Fall Colors and Clouds Abound

For a season that started out looking like it would fly by quickly, this fall really has proven to be a colorful one. With the dry weather, it appeared that the leaves would turn early and fall quickly, but not so. We are seeing our peak color right now, and the landscape is a variety of yellows, oranges, changing greens, and some browns and reds. It is a visual treat. Despite the cloudy days, it is very bright out there.

Cloudy days seem to be the norm, ever since the day of the evacuation, two weeks ago. Those fires didn't stand a chance against Mother Nature's way of recent days. It has been cloudy, rainy, and much cooler than I remember last September to be. The forecast changes on a daily basis, and it seems that this period is so unsettled that it is hard to pinpoint and predict anything with hope of it even being close to reality. Despite the cooler temps, the lake trout haven't been cooperating enough to come in to shallower waters. Today is the end of the season for them, so they can all swim safely off to their spawning season. But watch out come this winter---there will be holes in the ice, and lines dropped ready for the trout to come along hungry!

It is officially moose hunting season, which happens in early October when the moose rut is on. I have only seen one moose lately myself. He was standing on the Trail, near the Poplar Lake Fire Hall. It happened that there was a large sandwich board sign on the road, indicating that the fire hall was the location for current fire information. The moose was standing right near it, calmly looking in both directions at the traffic (did his mother teach him that?), waiting to cross the road. Of course we didn't have our cameras with, but it was a fun sight to remember.

The other day, Paul was up collecting mail at our mailbox, when he heard an unusual snort. A few years ago, when we had a bear hanging around regularly, we learned that donkeys can make a rolling snort to scare away intruders. But this was a new sound, and it turned out to be Jethro. He was standing tall, with his ears pointed straight up. He was looking south of the pasture, which is uphill towards the ridge behind us. Paul looked, and sure enough, there was a moose standing at the edge of the septic field. He didn't see any antlers, so he figured that it must have been a cow. He came down to get us, and when we got up there, Jethro was still standing guard, and occasionally snorting. The moose was already gone, though, so we didn't get to see her. Moses was thrilled to see us all, and thought that we must have brought treats. He was oblivious to the moose, it seems. I guess since he has scared away bears, he doesn't think too much about moose.

We've been seeing several deer in the neighborhood as well as all along the trail. I brought Addie up to the end of the trail this morning, and there were a few sprinkled out along the trail, and then on the return trip, I saw two fork-horn bucks on the side road. It seems early for them to be hanging around, but I am guessing that that is who ate the last of my broccoli plants sometime in the past day. I'm really glad that they didn't find it any sooner this summer. Surprisingly, I was mostly pest-free in my gardening attempts.

One day last week, I went for a drive up to Thunder Bay with my good friend, Gerrie. It was a beautiful ride, and the leaves were in excellent form. The high hills around Grand Portage were a wonderful blend of yellows, oranges and deep greens from the coniferous trees. There are several rock outcroppings, views of some islands, and of course, the big lake, too. If you have not been up that way before, it is a good drive to take, no matter what the season. I find it to be yet another of the many faces of Minnesota, a state that has an incredible range of landscapes.

The word lately from Alaska is that there has been some snow falling in Fairbanks already. Robert was headed out today to get a couple of heaters for his truck, so that it will start for him in the cold and snowy months ahead. I'm glad that we still have fall to go through, because I am not yet ready to face snow. At least, not until the firewood is cut, split and stacked. That is next week's job---it's that time of the year.

A Look at our Fire Truck

Good Monday Morning! After a wonderful birthday party last night, I have the morning update on the Famine and Red Eye fires. The forest service reported that they have several new crews on the fire, from Wyoming, Texas, Michigan and Minnesota, of course. They will be able to do some air suppression, and they have crews on the ground who are starting to dig fire line around the perimeter of the fire. Someone asked if everything is under control. The reply was that the steps toward control are such: initial attack, containment, control, and finally, mop-up until it is out. Currently, the fire fighters are in the second phase, and they hope to have some numbers later today as to how much containment has been achieved. I think it is fair to say that while the fire itself is not under control, the response and work effort are definitely under control. Things are moving forward, the weather is cooperating, and life is moving along mostly as usual. That means that Paul and Addie Will have to continue their schoolwork today, unlike on Friday afternoon after the evacuation order was called!

