Cabin #2 at Northwind Lodge - an historical e-vacation

After building Cabin #1 as my family still knows it today and using it for a few years, Grandpa Frank Baltich decided to build a second cabin that was more out in the open and in sunlight.  The #1 (Grandpa's Log Cabin) is still up against the side of a really steep hill on it's south side.  In the summer, it is the coolest spot being located in the shade except for from mid-June through August, but the shade always grows longer as the seasons head to winter. That would make for a very short day in the darkest months of the year.  Grandpa got a little tired of those conditions which can weigh on one's psyche and decided that the next cabin would be in sunlight and next to running water which was Jasper Creek.  So, in 1946, right after the war and when my dad was only 14, Grandpa bid on a government building that was no longer being used.  It was the on the Firetower Road about 5 miles from Northwind Lodge. It was the ranger's quarters and they were making changes in up on that really tall hill where the fire tower was.

That fire tower installation was one of the neater places that we visited when I was a kid.  First there was the road up to the fire tower.  It was, and still can be, rough and bumpy and steep.  At the top, was the fire tower standing tall & proud but unused for many years even when I was a kid.  Towers gave way to airplanes in the never-ending vigilance of tired eyes watching for that little stripe of smoke that makes its way into a monster if left unchecked.   A board was bolted up on the first 20 feet of ladder to keep the crazy people off during it's retirement.   On the ground was a beautiful, old log building with one of those old desk telephones like you'd see on the Andy Griffith show sitting on a table in the pane glass window.  A log garage there with boats that the game wardens was stored as well.  That was a really cool place.

We always went up in the fall time when the resort was closed.   My dad, my brother and I wandered around in the crisp air of the Minnesota fall with really crunchy leaves under foot looking for partridge.  For some reason, there were oak leaves (very few oak trees in this area)  present and they were tough and extra crunchy.  You could try to sneak around in hunting mode, but it was hopeless to be really quiet.  There were also pine needles thick and if you could find a clear patch on the ground, you could hide the noise for a second until you met up with the leaves once again and your cover was blown.  Good thing partridges aren't that spooky.  Age-old trails headed down the hill towards the Kawishiwi river and a spot where the CCC camps built a wellhead at a spring where the water flows even today.  There were and still are the big rock foundations for the cabins and signs of masonry that lives forever but blends in with the land from where the rocks and logs came.

The other thing that I can't forget up on that hill was the wind in the white pines.  It constantly made that soothing sound of loneliness and freedom, and happiness all wrapped up into one endless song.   No matter when you go there, you'll hear that sound and smell those pine needles.   It was the place that I always wished I could live at for it's beautiful desolation and the sound of the gentle wind always present.  Strangely enough, it was the kind of desolation that could drive one to madness, but like a mermaid on the rocks,  it always called me back.  It is still one of my most favorite places to be.

If you followed one unmarked trail to the northwest,  it took you down from the peak and to place where the ultra modern world met the old.  It was some sort of science testing station complete with a little building, several little chicken coops with louvered vents and strange contraptions and propane tanks.  It was like you wandered out of a spooky desolate woods high on a hill into an alien landing site where somebody did experiments.  At least that is what my 14 year old mind told me it was.  It was really creepy.

Back in those days, everything was government secret and they didn't tell anybody what was going on, so imaginations had to fill in the details.  I was pretty sure it was for ungodly alien experiments on humans, but it was and still is, a weather testing center.  If you go there today, they actually spent $10 bucks and put up a sign so kids don't think the aliens have an outpost there.

The place I've just described is from where Cabin #2 came to Northwind Lodge.  Grandpa and my dad won it on a government bid.  They cut the building up into four pieces and reassembled it at it's current location. Over the years, Grandpa added a front porch which is now the kitchen, and a back room which used to be the kitchen.  In later years, my dad remodeled it.  Then in the mid 80's my brother Bernie remodeled it again.  In 2010, I remodeled the kitchen.  It served as a home in 1946 and then in 1952, Grandpa built what is now Cabin 8 and Cabin 2 went into rentals.  The beaver boards that make the ceiling beneath the tiles in one of the bedrooms will still show the nail holes of many stretched and dried hides all brought to the fur buyer so many years ago.

