Gunflint Green Up Weekend

The stately looking front lawn at the Main Lodge is really starting to green up fast with all the rain that we keep getting. Our front lawn is one of the first to green in the county as it receives about 8 hours a day of direct sunlight. The rain keeps feeding the creeks and rivers and they just keep rising and flowing with even greater intensity. This spring waterfall season has really been amazing so far! The second annual “Gunflint Green Up” up the Gunflint Trail from Grand Marais will take place this weekend, May 1st-3rd. Volunteers will be planting hundreds of trees in the burned area of the big Ham Lake Fire of 2007. This fire devoured about 100,000 acres of forest in Minnesota and Canada. The trees planted will be red and white pine seedlings. The volunteers will also be tending to yearling trees planted at last year’s event to make sure they have room to grow. Other events include a Green Living Fair, thank you dinners, music and dancing. The finale on Sunday is once again…the running of the Ham Lake Half Marathon. I can think of no better way to welcome in spring and celebrate the rejuvenation the season brings than with a great event like this.
Superior National Golf Course in Lutsen is expected to open this weekend too. The “River 9” section of the 27-hole course will open to walkers only on Friday May 1st. Exciting news, considering the Gunflint 9 Municipal Course still has a foot of snow covering the whole course. Minnesota’s fishing opener is just one week away now, and many anglers are busy getting their boats and equipment ready for the big day. But, word has it that all area lakes at the time of this post are currently 100% iced over. Up until about a week ago, snowmobilers will still zipping around on most lakes. Here’s hoping for some warm weather soon to open up a few of them so we can get some fishing in!