News of the Camp Family – May 2020

Compiled by Adam Fornear

Green grass!!! Yes, it’s finally here in the northland and I could not be any more excited for this sign of summer. Don’t get me wrong, I love a solid winter, but more than winter, I love enjoying all four seasons. Time to switch gears and get after what the spring season offers.

Socially distant smelting

Smelt… it’s what’s for dinner!

One of the classic signs of spring here in Duluth is when Lake Superior temperature hits 38 degrees, and the smelt start “running” up and down park point to spawn in the shallows. Smelt are these little silvery fish that range anywhere from three to nine inches long. While they’re “running” people throw on a pair of waders, grab a couple of 5-gallon pails, some friends, a seine net that is at least 20 feet long and head down to the beach in the dark of night. So, this year our group only consisted of three people and we used the length of the net to keep our social distance from each other. We met up at our access point down on Park Point and hopped on down to the beach. The scene was weird to say the least. In a normal, non-COVID year the beach would be packed with folks all in the hunt for “running” smelt. There we were (20’ apart) staring out onto a whitecap crested Lake Superior… and not a soul near us. The weather might have also assisted in keeping people away because it was not too pleasant! There was a northeast wind blowing down the length of the lake, and air temperature was 35 degrees while the water was a tad warmer… at 38-39 degrees. It was spectacular! As Sam Cook said in one of his stories…”Taste the wind, feel the rain…” We were out in the elements, all smiles and soaking up yet another magical night on Lake Superior. The first hour we sat on the beach trying to hear each other over the roar of waves crashing on the beach (and because we were 20 feet apart), laughing and waiting for the sun to finally set to the west. Once it did, we were in the water dragging the net in the lake, along the beach and capturing those “running” smelt. The run was on and each pull of the net brought us five to twenty fish. In one hour, we found ourselves with just enough for a couple meals each and called it a night, at least for catching the smelt – we still needed to clean the fish. After a couple more laughs, we all headed back to our places for the next phase.  I’ll spare you the details in cleaning the smelt, but the next day I had an amazing dinner of lightly battered pan fried smelt with some roasted broccoli.

Still keeping the fun local and enjoying the spring season as I can. I hope the same is going for you all. Would love to hear from you all – alumni and current campers alike – so feel free to shoot me an email at fornear@campnebagamon.com. Be well and have a great day!

Just replace Ric Best with Heather… and Max’s silly shorts for a tux… and Horse ‘n’ Goggling with exchanging vows…

IT MAY INTEREST YOU TO KNOW that Seth Lambert (Bloomington, IL) has been preparing to plant around 12 different types of plants and hopes to be completely self-sufficient living off the land. Jake Finklestein (Evanston, IL) made a suggestion that we serve up red snapper for a camp dinner this summer. Griffin and Dylan Scissors (St. Louis, MO) seemed to have hiked in every county and state park  less than an hour’s drive from home.

IN THE WHERE-ARE-THEY-NOW DEPARTMENT:  Chole Ahmann (Maryland/Cornell, NY ‘12) has joined the faculty at Cornell University as an Environmental Anthropologists. Ryan Glasspiegel (Chicago ’04-’07,’09) is a sports writer for OUTKICK THE COVERAGE. Ryan was recently a guest with TNT NBA host Ernie Johnson’s live show on Twitter this past week discussing the path he took to become a writer.

CONGRATULATIONS ON THE RECENT ENGAGEMENTS go to Max Sapiro (Denver/Park City ’09-‘12) and Heather Cook (Park City).