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

Yearning for the Good Old Days

I just had a party check out after staying one week here at Northwind Lodge.  Well, they paid up their tab and need to leave early tomorrow morning (Saturday) because of upcoming commitments.  Fortunately for me, I was able to talk with the parents and kids individually over the course of the week, and I gained some insight to the behavior and interaction of this family.

While I moved around the resort for various reasons over the course of the week, I found various members of this this family of six at the beach, in the store, and on the footpaths.  I saw the girls and mom out on the stand-up-paddle boards and water bikes, the boys were fishing with their dad and sometimes the whole family went out on the water.  They even took a trip as a family to Wood Lake which is something we rarely see these days.  Despite their arrival from a very windy day of BWCA rowing and struggling in gusts, they all came back smiling.  They didn't even look worse for the wear and nobody appeared ticked off.

In talking with the patriarch, I expressed how great it was for me to see an entire family enjoying their time together at our resort.   It is what I grew up with having been in the resort for my entire life and seeing mom & dad taking out the kids is "homemade meatloaf, mashed potatoes and gravy" to me.  He told me that they had a wonderful time despite the fishing.  Fishing went from a rather exciting prior week to a big weather change with high winds and slow fishing this week even when I expected it to pick up.  They caught fish, but those fish sure weren't yelling "catch me" by any means.  That's why it's called fishing and not catching.

Also, in talking with the dad, he said it was a bit tough for the first day and a half upon their initial arrival. All four kids discovered that they had no cell service or wifi everywhere they went.  His term was "the shakes" regarding the electronic social disconnection, and he said that after that malady passed, the kids began to enjoy the simpler things like taking out a kayak or a SUP and doing something with their muscles.  They also played Battleship and other board games as a family.  We need more of this in the US today.

Then, he expressed that he really liked the cabin because it was roomy enough and felt like a cabin in the woods - not a condo in a development.  The part he truly enjoyed was Jasper Creek as it passes by outside.  With the constant, soothing white noise after being out in the fresh air day after day, he said that his whole family slept like logs and that meant HE slept like a log.  He hasn't slept THAT well in a long time.  The solid sleep was one of the parts that I sensed really "made" the trip for this dad.

The final part of the discussion was at the cost of staying in Ely.  Given the fun they had all week, he could not believe that we had cabin openings.  Comparatively, he said, for what one gets in a vacation in Ely - real wilderness, a cabin in the woods next to a lake, a real waterfall, water toys and fishing - the cost of having fun compared to other areas was downright cheap.  For the amount of money they spent for lodging and outside activities like a guided fishing day trip, they couldn't even touch such an adventure in Disneyland or some other place.  He estimated that it would cost four times as much easily.   So, he was surprised that we weren't packed reservation-wise given the enjoyable, relaxing, stay they had here.

It was good to hear that again from a family.  With the changing times in the New Normal, we don't get to hear or see it nearly as much as we should.  And, I know he wasn't making it up as they made reservations for next year.   I look forward to their arrival next season!