A Little History...

There are designated sites for camping in the BWCA.

Thanksgiving Drama - Part 1

One of the most unique aspects of living on the Gunflint Trail is the opportunity to observe animals interacting with each other in their natural surroundings. Sometimes the ending does not fit in with our preconceived ideas. At other times we don’t even know what the ending is. Everyone who ate Thanksgiving dinner at the lodge last year (1996) experienced this first hand.

Each Thanksgiving Gunflint serves a big buffet dinner in the afternoon. The menu is advertised to our guests and the general public. About 100-150 people will come for the dinner. A buffet line is set up in the main room of the lodge. As guests go through the line, they can also look out the picture windows over Gunflint Lake.

Each Thanksgiving Gunflint serves a big buffet dinner in the afternoon. The menu is advertised to our guests and the general public. About 100-150 people will come for the dinner. A buffet line is set up in the main room of the lodge. As guests go through the line, they can also look out the picture windows over Gunflint Lake.

Last year the south shore of Gunflint was frozen about a quarter of a mile out from the shore. The north part of the lake was still open water. Just west of the lodge is a point of land that extends eastward into the lake. It’s called the Summer Home Point because the bay it creates is filled with some of the first summer homes on the lake. The point is clearly visible from the picture windows in the main lodge about 3/8’s mile away. This point had ice coming out around it for about a hundred feet.

All the ice was new ice having just formed during the previous couple of nights. It was strong but not very thick until the ice got close to shore. During the clear still nights ahead this ice will extend until the entire lake is covered with it.

About 3:00 in the afternoon, we were right in the middle of the dinner service. Bruce was carving on the buffet line. I was the hostess and Ron was supervising in the kitchen. One of the guests looked across the lake towards the Summer Home Point. Some movement on the ice caught his eye. It was just far enough away so that no one could really see what was going on. Finally someone brought out a pair of binoculars. Using them we were able to see that some animal was struggling to get on top of the ice. As the animal tried to get its front feet on the ice, the ice would break. Each attempt made a longer channel of broken ice to towards the point. The animal appeared to be a moose.

After a very few minutes, everyone eating dinner was aware of the drama going on out the window. Most of us could hardly stop watching. After carving for someone, Bruce would turn around a watch across the ice. I came over to the windows when there weren’t any guests to seat. The wait staff kept glancing in that direction. News of the drama spread. Ron and his staff wandered out to see what was going on. Bruce’s mother, Justine, was called to come down with her binoculars. Of course, we were all cheering this moose on.

The moose would make two or three lunges and then stop as if to catch its breath. Each time it stopped we would all hold our breath. When the animal started moving again, you could feel the release of tension in the room.

As Justine came in, people who knew her wanted to know if she had every seen anything like this. She hadn’t and was just as captivated by the drama as the rest of us. Pretty soon we had her sitting at a table in the lounge discussing the situation. Justine had a few stories to share about other animal experiences she had had or had heard of.

Read Part 2...