The unseasonable days of warm are officially over. Temperatures have been in the lower twenties after dark and peaking at just above freezing during the day. Very few lakes have been showing any significant ice yet, but the Cross River at the west end of Gunflint Lake is slowly building some frozen shorelines. A few people have said this is the latest they have seen open water in many years.
Every November the Gunflint Trail becomes deserted as many lodge owners and employees take a welldeserved vacation. It is funny how you seem to see the same five or six people every day for the next two months. Everyone else is gone.
If you do not hunt, there is pretty close to nothing going on up here. Sleet, flurries, high winds and dangerous driving conditions are about all we have to offer right now.
Even wildlife seems to have disappeared, but that could also be from the hunting pressure. I have not seen any deer or moose in weeks and the few hunting reports I have heard sound the same. A few smaller bucks have been taken, but slim pick’n’s for sure. I guess I picked a good year to put off hunting.
Ice is starting to form on Cook County lakes. Dennis and Mickey Chick enjoyed a hike to Spen Lake, near Hungry Jack Lake on Thanksgiving weekend. Hungry Jack has also started freezing.
There are very few profitable positions available on the Gunflint Trail, especially during the winter months, so I usually end up doing construction of some sort. I enjoy this work but the elements can get the best of you in short time. Thecold is not as big of a problem as you might think—unless it is moving at twenty miles per hour. Staring at face-stinging breezes while hanging off of a ladder will test even the strongest of carpenters.
Last winter I was fortunate enough to work for myself on our house. This winter I will be working for someone else. Self-employment can sure spoil a guy. No more hitting the “snooze” button every morning, but it is a lot more fun to work with a crew again. I would get a little stir crazy pounding nails with nobody to talk to all day long. Even my friends quit stopping by since there was always something I needed help with.
I would tell them all the same thing, “Feel free to come by anytime as long as you bring beer and your hammer.” But it never seemed to catch on.
Truth be told, we have had more volunteer help than a person would ever feel comfortable asking for. The Trail is riddled with many generous souls that would do anything to help out a neighbor, and they do not wait for you to ask for it.
Cory Christianson, a 2000 graduate
of the University of Iowa,
has worked as a fishing guide
on the Gunflint Trail for nine
years. If you have any fishing
reports or stories to share, send
an email to: christiansoncory@
hotmail.com or call 218-388-
0315
Leave a Reply