsledded every day and experienced high temps that never reached the zero mark.

It is a wonderful thing to be prepared and feel comfortable while enjoying the outdoors on an otherwise cold winter day when most are hunkered down, avoiding the cold.

This photo shows Jan and her husband, Gordon, dog sledding on White Iron Lake. 

Moon Halo over Ely, MN

I spied this moon halo last night as I drove home from our canoe trip outfitting shop in Ely.  Moon halos are created when millions of tiny ice crystals high in the atmosphere reflect light.  The shape of the ice crystals results in a focusing of the light into a ring around the moon.  Because the ice crystals are six-sided, they reflect light at a 22 degree angle, creating a ring that has a 22 degree diameter.

Though moon halos are certainly more common during the dogsledding season than the canoe tripping season, people are already reserving canoe trips now for the best selection of permits for their desired entry points and dates.  Please contact us and we'll happily talk you through some canoe trip options.  We make BWCAW trip planning fun and simple, and we enjoy sharing stories about our region and the natural world.

Winter Travel Routes Wind Through Labrador Tea

Our winter traveling world varies dramatically from summertime.  During summer, paddling and portaging in the wilderness, we mostly avoid wetlands - for they harbor masses of mosquitoes.  Plus, the prospect of stepping into a particularly mucky spot and going in up to your knees or (gasp!) waist is not most peoples' idea of summer fun.

However, the onset of winter means the mucky bogs and wetlands freeze, and the bugs have vanished.  Now these wetlands make for excellent travel by dogsled, ski, and snowshoe because they are flat, protected from biting winds, and not subject to slush. The fallen snow makes for lovely enchanted forests of black spruce, weighed down with white, in the wetlands.

Although not as eye catching as the trees, a look under the black spruce or tamarack trees in the frozen bogs will likely discover a common wetland shrub called Labrador tea.  While guiding, I pause and point it out along the dogsled trail, encouraging dogsledding guests to pocket a couple handfuls for later back at the lodge.

The shrub often carpets the ground and grows one to three feet tall, with leaves one or two inches in length. Fragrant, elongated leaves have a leathery green top (or, often a brownish top in winter), with edges that roll downward.  The special part of these leaves is the underside.  Flip them over to see the densely hairy copper-colored bottom.  Naturalist and author Mark "Sparky" Stensaas calls them the "hairy armpit" leaves.  I know of no other north woods plant with such a similar characteristic, and it is an excellent identity clue.

The most commonly confused similar plant may be leatherleaf, another common wetland shrub - but one that lacks the hairy underside.  Also, leatherleaf leaves typically angle upward, whereas the Labrador tea leaves often droop downward or point out horizontally.

 In late May through June, once the mosquitoes have returned and the dogsleds are stored, Labrador tea blooms with dime-sized white flowers - each with five petals.  If you are not in the wetlands at that time of year, you may see the flowers while paddling along boggy shorelines.

With such a name, it is no surprise that people steep the leaves in hot water for five minutes or so to make a hot beverage.  I've found that placing a large handful of leaves into a coffee filter, and dunking them in a hot mug of water for five minutes is a simple way to prepare the herbal  drink with easy cleanup.  The concoction can taste quite woodsy and few people claim it to be particularly pleasing straight up.  However, a healthy dose of cream and sugar, perhaps not surprisingly, makes for a delightful occasional beverage.  

Labrador tea is sometimes called medicine tea, Indian tea, swamp leaf, muskeg tea, or Hudson's Bay tea.  The reference to medicine probably relates to the fact that Native Americans, such as the Chippewa, used the tea to treat a range of maladies including colds, digestion issues, asthma, kidney problems and fever.

Although the beverage may provide some health benefits and is commonly referred to as a desirable tea drink, it is important to know that the leaves contain a potentially poisonous compound.  That's probably why you won't find this tea on supermarket shelves.  Thus, the tea should only be consumed infrequently and not in large quantities.  To limit your intake, maybe only drink Labrador tea while you're on a dogsled trip, unless, of course, you're a dogsled guide.

