Black's Cliff Birch Bark Blog

Excerpt: It is cold outside and I have not been taking pictures because.... it is cold outside. Time to think about summer and the warm up this weekend to the 30's which will feel like a heat wave. Not long from now summer will be here and the question of how many people can get on the raft will once... Read more

Excerpt: Lets just say it was cold this morning. We did have school though which was an improvement from yesterday. Christmas vacation got extended one day with minus 40 wind chills. We are expecting more of the same tomorrow morning before it starts to warm up towards the weekend. Only casualty of the cold so far is two broken door... Read more

Excerpt: 5 to 6 more inches of snow. Time to come up and play and enjoy the Northwoods. We have cabins still open all week call for details. Troy is cleaning off the rink today and starting to flood it over night so the ice will be smoother. Snowshoe trail is ready to be tramped on. Winter Park is open... Read more

Excerpt: Clear skies and snow in the trees. Looking up is amazing the last 2 days. More snow in the forecast for light snows New Years and www.johndee.com is hinting at more than a little on January 3rd. Right now we are booked for New Years. We have 4 cabins open starting on January 2nd and 2 more open on... Read more

Excerpt: Craig is having a fun week! It started with a deal he could not pass up on a new bowling alley for the office. He has spent 2 years trying to get our old 50's bowling alley to fully work. Many folks have seen it in the office sadly sitting quiet. After sitting for 20 years not used our... Read more

Excerpt: Sunday 4pm the snow was starting to blow again. I experimented with taking some video below. I am new to video and uploading it. Let me know if it is not working for you reservations@blackscliff.com I think I will do more video once in awhile if everyone enjoys it IMG_6113 IMG_6114 IMG_6115... Read more

Excerpt: Troy got a Christmas present this year, a snow blower. Every year we have hand shoveled the rink off and left shovels for guests to help keep it cleaned off. It was time for an upgrade. This is one happy guy with his snowblower Enjoying his peace and quiet out on the lake by himself New snow in the... Read more

Excerpt: Very happy to report after rain yesterday we got snow! So far we got a fresh inch and a half or so. We are supposed to pick up another inch or 2 beyond that through tomorrow. It looks a lot more like Christmas around here Birchwood in the fresh snow I took this same picture yesterday in the fog... Read more

Excerpt: The birdhouse snow report. It snowed all day yesterday off and on. It is supposed to flurry a bit today as well. Next week looks great for snow lovers. Check out www.johndee.com for his snow report. I think it is going to be a great Christmas to New Years for playing in the snow. Winter Park ski area made... Read more

Excerpt: We are waiting for more snow to come in, it is supposed to start Sunday and snow on and off all week. I have heard many different snow total amounts and will wait to see what happens. Either way it will be a very white Christmas in the Northwoods this year. Time to come play in the snow. I... Read more

Excerpt: I headed out on the snowmobile lake entrance to take some pics of the frosty trees. Tom at Hilltop just marked the trail this week across the lake. A few sleds have crossed It was beautiful to look back at the trees covered in frost Truck was parked along the snowy road and time to head back off the... Read more

Excerpt: Since Thanksgiving we have been busy decking the halls and getting the first Christmas decorations up. Black Friday means only one thing in our family, not shopping, but tree lighting. Troy and I spend most of Black Friday untangling lights, hunting down extension cords, splitters and more lights. We ended up lighting up 16 outside trees this year, with... Read more

Excerpt: This picture is the front of the new 2015 Black's Cliff Calendar. I had to do it a little differently this year. For some reason my computer and Walgreens did not communicate well. After spending 6 months with customer service calls and reloads and frustration I gave up. This year I am using MixBook. I can share the calendar... Read more

Excerpt: I get asked quite often, how much snow is there in the woods? We were out gathering boughs for our Christmas wreathes and there was enough for Troy to put his snow pants on and enough snow hanging on trees that he got a snow shower while gathering boughs. Loading up the truck with balsam and headed to Muskie... Read more

Excerpt: It was a frosty day. For those in the south starved for some pics of snow we have it still up north Kind of quiet the next week with folks getting ready for Christmas. The cabins are quiet but that will not last long.... Kaubashine and Shamrock this morning. I am hoping our warm up is not too bad... Read more

Excerpt: When the resort quiets down in the offseason the deer get a little bolder. This one came walking past our house during the Packer Game on Sunday at twilight. I almost thought she was going to go down the beach steps. The deer have been coming in for acorns and eating our pumpkins Deer Hunters start arriving on Friday... Read more

Excerpt: Nothing is as exciting as the day the new septic gets installed. Craig is in Arizona and believe me he wishes he was here. Something about digging up and old tank and ripping up lots of the yard gets the blood pumping with excitement in the Black Family. I just look at it as a 10,000 dollar bill in... Read more

Excerpt: Winter Park is opening for Thanksgiving Weekend. Here is info for anyone that is interested. 2 cabins left for Thanksgiving. Just bring your blaze orange is going skiing. We are thankful for our trails and guests...and we miss you already Before our full chalet & trails opening on Monday, December 1, Winter Park will open for another special session of... Read more

Excerpt: Deer Camp 2014 arrived this weekend. We had 5 groups of hunters at the resort. Most of them regulars. Over the years they have established their spots in our 120 acres we have in addition to the resort. With the restrictions on doe hunting this year it was a lean year for hunting. We did have one of our... Read more

Excerpt: Winter has arrived a little early. The fire pits are all set but you have to be quite hearty to sit and enjoy a fire, but if you bring something along... The best way to keep yourself warm by a fire in the winter. Only thing is you need more thing.. Your best friends. The warmth of some whiskey... Read more