Friday afternoon was a little strange. We had been having a wonderful time on an absolutely beautiful day, making pizza in the oven outside, when a Gunflint Lodge employee informed us that the evacuation had been called. We were puzzled, and turned on the radio, to hear the official order. You know that radio test of the emergency broadcast system? Well, we heard that, and then a recorded voice verified what Adam had already told us. I went to Birch cabin to let the folks know, and while we talked, I told them that I really didn't know what else to say, since I had never been evacuated before. They began to pack up, and I went back to the lodge to answer the phone and keep out of trouble, as my dad always says. Greg and Paul sprung into action, and immediately fired up our fire truck. They brought it down to the dock, and soon the pumps were running and Paul was spraying water on the trees and sauna. Addie was helping me in the store. When the sheriff came by, we had our first indication of exactly where the fire was burning, and it was then that I knew that we would be okay staying for the night. It was also at that point that we learned it was a cautionary, rather than a mandatory, evacuation. As our other guests came in off of the lake, we told them all that we had learned. Some of them decided to stay for the night, and others chose to leave. The largest factor we were dealing with then was the smoke, and most of those who left did so because of that.

By five, the evacuation/fire truck prep had quieted down. We gathered at the bread oven and started to make pizza in the oven again, for ourselves and guests for dinner. It was a great evening, too, as the smoke wasn't too thick, and the pizzas tasted great. One of the oddest parts, though, was the total quiet. We could hear the airplanes in the distant south, but there were no boats on the lake, and almost no road noise. When we heard a truck coming down the road, we were surprised. Turned out to be the Forest Service. Then our neighbors Tim and Mo came to bring us the produce cooler, and to join us for dinner. We sat out as the darkness fell, and it was a nice evening.

Greg is shown here testing the spray from the fire hose.

Well, now it is Monday evening, and I am finally getting back to finish this post. I can give you the evening update for the fire, too. The day was cool and drizzly, and many planes flew over our lodge. Each time I ran out with the camera, they went by too quickly. I'll try again tomorrow. The report tonight put the acreage for the Famine fire at 4044 acres, and the Red Eye fire at 1792 acres. The Famine fire is considered 5% contained. The good news continues. This week sounds like we will continue with cooler, wetter weather, but there may be a warm-up after that. We continue to be vigilant with our use of campfires and the bread oven, and we hope that everyone else out there is cautious, too.

I'm working towards answering my emails--thanks for writing to us! I should be able to answer in the next day or so.

The Missing Photos

Last night, the internet wouldn't let me post the other two pictures that I wrote about, so here they are today.

This is looking down the lake to the west on Friday afternoon.

And here is our beach, just a few moments later, as Greg, Paul and Addie came back home. In some directions, the sky was clear, and in others, it was definitely not.

Today it is again overcast, warm and humid. We haven't received any new reports yet, but when we do, I will post again.

The best thing about today is that it is Addie's 15th birthday. Happy, Happy Birthday, Addie! She told her Papa this morning that she is halfway to thirty! How's that for a startling thought at 7:30 a.m.? We will celebrate later today by taking a picnic to Addie's special birthday spot on the other side of the lake. We've been doing this since she was three, and through the years have taken some interesting presents over ahead of time. One year, she found a bicycle in the woods. Another year it was a fairy dollhouse. What will it be this year?

The forecast is taking a decided turn towards colder weather, according to the reports. The equinox is coming up in a few days, so I suppose it is time for fall to kick in to high gear.

Fire Update and maybe a picture

The weather cooperated today, by sending us a bit of rain, some higher humidity, and lighter winds. Although we haven't had any official words on it, I expect that the Famine Lake fire probably didn't move much further north. We heard lots of aircraft throughout the day, and guests who arrived to check in said that they saw water drops as they travelled up. The new incident command team is in place, and information and maps are making their way to us here on the south shore of Gunflint Lake. You can view much of this information, too, by visiting the MNICS website, at http://www.mnics.org, and clicking on the current fire information button.

I learned that one of the reasons that the evacuation was called yesterday was because if the wind had moved ten degrees more, the fire would have missed a swamp and headed into more favorable fuels. That would have caused it to burn hotter and faster, and with the wind, it easily could have pushed up to the Gunflint Trail. The fire moved quickly on Thursday, and with similar weather conditions on Friday, it was reasonable to assess that the fire was behaving in the same fashion as the previous day. The smoke was so thick, it was very difficult to see the front line of the fire. The sheriff felt it was necessary to call the voluntary evacuation, so that is what he did. It makes sense to act on the cautious side of things. When they were able to finally fly under the smoke column, they learned that the fire actually was still a good mile or so south of where they thought it was. That was a big relief. We're all very fortunate up here for the lucky breaks that we have gotten.