Slush alert for Ely area lakes!

After almost a foot of snow in the last several days, many lakes are mired in slush. This pic shows the bottom of my skis slushed/iced up after trying to ski across White Iron Lake today.

Winter's Arrival in Ely

Last week's spring-like weather has given way to winter. Yesterday it started snowing and today, we woke up to about four inches of the fluffy white stuff. We have buttoned up all of our summer gear and are getting ready for another Northwoods winter. Bring on the dog sleds!

Final Canoe Repairs of 2010

Above average temps in the fifties today allowed me to do some maintenance on "Lilly," a cedar strip canoe I built several years back.  She took the 2010 season off while I worked on some fiberglass and epoxy repairs to the turn of the bilge.  I put the first coat of varnish on the hull exterior today, and hope to complete the second coat tomorrow.  She'll be ready for the 2011 season!

Moose Brains

Today's Halloween, so here's a moose brain.  It's about the size of a grapefruit. 

While this post is a lighthearted holiday entry, the brain shown here is undergoing important scientific research that may help people better understand the moose population in Minnesota.  I helped extract this brain from a bull moose harvested up the Echo Trail near Ely, MN, earlier this month.  At the time, I was assisting the MDNR with the moose check-in and sampling station in Ely. 

Scientists know that a brain parasite fatal to moose is causing moose mortality, and that the parasite is carried by white tailed deer.  The full extent and effect of the brain parasite issue is still being researched.

Garrison Keillor, Eat Your Heart Out

Lake Wabegon is Garrison's fictitious community on the edge of the prairie. It's full of Norwegian Lutherans and colorful characters.

Here in Ely, Minnesota, we live on the edge of the wilderness with plenty of colorful characters, and some Norwegian Lutherans.

Today we're driving south to see the live performance of Garrison's radio show, A Prairie Home Companion, at the Fitz in St. Paul. When I'm driving south, I usually stop at SuLu's Espresso Cafe a half hour south of Ely in Tower.  I typically order a skinny latte (fufu, I know, but SuLu's are my favorite).

You'll see the second drink listed on the menu behind the owner, Brenda, is the "Lutheran."

What is the "Lutheran?"   Every Sunday after church, ladies from the Lutheran church stop by SuLu's for coffee. But the SuLu "Coffee" is just too strong for them. They asked to cut it with a little water. And should they pay full price for a coffee that has extra water? Of course not. Thus, the "Lutheran"coffee is a nickel less.

Garrison Keillor, eat your heart out, and be sure to stop at SuLu's on your way to Ely for a Boundary Waters canoe trip.

Pine Marten Breakdown

I awoke to a Pine Marten peering from an overturned canoe outside my bedroom window this morning.  Then a second one appeared.  Then they loped around the cabin to the deck.  Once on the deck, one of them took up residence in a flower pot, and the other one decided that looked like a fine idea.  This video shows what ensued.  Keep an eye on which one starts in the planter and which one ends up in the planter.

Pine Martens are about the cutest creatures in all of the North Woods. They are typically chocolate-brown, have a golden throat patch, and a 12 to 18 inch body followed by a seven to ten inch tail. They are smaller than the related fisher (30-47 inches long, including tail). As omnivores, they subsist on Red-backed Voles, squirrels, rabbits, mice, chipmunks, birds, insects, seeds, worms, and berries. They reportedly particularly like raspberries. Pine Marten are excellent climbers, freely jump between trees, and can rotate their back hips to run headfirst down a tree trunk.

They are active all year. In winter, you may see their paw prints in the snow. Their tracks are less than two inches wide and show five toe pads around a rounded heel pad.

The Pine Marten stick to high ground and loathe water that mats their unoiled fur. In summer, you may seem them on portages. However, the brown cat-size creature dancing along the shoreline rocks is more likely to be its water-loving relative with a contrasting white throat patch, the Mink.

Women in the BWCA Wilderness

I recently guided two all-women's camping trips. What a blast! Both groups of talented, smart and go-get-em women sought out a female guide for their Boundary Waters camping experience.