I'm always amazed when I think back to how long we've been here.  Cabin #2 is part of the history of not just us Baltich's but also countless men who stopped fires from burning the woods around us undoubtedly saving people's lives.  That's why it's such an interesting cabin at Northwind Lodge - it's been standing the test of time with great success.

Cabin #2 at Northwind Lodge

Northwind Lodge Website

Red Rock Outdoors Blog

Another Fall Day on Jasper Lake at Northwind Lodge

Now, that global warming has officially set in on northeastern Minnesota, we are dressing appropriately and still getting out on the water to nail some lunkers.  This is Connie Wegisin from Ohio with her northern she caught yesterday.  That was a particularly chunky monkey she brought into the boat.

The weeds in the lake this year are unlike anything I've ever seen before.  It's weird how some years we have no weeds and think the rusty crayfish have moved in and killed them all.  Other years we have normal weeds, and this year we have weeds up the wazoo.  And yet, my garden croaked and was a waste of  $28...  The brush this year is thicker than peasoup and the growing season was ridiculously short for everything.

As a result of the thick weeds in the lake, the Wegisins were casting topwater plugs because even the weedless are hard to do right now.  Red and white is hot and I think Connie was using a Spook or something similar - Tom couldn't remember the name.  Anyway, the haukies are pounding red and white and Connie caught one of these:

So, if you were staying at Northwind Lodge right now, not only would be enjoying cool weather, but you could be taking advantage of the serious northerns rising from the cover of cabbage weeds to attack easy targets twitching on top.  I don't want to rub it in.  Oh, what the heck; yes I do...

Nice northern pike, Connie!

They put it back in the lake, too!

Northwind Lodge Website

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Class Reunion and Lightning Strikes

Yesterday, on Saturday, July 5th, Annette went down to watch the store Red Rock and Northwind Lodge to assist with lodge check-ins and store customers while I sneaked away to Ely to attend my 35th class reunion at the Boat House on Sheridan St.

Ordinarily, I don't like to leave the business ever because whenever I do, all heck breaks loose.  It had been storming with some lightning and while the power was on, the phone and internet were dead.  I took my smart phone and stuffed the fat thing in my pocket and reluctantly got in the truck and drove to town.

The reunion was fun.  Meeting old classmates and friends and some of my cousins made for an enjoyable evening.  Many bulls were shot and the world's problems were addressed.   While talking loudly and straining to hear each other,  a waitress with a cordless phone approached our table and asked one of my mates for a particular person and every arm on the table pointed to me.  Of course...I am not allowed to leave the resort and it was making itself be known as it called me back with a smirk.

I had to step outside and recall Annette on her cell phone.  She had to drive to almost Fall lake, 9 miles away to get cell reception.  She tried calling me numerous times on my cell, but because I am a Luddite where a smart phone (really a dumb phone) is concerned.   I could neither feel a vibration nor hear the ring tone I picked for that modern wonder that has brain-dead children everywhere addicted to thumb typing.  Anyway, I headed outside and re-called her to find that there was a lightning strike and some strange goings on with the electrical power in several cabins.  So, leave the fun and race back home I did.  It's no longer a surprise but like a self-fulfilling prophecy, something that I just expect.  Fortunately, there were no deer popping out of the ridiculously neglected, Lake County grass and weeds,  forcing my hand at Fernberg Whack-A-Mole with the truck.  I marveled at how the country seat in Two Harbors is manicured by county highway staff and the our region in the northern part of the county which contributes almost 40% of the taxes can't even get four foot high weeds cut on the edge of the road before mid to late July.   One thinks of all sorts of things while speeding into the night with a strange-sounding problem crawling around on the ladders of one's mind.

