Black's Cliff Birch Bark Blog

Excerpt: -22 degrees this morning for Cliff's 2nd day at the lake. He was looking a bit frosty this morning. No melting yet. Being so cold out the guys have been busy on a few indoor projects. They installed these old windows from Norway Pines in the downstairs bedroom of Bear Den. We were thinking this would open up the... Read more

Excerpt: It is the beginning of March and time for Cliff to come out of the closet and head to the lake for Ice Out 2015. You could almost hear his thoughts looking out at the lake sitting in his chair. After 2 very late ice outs the last couple of years, Cliff is ready for a shorter sit this... Read more

Excerpt: It was a beautiful weekend in the woods with fresh snow. Saturday warmed up enough to enjoy the outside Even Mack pried himself away from the woodstove to head to the lake Troy headed to the lake for I think his final time snowblowing the rink off. After this we might let it go to nature Mack agrees The... Read more

Excerpt: http://fox6now.com/2015/02/24/frozen-once-again-apostle-islands-ice-caves-could-open-this-weekend/ Check out the above link for article about the ice caves on the Apostle Islands possibly opening up this weekend. They are deciding today if they are opening. They only open for a short period of time when it is completely safe to go out to them. Last year was one of the longest years they were open. Before... Read more

Excerpt: Great time of year to come up. We start out lower spring rates this coming weekend starting at 125/night. The snow is still here and more on the way on Tuesday. Ski trails in good shape. We skied the Madeline trail on Saturday, great conditions! We had other folks up snowmobiling. This crew is snowmobiling all week and reporting... Read more

Excerpt: It was a cold, but fun weekend in the Northwoods. Jake brought the Lawrence University x-country ski team to the resort for their 2nd year of skiing Winter Park. This group will all be skiing the Birkie next weekend in Hayward. Good luck to all and see you next year! They skied til they dropped at Winter Park. But... Read more

Excerpt: Cold sunrise at minus 20 and a minus 30 wind chill but we still had school. Just had to remind teens that you let a car warm up before taking off in this cold. Mack is set for the cold. Always cracks me up how thick of fur he grows about this time of the winter. His paws look... Read more

Excerpt: My brother in law, Bryon took this picture of wind across Lake Minocqua this morning at -27 wind chill Burrrr..... I borrowed his picture so my fingers would not have to suffer going out and taking a pic. Thanks Bryon! Warming up later in the week, but today it is time to stay home and sit by the woodstove... Read more

Excerpt: Big flakes came down blanketing the resort in a fresh layer of snow. Cold is to follow. It got us to go to town and do some shopping At one of the antique stores I found this nice pair of green oars. I am always looking for fresh oars to add into out large supply of oars. Oars last... Read more

Excerpt: Pretty quiet at the resort today. This Pileated Wood Pecker came to visit us at lunch. They are the biggest woodpecker we have. You can usually hear them drumming on the trees. They are not around the resort much when guests are around. We usually only see them when it is quiet. There is more snow on the way... Read more

Excerpt: Perfect for Valentines if you are tired of giving candy and flowers, how about socks. I can ship a pair for 3 dollars and anything over that for usually 5 dollars for what will fit in a priority bag at the post office. Above picture is my shoe size 6 - 7 no wools. The bright pink pair and... Read more

Excerpt: Cold temps have kept out snow in good shape. All trails in the area are reporting good conditions. Some fresh snow would easily bump them to excellent conditions if Mother Nature would cooperate Cold temps have the guys working on a few indoor/outdoor projects Steve is working on getting a new/old bathroom door up in the office. Those who... Read more

Excerpt: The hockey sticks are calling to be used for another game. There is a birthday party of 11 year olds with Max and Sam, my nephews coming over to stay in Muskie. Hockey is on their list of things to do with their friends while at the resort. They have never had a sleep over cabin time with friends... Read more

Excerpt: We had another light snow fall today. About 2 inches of fresh snow. After the warm temps it was good to get a fresh snowfall. This will especially help the ski trails. Under this pile of snow is next summer's firepit wood Fresh snow in the balsams, always pretty ... Read more

Excerpt: Mack's snow report this morning Snow was slowly adding up and now with 5 inches of snow coming in last night and today it is time to enjoy the snow For some of us enjoying the snow means shoveling off the gator and plowing Don't let him fool you that he only works in the snow. He is known... Read more

Excerpt: Warm temps got the guys out cutting wood. It was in the upper 20's and lower 30's which is perfect wood cutting weather They got started on next summer's wood. the wood supply is slowly building back up on the left side of the shed The right side of the shed has been slowly depleted. There seems to be... Read more

Excerpt: Winter has settled in. Nobody else in the midwest has snow I am hearing except for Northern Wisconsin and Northern Minnesota. We have snow and trails are in good shape. This is the beginning of our snow shoe trail across from the resort. Trail is beat down for guests. We could use snow to make it more of a... Read more

Excerpt: It was a beautiful 30 degree morning at the lake today. Nice temps to get down and enjoy a walk on the lake Or a little boot hockey Following the trail of others is usually my rule of thumb about walking on the lake Stretching the legs..... walking along... looking up at Shamrock and Kaubashine... Hmm... trail is getting... Read more

Excerpt: The snow is piling up here. Hard to believe just to our south folks have no snow. You need snow we have it. Holiday's picnic table full of snow. I have 3 cabins left this weekend give a call I had a nice group of UW Madison students at the resort this week enjoying the ice skating rink. Hockey... Read more

Excerpt: It was a beautiful weekend for skiing. When temps get in the upper 20's to low 30's even Troy and I get the itch to ski. We headed over to McNaughton trail 15 min from the resort to do the blue trail. We have skied this and biked it. One of the most harrowing days of skiing I have... Read more