Wildersmith on the Gunflint: June 24

              
Breaking news on the Gunflint! The historic Gunflint Lodge has new owners! After nearly 90 years of Kerfoot Family hospitality, the reins have been turned over to another family.  From Justine and her mother, to son Bruce and his family, the iconic resort operation has been one of the premier north woods vacation spots in the country for going on nine decades. Through good times and some not so good, the business remains standing tall like the surrounding white pines, boosting and reflecting the spirit of life gone by in wilderness America.   
                                                                 
The Gunflint Community thanks the Kerfoots, both Bruce and Sue, for their never ending contributions to our territory, wishing them the best in their long sought quest for retirement. At the same time, upper Trail residents welcome the Fredrikson family, John, Mindy and son, to the great border country, wishing them well in their new venture, with many “happy” Gunflint Trails!   
                                                                                                                                                     
Mother Nature has pulled the plug on homemade air conditioning since we last met on the radio. Summer has warmed considerably (well into the 70s), making me and the moose cringe in the jungle-like humidity. Although this neighborhood has not experienced the hot misery of most places around the country, for me and my Alces Alces friends, anything above 55 to 60 has us heading in haste to cool lake waters. Guess the danger of frost can be forgotten for the time being, and all planting should be safe.     
                                                                  
At the time of this Gunflint scooping, we’ve been on the dry side. Less than a quarter inch has fallen at Wildersmith over the past days making for a new beginning of dust build-up on back country roads.                                                                                                        
As fate would have it, rain did come to the area late last Sunday, but accompanied by high winds and hail in isolated places. The horrendous winds (60 to 70 mph, I’m told) brought back memories of the tragic July 4 in 1999, when a derecho demolished over 300K pristine northern wilderness acres.                                                                                                                                               
Although this occurrence did not display the violence of the 1999 version, it nevertheless did a job on countless trees in several Trail locales, along with death and injury, power and fiber outages. I have not heard of any building damages yet, but folks will be spending the next few days to weeks clearing up blowdown remnants. The Wildersmith neighborhood was, as in ’99, once again hit hard during this violent weather episode.   
                             
Something magical can catch one’s attention most anytime in this neck of the woods. Many times it can be a situation that has gone on for eons, but is either taken for granted, or never fully grasped until just the right moment for the observer. Such was the case for yours truly one cool morning prior to this sudden summer turn on.  
 
Recently, in the immediate time after sun-up, beams of brightness began to glisten through the forest. It was one of those rays streaming through the cedar trees that caught my eye. The focus getting my attention was a swarm of unknown winged insects hovering right in the midst of this golden shaft. Not giving the view much thought, a glance away, and then looking again later, I found the collection of buzzers in the same proximity. Giving a closer look for an extended period of time, they just hung in the area suspended, how strange I thought.         
              
Duh, finally, it dawned on me. They were not gathering in the attack mode, but simply bathing in the warmth of a new day, following a cold night. As the solar radiance moved with changing trajectory, these little critters followed right along until out of sight. It was just another interesting view of nature in the Gunflint world around us!                                                                                   
More North Country magic has been noted by a local fishing guide. Bear sightings are not too uncommon, but this one, as reported, found a momma and her family crossing the Trail out this way. The noteworthy detail of the bear trek was four little fur balls scrambling to keep up with her. Bears can be like pigs and sometimes can have a litter, but we seldom see more than two or three cubs, so this happening is surely interesting. I’m betting this “momma bear” was glad to see warm weather so she could get out of the birthing den. I suppose dinner time was a mad scramble with a lot of pushing and shoving for several months.    
                                                                
One more critter tale finds folks living along the Mile O Pine have sign of a mystery moose. The phantom creature has not been observed except occasionally, down in Gunflint’s “dog ear” Bay. But any number of us have seen tracks along the road. Leaving less than dainty hoof prints, the ghostly icon definitely leaves a trace.                                                                                                                       
This is Fred Smith, on the Trail, at Wildersmith, busy picking up after last weekend's wind/rain episode.