I have guided canoe trips over ten summers for teenage and adult women in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and Quetico Provincial Park, working at the Northern Lakes Girl Scout Canoe Base and here at Boundary Waters Guide Service. I have become a believer in the truly different and remarkable experience that is possible with a group of only women.

I haven't seen the statistics for travel by men versus women, but what I have noticed personally is that there are substantially more men traveling in this wilderness area. By far, the majority of groups are exclusively men, with a fair amount of groups with one or two women. This reality underscores just how unique an all-women's trip is in the Boundary Waters.

As much as I tried to deny it when I first started guiding canoe trips in the Great North Woods, women really don't have the muscle mass that men do. The canoe that men (of many ages) can pick up without any technique does not go on my shoulders without teamwork or some real practice. That applies big-time to groups of first-time women to the Boundary Waters. Teamwork really becomes key.

During an orientation before getting out on the water, we tackled portaging technique, which is typically the most intimidating aspect of a BWCAW trip. Each group learned how to use three people to flip the canoe upside-down, and then each person took a turn carrying the lightweight Kevlar canoe. The task was surprisingly conquerable to most, even a breeze to a couple of the stronger women!

After our first few hours of paddling, everyone discovered, despite their trepidation, that the portaging was actually quite do-able, though still a workout. Both groups of women smiled with accomplishment (and maybe a little tiredness) at the end of their first long portages. Everyone was definitely appreciative a little while later of a campsite where we could rest and relax.

The eight ladies of the first group were friends since having their children involved together in Girl Scouts or Boy Scouts, and boy, were they a get-er-done kind of group. They gathered armloads of firewood, found time to relax, and shared much laughter. Some felt a little nervous about the physicality of a canoe trip, others just looked forward to relaxing and not having to cook. These ladies were all made for this kind of canoeing adventure, amusingly calling themselves "Kate Plus Eight."

My second group of ladies, four this time, were nurses or nurse practitioners with numerous stories about the many babies they had delivered. Lovely women with great stories, also quick learners and very capable in a canoe in the gusty conditions we experienced. These four ladies had worked together in their profession for years and were absolutely great at working with each other in this new environment.

These two trips in the late summer season had lovely weather -- highs up toward 70 degrees and low temps in the 40s, sometimes dipping down to the 30s. Since women typically tend to feel colder, I used another trick for our ladies: we filled everyone's water bottle with hot water overnight to keep our sleeping bags toasty warm. It proved to be a delightful surprise.

It seems to be true no matter the woman's age: after experiencing an all-female canoe camping trip, there is a definite sense of empowerment. I believe these already intelligent and accomplished women were no exception. Being "out there" for three or four days and relying only on each other for forward movement tends to build trust, make a lot of fun moments, and create an experience that will not be quickly forgotten.

Boundary Waters Autumnal Colors

Fall colors are here! In fact, they are at peak already. If you've got the time, head on up to Ely and enjoy the beautiful colors. Here, two photos from recent guided canoe trips. These beautiful light purple flowers really complement the yellows, oranges and red of the autumn woods.

Bob Cary Print Sale and Our Last Hurrah of the Summer

Jackpine Bob Cary is an Ely legend: a radio personality, an artist, a fisherman, and generally a beloved character who passed away a few years ago. His daughter Barb Cary Hall is hosting a big sale of all things Cary, including his prints, both color and black & white, and his books. Many of his beautiful pieces are signed and numbered. These pleasant folks stopped by today and found some great classic prints at a wonderful price.

While here at our shop, Barb is also swapping stories about her dad. Come on by anytime this weekend to share a story or two. Our shop is open from 10am-4pm every day this weekend, to go along with Ely's Harvest Moon Festival. In addition to the Bob Cary print sale, everything else in the store is at least 10% off, with a few items even 40% off. Come on by! We'd love to see you here!

