Black's Cliff Birch Bark Blog

Excerpt: Many guests have taken the time to do the Northwoods Zip Line in Minocqua. The Ament family had not done it yet but it was on Jaimie's Mother's Day bucket list of things to do with the family. Charlie and Noah were ready to go with mom. Nathan and Jamie had zip lined in Mexico and wanted to do... Read more

Excerpt: First for the pretty picture of the day. Katie, my sister, took this picture of Clear Lake in Woodruff on the Raven Trail. If you have not hiked the Raven Trail or stopped at the Clear Lake beach you are missing something. I wish our beach was like the Clear Lake Beach. Kudos to Katie for the great picture... Read more

Excerpt: The sun finally came out today after quite a few days of rain. While it was raining we finally had time to finish off our maple syrup. We came out with our biggest year of about 6 gallons of syrup. At 32 to 1 ratio that is a lot of buckets of sap boiled down. Finally all the cabin... Read more

Excerpt: There is definitely something missing as you drive through our gate... It will look like this for a few weeks before it goes back together repainted The new poles for the triangle. The old ones had rotted through. Steve made sure these were completely dry before staining. The Raccoon in the middle is getting an overhaul and facelift before... Read more

Excerpt: It was a beautiful weekend at the resort for campfires. I have to say that the above picture is only allowed if you are over 80 and our wood chairs are too hard for old muscles. The lady in the chair was sitting on the porch instead of joining her family by the fire due to her sore muscles... Read more

Excerpt: The lake has finally just about completely gone out. By weekend we are supposed to be 70 degrees. We have several cabins open at low spring rates if you want to come up starting at 125/night. Give a call if interested 715 356 3018. I took this picture the other day before our snow melted. Steve cutting the boards... Read more

Excerpt: The lake froze back over last night and we got 5 inches of snow. By next weekend we are supposed to be almost 70 degrees and we can't wait! Swimming area once again a sheet of ice temporarily While it is cold outside we are boiling down 1/2 of our sap today into maple syrup. We expect the trees... Read more

Excerpt: More of that white stuff came down the last couple of days. It is pretty in October, November, December, January and February but today...... not so much..... Happily it should be melting by this weekend No docks are going in when it is this cold. Summer soon? With the white stuff outside in the late afternoons I have been... Read more

Excerpt: The lake is slowly... slowly getting darker and darker Cliff sinking deeper and deeper into the ice. Temps are dipping back down on Wednesday for awhile so his plunge is going to take a little longer Boats will be floating soon In the meantime the guys have been working on the new dock pallets. I hear there is a... Read more

Excerpt: I took this picture of Cliff this morning and did not think today would be the day. Usually the ice goes out more but..... Warm sun today and I looked over the hill at 2pm and Cliff had disappeared. So the official day of sinking in March 29th. Jimmy and Tommy Cikowski brothers picked March 29 and March 31st... Read more

Excerpt: Warm day in the Northwoods. Cliff is feeling the melting going on under his feet. What day will he sink is the question? Warm weather has the maple trees running full time. We had to pull out our outside evaporation pan and get it boiling over a fire to keep up with the trees. Nice thing is the fire... Read more