Some of our guests who checked in today were actually on a BWCA trip this week in the area that the fire was burning. On Thursday night, they were on Long Island Lake. They didn't really camp though. Instead, they spent the night watching the fire, as it had reached the south shore of the lake, approximately a half-mile from where they had stopped for the day. They were at a campsite, keeping an eye on the fire and taking turns snoozing a bit. The fire was at times an orange glow, other times they could see trees torching, and they said it was very loud. At about three in the morning, they decided that it would be better to be in a different location on the lake, because the fire seemed to be coming closer. So they loaded up their canoe and pushed off to go across to an island campsite instead. When they turned on their headlamps, they could see a white cone of smoke and ash in front of them. By morning, they had adjusted their travel plans, so that they came out at the Cross Bay entry point, near Round Lake. Although it was most certainly an interesting experience, they said that it was one that they would rather not repeat.

Now, for some pictures and an update as to what we were doing this past week: Thursday afternoon, Greg and I were on our way home from Duluth. I had heard that fires were burning in the area, due to lightning the week prior. I had been keeping up-to-date with them, mainly through radio reports. We were riding in the blue Toyota, which doesn't have a radio, so I was unable to hear any fire updates that day. But as we came up the trail, we could see smoke columns rising, so we knew that something had changed. As we passed the mid-Trail and Iron Lake areas, the smoke column cleared, but we could see another one up ahead, and we wondered if it could be something left over from the Cavity Lake fire. But as we approached Loon Lake, we saw that it was much closer than Seagull Lake. We stopped near the Schmidts' place, our good friends, whose driveway is pretty much straight south of our lodge. And we could see that the fire was straight south of where we were stopped. We took a couple of pictures, before heading the rest of the way home. When we got here, ash was falling from the sky.

An email told me that the smoke we were experiencing was from the Red-Eye fire. But we realized the next day that the two columns we saw were from the Red-Eye and from the Famine fires. And it was most likely the Famine fire that was sending the smoke our way. After the evacuation stuff took place, Greg and the kids went out on to Gunflint Lake, and they took some pictures from the north side of the lake. They could see lots of smoke in the sky above the ridge. Sometimes it would settle over us, and then other times it would blow on by. The lake looked like copper, much like it had the day the Cavity Lake fire had gone wild in July. The sun was glowing red, as it shone through the smoke. But for whatever reason, we happened to be smoke-free at that time, as shown by this picture of our beach, taken as they returned to this side of the lake. The smoke has been more prevalent than during the Cavity Lake fire. But then the wind will switch, it will all clear out, and once again I am smelling that sweet Northwoods air.

On a different note, some of the best news of the day was that Robert called us. He made it safely in to Fairbanks yesterday, found his good friend Ben, and is starting to settle in. He said that the drive from Eagle to Fairbanks went fine, and that it was very beautiful, thanks to lots of color change taking place up there. We told him of our excitement down here. I don't imagine that he is missing us too much yet, as he starts out on this exciting new adventure in his life. Greg has told me some good stories of his trip up there with Robert. Hopefully, those stories will soon make their way to this blog.

Famine and Red Eye Fires

Life here at Planet Heston's sure has been hopping lately! I have hopes of posting a longer note, with pictures of our current events, but for lack of time at the moment, this will be brief. As many of you have heard, we had thunderstorms a week ago, with lightning that has started some fires in our area. Specifically, two fires are currently burning near us, the Famine fire and the Red-Eye fire. The Famine fire is closer, about four to four and a half miles south of us. The fires are within the BWCA, and are not burning in blowdown. We haven't had much rain, unfortunately, so conditions are dry.

The Famine fire is directly south of us, and on Thursday it made a strong move to the north, due to south winds blowing. On Friday, the fire didn't really move much, but the smoke made it look like it was closer to the trail than it actually was. Since the fire had pretty much stalled on its own, the firefighting aircraft concentrated their efforts on the Red-Eye Lake fire to the east. Later, they were able to put a lot of water on the Famine Lake fire, and that helped to slow down the front line.

Today, we are expecting cooler temperatures and higher relative humidity levels, conditions that are much more favorable for slow fire growth and increased fire-fighting efforts. Rain is predicted over the next few days also, so we are keeping our fingers crossed that it arrives soon.

