The heat has become much more tolerable in the past few days. It is actually dipping into the 50s overnight and the mornings are brisk until the sun gets up higher. What a difference from the heat wave last week. We had to put a window air conditioner in so we could sleep at night. In all the nights I have spent on the Gunflint Trail, not one of them has been in an air-conditioned room and now I will need one every summer. Even if it is only for a couple of weeks.
There have been a couple of small fawns playing with their mom in the Sea Gull Lake area. They are very agile for their size but they like to sprint down the Gunflint Trail for a while before picking a spot to enter the woods. I hope they break that habit soon or they are going to get crunched because there is a lot of traffic up here these days. They are pretty darn cute and look just like Bambi with the little white spots and clumsy legs.
The deer are not the only wildlife along the Gunflint Trail these days. It is blueberry time and the pickers are everywhere. The cars are parked along the road and people are harvesting them as we speak.
The raspberries are looking pretty close to perfect right now as well and we have our own little patch in the yard, but I always forget exactly where they are until they show berries. That is why we do not pick berries below the waistline.
Fortunately my wife enjoys picking berries because I do not have the time or patience for such a thing. I love to eat them, but more end up in my mouth than the pail.
This is also peak season for the resorts, outfitters, and pretty much every business up here so there is not a lot of socializing happening these days. You can actually see the strain on people’s faces. Work, work, work.
I have had to take two naps while writing this column. You might be saying the same thing about reading it. Sometimes I ask my wife if she would be willing to write my column for me because I am just too tired. So far she has respectfully declined, or has she? Maybe she is writing this one?
It is a unique place we live in with a short window to make money. Half-speed winters turn into full-speed summers without much warning and little time to adjust. I prefer this type of mixture but sometimes it is hard to think straight come August. Everything seems to get behind schedule and there are never enough hours in the day to accomplish what you want to. I used to be confused about why many of the locals preferred winter to summer, but it does not take too many winters to figure it out. Ten and 12-hour days will beat you down quickly in the summer when the days are longer. In the winter months the daylight quits around 5:00 p.m. and so do I.
Cory Christianson has worked as a fishing guide on the Gunflint Trail since 2000. If you have any fishing or wildlife reports or stories to share, send an email to: christiansoncory@hotmail.com or call 218- 388-0315. You can also visit Cory’s website at Gunflintfishingguide.com.
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