When I arrived at the resort, I talked to Annette and she had no new information, so I went downstairs for a diagnostic meter and headed out to the rest of the resort.  On the way, I stopped in the store to pick up a can of wasp spray because along with the lights out in about half of Cabin 8, there was a significant hornet nest  very near the door.  When I got there, I met with the cabin guests and they pointed out the nest.  I proceeded to super-soak it with the spray.  Yep - it was full of those rotten black wasps and I gave them a bath while dancing around as they fell out and slowly zoomed my way in a daze.   With that I went into the back room where the electrical panels are and inspected all the fuses with a flashlight.  All fuses appeared intact.  No visible signs of burning or the smell of roasted metal under lightning.  There was also no heat.  The box was cool temperature-wise.  Nonetheless, there were no lights in part of the cabin where the lights had been and I cannot figure out what is going on.  I was glad that I opted to not drink a second beer that one of my classmates offered me at the bar.  As a rule, I prefer to be completely focused whenever working with electricity.  It only takes one screw up to make for a really bad evening.

I can't figure it out.  Fuses are intact, lights are gone.  Maybe the lightning strike burned off a wire without taking out a 15 amp fuse.  I couldn't see how, but weird stuff happens with lightning.  I told the party that I need to come back in the daylight and take a closer look tomorrow.  They are fine with that and have a flashlight for the dark bathroom.  Before I can get out the door, the group leader, Lindsey Shaner insists I take at least two freshly baked molasses cookies that apparently his wife made for him and the group.  I did and ate them on the way to Cabin 5 where the story of electrical weirdness at Northwind Lodge was a continuing saga.  The cookies were really quite good!  I wanted another one but the scope of the  mission didn't allow it.

At Cabin 5, the Murphies explained what happened,  Big thunder, the lights went almost dark and the refrigerator got loud and didn't sound right.   I tested the power which was now looking just fine and the fridge was sounding normal.  Power hit a perfect 120 volts on my meter.  I inspected the electrical panel and felt for hot circuit breakers and smelled for burning bake-lite.  Nothing unusual, nothing tripped.   I said goodnight to the Murphy's and headed home on foot in the dark, perplexed and a bit irritated that I had to leave the reunion and still couldn't really solve the problem in Cabin #8.

The next morning, the Shaner party headed out to Wood Lake. They fish there every day of the week during their stay here at Northwind Lodge.  I met up with Pete Edwards, another longtime guest at our lodge and he told me the same story.  IN Cabin #7, the lights went dark and the fridge made a lot of noise as it was drawing a lot of amps in the suddenly low voltage of what appeared to be brown-out as opposed to the more expected surge from a lightning strike.  Pete volunteered to come with me and turn lights on and off to check circuits. I also scrounged around and luckily found the right sized batteries for my multi-meter that I would need to test resistance in cartridge fuses in Cabin 8.  We go there and I tested all the cartridge fuses and re-inspected the the round fuses one more time.  According to my meter, none of the fuses were fried.  We go into the bathroom and look at those dang lights.  Then it dawned on me.  

I went to the hallway and located an old-fashioned light bulb, unscrewed the compact fluorescent light in the bathroom ceiling and replaced it with the real light bulb.  Flipped the switch and lo-and-behold, the light lit up like a mini sun.  That was it!  The common denominator was there in front of us.  Four CFL's died in the brownout.  They don't do well  in less than perfect conditions and it was imperfect at best, last night.  In talking with my dad, he said that it sounded like the lighting hit really close to his house and in the vicinity of the transformer that powers the bulk of the resort.   I still can't figure how we had a brownout in a lightning strike, but that is what appears to have happened.  I suspect that the event may have shortened the lifespans of several cabin refrigerators as well.  Only time will tell. Dang....

I need to make a mental note to add "checking common denominators" to my list of how to determine what goes wrong when it does.  Fortunately, the problem was resolved rather easily and vacationing continues at Northwind Lodge.

Northwind Lodge Website

Red Rock Outdoors Blog

Red Rock Wilderness Store Website