Yesterday, the sheriff issued a precautionary evacuation. The area that this covered extended from the west side of Iron Lake to the Gunflint Narrows Road, which goes in towards the Gunflint/Magnetic narrows. This evacuation was called in the event that if the fire had reached the Gunflint Trail, then it would not be possible to leave should someone choose to do so. All other areas of the Trail remained open. People who were travelling on the trail at that time were stopped, and if they were residents or if they had reservations at a lodge, they were allowed to proceed. This was a voluntary evacuation, and some of our guests chose to leave at that time. We stayed, as did some of our other cabin guests.

This morning, it is cloudy, and hazy across the lake. We are hearing some aircraft, and so we know that they are once again working on the fire. If you have plans up the Trail, we recommend that you call ahead for conditions, and then make decisions based on what you are learning from the people who live here. I will post more later on today, including some pictures, but for now I have to go clean cabins. I just heard that the local radio station, WTIP, will have a fire update at noon today. If you read this before then, you can go to http://www.wtip.org and click on the dancing moose to webstream. Then you can hear the information live. Greg is at the daily briefing as I type, so he will have information from that, which I will summarize also.

Thank you for your calls, and for checking in with us via the blog. We really appreciate all of the support. Talk to you soon!

Colorful Days, Cooler Nights

Last spring, I remember saying more than once that everything seemed to be happening about two weeks early. Should I be surprised then that the leaves are also now turning early? We are not to the peak of color yet, but I definitely see change on the Canadian side of the lake sooner than I did last year. Most of the underbrush is bright with color: yellow grasses, golden bracken fern, bright orange on our moose maples. The New England asters are a shade of light purple, which contrasts well with the other colors. The birch and aspen are just beginning to show some change. And to go with all of that, the sky today is a lovely blue. We have defiinitely turned the corner into fall, as the night temperatures are down in the forties. The days warm up to the fifties and sixties, as long as the sun is shining, but once it goes down, things cool fast.

Despite the cooler times, my tomatoes are still very green. They are just cherry tomato plants, but I am surprised that most don't want to start to show even some orange color on them. At this rate, I will be picking green tomatoes to bring in and wrap in newspaper. I did finally get a small flower on one of my eggplants, but the warm weather that it needs is a thing of the past. It was a fun experiment nonetheless. The basil was prolific, and I have picked it to put up into pesto, for a small burst of summer flavor once winter has set in. We had patchy frost on Friday night---I noticed some on the dock and on the roof of the studio cabin. None of the plants got hit, but certainly that could happen almost any time.

The fishing should pick up for trout, now that the nights are colder. I've been told that they are seeing many on the depth-finders, but the fish are unwilling to bite. The bass, on the other hand, are still biting and still fighting. No sign of walleyes since mid-July. Where do they go?

With Greg in Alaska, the donkeys are depending on me and Paul and Addie to answer their calls for room service. Moses won't usually sing for me, like he will for Greg, but ever since he started receiving oats as a supplement to the hay, he will call for me twice a day. Addie fed both Moses and Jethro one evening, shortly after Greg left, but she didn't know about the plan to feed Moses his oats, too. By nine that evening, he was singing to me, and I figured out that it was because he was expecting something. I find it funny that a donkey can learn something so quickly as he has. On sunny days like today, he is sitting up in the pasture, soaking up sunshine. Life isn't too tough, I guess.

After six days of driving, Robert and Greg pulled in to Alaska on Wednesday night. They had several days where they chose to drive five hundred miles or more. Once they got to British Columbia, they slowed down a bit, so as to enjoy the scenery and to do some hiking. They called one evening after spending several hours on a hike up to a glacier. They never did reach the glacier before it was time to turn around and come back down, but they really enjoyed the trek. They drove up through the Yukon Territory, visiting areas that Greg had been through twenty years earlier with his good friend Art. The fall colors are at peak there right now, and Greg has been taking many pictures.

Tomorrow, Greg flies out to Fairbanks, and Robert will stay behind in Eagle, to join the kids and teachers there for a trip down the Yukon River to an old mining camp. They will learn some history, do some exploring, tour the dredge, and do some water sampling. He is having a great time meeting up with the friends that he and Paul and Addie have made up there in this last year. After the trip, he will load his truck and make the drive to Fairbanks, to join up with his good friend Ben. Soon the snow will start to fall in those areas of Alaska, and he needs to drive out soon, or he won't be taking his truck with him!

The bread oven is still going, at least once a week. Fresh ciabatta and wood-fired pizza are always on the menu. It all tastes even better because we eat it outside.