Bluegills in Their Underwater World

We found these extraordinarily curious Bluegills on Hustler Lake in the Boundary Waters. They are called Bluegills thanks to the dot of color you can see on the side of both fish. That blue or black spot is actually an extension of the gill cover. They are excellent fish to eat, and these particular fish sure didn't make themselves too hard to bring in. Lucky for them, all I had was my camera! They are known for nibbling on bait, and you might notice that one of the fish went for my finger shortly after I put the camera in the water. (Apologies for jerking the camera a little at that point... I wasn't sure if it would hurt! In fact, I don't think I even felt it at all.)

Day Hiking in the Boundary Waters on the Sioux-Hustler Trail

I guided a group of five strong sixty-something hikers this week. It was their first canoe trip, but certainly not their first experience camping! These pleasant folks from Virginia have been hiking and backpacking on some big adventures all over the United States. With this background, the group was keen on hiking for a day in the Boundary Waters. On our layover day, then, we decided to head over to the Sioux-Hustler Hiking Trail to see what we could find.

We discovered that the nearly mile-long Oyster to Hustler portage is flooded out for about ten rods (or canoe-lengths). While a few portages may have some muck and mud, I have never seen another portage as flooded as this. Not to be dissuaded, our group went for it.

Fortunately, it was solid ground as we waded through the mid-thigh-deep water and headed on down the trail on a perfect day. We turned on to the Sioux-Hustler trail from the portage and shortly discovered an extraordinarily large beaver dam. The beavers here had been hard at work for years to create this stunning piece of engineering.

This dam held back about four vertical feet of water. I checked out the different growth to be found in this wetland growing in the dam itself and discovered this pretty green leaf. It is called Sensitive Fern and is apparently named such for its sensitivity to cold temperatures. After tonight's predicted frost, these leaves will be some of the first to wilt and disappear.

Though this 100-foot long dam was constructed like all beaver dams in such a fashion that a person can walk on it, our group decided to turn back and investigate the other direction of the trail. Upon a high rock, we found these beautiful specimens of Gray Reindeer Lichen, sometimes called Caribou Lichen or Caribou Moss. It is named for its obvious resemblance to the antlers these animals sport through the summer months. It is also the primary source of food farther north for caribou in the winter. Caribou were once found occasionally in this corner of Minnesota. Now they are only very rarely found in a small portion of northwestern Minnesota, coming down occasionally from Canada.

These lichens probably took around 80 to 100 years to grow up to the eight-inch height we found. Lichens are a complex partnership of fungus and algae, and are pioneers in bare, rocky areas. They break down rock minerals with their lichenase acids, creating a small crack in the rock where water can freeze and ultimately create more cracks in the rock. This makes a place for the lichen to gain a foothold and thrive. Dust and dirt blow in, slowly creating organic build-up, and ultimately allowing more growth to eventually come in. As part of their assurance of success, the lichen dries out with the weather. During a dry spell, the fungal portion of the lichen thickens the walls and slows or shuts down the photosynthesis process to await a more friendly environment. This ensures that it can survive the extreme heat and cold of northern Minnesota. In the summer, after a dry spell, the slow-growing plants will crunch down into dust under weight, which is why our group stuck to the trail.

The group had a great time out on the water, paddling, portaging and exploring along the hiking trail. I only hope that I am that active and strong in my sixties. An inspiration to us all!

The Lovely Painted Lady

Greetings from this lovely Painted Lady butterfly living near Wood Lake in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness!

This beautiful butterfly may look familiar to you, and for good reason: they are quite common, even around the world. They migrate from Mexico all the way to Canada just below the Arctic circle and are also found around the globe, including Europe, Asia, and Africa. In fact, because of this multi-national policy, this butterfly has the nickname "Cosmopolitan." The only places the Painted Lady (Vanessa Cardui) is not found is Antarctica and Australia.

Unlike the Compton Tortoiseshell Butterfly, the Painted Lady lays one egg at a time, on the top of a plant leaf. Once the larva grows into a caterpillar, this animal loves to eat thistle. This gives it yet another name: the Thistle Butterfly. Like other butterflies, once well-fed, it wraps itself in silk, changes form, and emerges as the lovely butterfly we see in the summer here in northern Minnesota.