Growing up on the Gunflint Trail gave Bruce Kerfoot (second from left) plenty of opportunities to fulfill the requirements for badges with the Boy Scouts. He continued being involved in Scouting as an adult, despite being busy running Gunflint Lodge.
Gunflint Lodge has been sold to John and Mindy Fredrikson and as the new family settles in, the News-Herald talked to Bruce Kerfoot, son of the iconic Justine Kerfoot of Gunflint Lodge.
Justine and her husband Bill’s story is well known, but their son Bruce, who has guided and grown the resort throughout his life, also has his story, and here is a small piece of it, shared with the News-Herald on one of his last days as the owner of Gunflint Lodge.
Running a lodge means you also get to be a carpenter, dirt worker, stone mason, painter, plumber, electrician, and general problem solver. You were also a long time (and still) Boy Scout leader and member of various boards. How have you maintained such a busy, productive schedule? Do you ever sleep?
I guess I spin my wheels and have gotten involved in all kinds of things. It has only worked with the support of Sue, since at times she has had to hold down the fort and run the place alone while I was traveling.
Bruce and Sue Kerfoot look forward to having time to travel now that they are retired. There will likely be some walleye fishing in the future as well.
I found that by being involved I could get the feel and pulse of our industry and see what was coming down the pike. I belong to a couple of power groups (one Minnesota group and one national group) and we all share a wealth of knowledge with each other.
Eventually I worked up into leadership positions in a couple of other groups, and that put more pressure on how many hours a day I could be productive.
Among my more challenging commitments was being the president of the National Association of Canoe Liveries and Outfitters for four years, and the two years that I was one of the leaders in the 1970s BWCA fight. Both those assignments took me away from home for many trips, which Sue had to cover for.
Do today’s guests want more amenities (Wi-Fi, TV, etc.) than guests years ago?
A few years ago we finally got our arms around what our offering was all about. We figured out that we were offering environmental recreation, which was quite different than the social recreation in Brainerd.
With that focus we did not have to compete with the golf courses, pools, etc. We have chosen to lead the pack in expanding into new activity areas. We had the first naturalist in any northern Minnesota resort, the first all inclusive package vacations, the first stable, the first canopy tour, etc.
We let go of our fly-in camps because of the growing difficulties of working across the border, and we had to drop our bus and plane charters because of the changing regulations on recreational use on our lakes and lands.
For Wi-Fi, we tried using satellite reception but that was not acceptable to our guests, and the new fiber optic system has come just in the nick of time, as now our guests demand good dependable reception.
So you couldn’t have done all of this without Sue’s help. What has she meant to Gunflint Lodge and to you?
It has been a partnership from the beginning. She had a huge jump initially, coming from the Chicago area, and moving into an area and lifestyle that was very primitive. We have had our challenges naturally (tight financial years, we lost our first born son, and her bout with cancer) but we are very much looking forward to the coming years in the pasture.
We will get refreshed with our skills as part of the National Disaster Relief Team of the Red Cross, we have some more travel destinations on our bucket list, and we have a huge garden.
And we will attempt to thin the walleye population in Tucker Lake.
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