2/24/07 - Finally! On Wednesday evening, the first substantial snow of 2007 began to fall. Overnight, Sawbill received about 7" of nice, fluffy snow. What started out as inconvenient heavy, wet snow ended being this winter's long overdue first ski in the woods. Even better, the forecast is calling for more snow over the weekend.

Bill recently bought a long-track, wide-track SkiDoo Skandic for grooming the ski trail through the campground and surrounding woods. Having only been on a snowmobile once before, when I was too young to really even remember, I asked to go along on the first grooming run.

Frosty and Bill set out on the new snow machine. Frosty got kicked off about 5 minutes later, because steering became too difficult pulling two people and the groomer. Frosty claims he'd rather ski anyway; it's less noisy and you don't smell like snowmobile exhaust after you're finished.

Jessa gives her ski-of-approval on the freshly groomed trail. Conditions were superb: fast, sunny, and warm.

The wind has been howling and gusting all day, hopefully blowing some more snow our way.

Four to six-foot waves have been crashing into Tofte's Bluefin Bay all day.

Breaking waves in Bluefin Bay

2/15/07 - We are still in the midst of a very persistent stretch of cold weather. Every morning is near -20, and the days are just in the single digits. It has been very sunny and cheerful though.

Sawbill Lake shines in the early morning at -23 degrees.

Cindy had a great wolf sighting on the Sawbill Trail a couple of days ago. It was fairly windy and she came around a corner in the car from the downwind side, so the wolf didn't notice her for awhile. She said the wolf looked very healthy and bushy. When it did notice her, it ambled off into the woods, without showing much alarm.

The same day, I was at a meeting in the clubhouse at the Superior National Golf Course in Lutsen. In the middle of the meeting, I glanced out the window and saw a beautiful wolf strolling across the practice green. Three more wolves appeared and the meeting stopped cold as we watched the foursome head off toward the front nine. - Bill

We are often asked what we do in the winter. When it's really cold, cabin fever can develop and scenes like this can happen. This is actually Cindy's book club visiting Sawbill a few days ago.

2/7/07 - It has been cold here lately. Actually, these are fairly normal temperatures for this time of year, but we had become acclimated to the warmer temperatures during December and January. Now, we have acclimated the other way. Cindy commented this morning that it felt warm outside because it was "only" ten below and breezy.

We are still short of snow, but have a solid foot on the ground. Travel on the lakes remains almost perfect - as long as you bundle up. - Bill

The digital thermometer records a chilly morning recently.