Camp Nebagamon

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Caretaker Joe’s Weather Woes

By Joe Crain

With the pre-camp crew in the lake setting up the docks in 70-degree weather it is really hard to fathom that only ten days earlier, on May 19th, we had six inches of wet heavy snow on the ground! Crazier still is the fact that the storm of the 19th was the second storm of the month. The first was a two-day snow storm on the 8th and 9th of May that left us with a little over 10 inches! Thankfully we had warm weather between the storms and the totals were not added together, as a matter of ironic fact both storms were preceded by beautiful weather that reached 70 degrees.

Joe Crain splits wood in the snow

Caretaker Joe splits wood in the snow

The two-day storm of the 8th-9th was a monster that shattered several area records. The single snowiest day in May was 8.3 inches, breaking the previous record of 5.5 inches that had held since May 10th, 1902 (A 117 year old record!). The snow fall on the date May 8th, at 8.3 inches, broke the previous record of five inches set on the same date back in 1924. The most snow fall on the date May 9th, at 2.3 inches, broke the previous record of .2 inches set on the same date back in 1990. And finally, the May 8th-9th storm broke the most snow total in the month of May record at 10.9 inches, easily passing the previous record of 8.1 inches set in the May of 1954. Of course, that last record was broken again with the storm of the 19th. That second storm raised the record snow fall for the whole month of May to 18 inches! The second storm also grabbed the record snowiest date record for May 19th at 7.3 inches, all recorded just down the road from camp in Poplar, WI.

And if that wasn’t enough precipitation for the area, the month also dropped several inches of rain before and after the snow events, leaving the lake in a very high “over its banks” condition and all of the area rivers close to flood stage. Luckily things have started to go down slowly and only minor damage has occurred in our immediate area. Camp has had some minor beach erosion and the pre-camp crew has had to set the docks quite a bit farther in land than usual. The lower bike trail Joe’s Jaunt and the Spitting Springs Trail are both very soggy and may be impassable for the first week of camp or so, but if the current trends hold things should be drying up soon. All of the other bike trails are in good riding shape.

Blowing the brush out of the Axeman Village

Blowing the brush out of the Axeman Village

We had a couple of other firsts with the wacky early spring snows. You may recall from previous articles this off season that the first snow (about 10 inches) took place on November 11th, about a month ahead of normal. Of course, that snow stopped the annual fall leaf blowing. Well the spring storm of May 8th-9th also happened during the annual spring blowing! It was the very first time in my 24 years as a caretaker that the blowing chore was stopped both in the fall and the spring. Last fall’s snow stayed with us and was also responsible for keeping us from splitting the CNOC wood supply – a chore that takes about a week to accomplish every fall. Well we thought that we would finally be able to get the wood after the first snow of May had melted. But as it happened we were in the middle of splitting when the second snow of May arrived, stopping that chore again, which was also the first time in my 24 year history with camp that wood splitting was delayed both in the spring and the fall by snow! It’s funny to talk to the old timers from the area about this year’s early spring snow. They all seem to say the same thing, “You know I was here when we had snow in June that time…”

Hoping that the tide has turned and we will not see any flakes of snow in June, it’s Caretaker Joe at camp.

Lorber Point flooded with high lake

The tide sure turned… Up onto the point!

Caretaker Joe Welcomes Spring

By Joe Crain

waterfront snow begins to melt

April 1st – The snow beings to recede

With the snow almost completely melted away with the exception of a few plow piles, with the lake ice free since April 24th, and with the spring peepers singing in the ponds, I feel confident that I can declare that spring has finally arrived at camp. Though I make that declaration with a bit of trepidation, because today’s forecast calls for a high in the mid 30s and a rain snow mix with accumulation of an inch or more. And with temps not predicted to get out of the 40s all week, we probably won’t be enjoying much singing from the peepers again until the temps rise back into the upper 50s. I am confident though that the lake will remain ice free until the start of next winter and that the Wisconsin fishing opener this weekend, May 4th, will see many bundled up fishermen out on the lake.

mid-april snow storm at camp office big house

April 11th – Psyche!

The ice came off the lake only a week or so later than average which was a big surprise to me. With the late season snows and ridiculous snow depths we had at the start of April, I thought for sure the fishing opener would see the lake still frozen over, as it has been on several occasions in the current decade. I was so confident that I submitted a date of May 8th for Camp Nebagamon’s annual Ice Breaker contest, but alas no camp swag for me this year. I hope your submission to the contest was more accurate than mine! The copious amounts of late season snow we received did raise the lake level quite a bit but not nearly as high as the 2002 flood. The melt runoff has submerged about a quarter of Lorber Point and the lake is almost up to the Buddy (Herzog) Board. Near the Lumberjack Village and out on the range, the waterline is four or so feet past the shore berm, During the ’02 flood the lake level nearly covered Lorber Point and was almost to the steps of the LJ Village cabins.

last snow patch lower diamond field

April 21st – Just a bit of snow left!

With the snow gone and the temperatures back to a more comfortable, if not yet seasonable level, we Caretakers are able to get out of the shop, tackle some projects and start others around the grounds of camp. The staff residents in the Horvath House this season will appreciate Caretaker Andy’s efforts of this month. The upstairs bedrooms now are all separated with actual walls and doors! The space now has three distinct bedrooms instead of only one, and you no longer walk directly into a bedroom when you ascend the stairs from the first floor. The renovation will not only bring privacy to the occupants but will also add a bit of flexibility to the assignment of quarters as the building will no longer have to be single gender. Caretaker Jack came back from his winter layoff for another season in mid-April and has been hard at work in Cabin Elm trimming out the new windows that Andy installed last fall. For my part, I was able to get the windows I had pulled and rehabbed from Range cabins Apple, Birch, and Cedar  reinstalled. I have also spent several days cutting up and hauling off eight or so truckloads of tree limbs that had been brought down by the numerous heavy wet snows we had this winter. We will be under the gun a bit in the next few weeks due to the unusual need to split CNOC wood this spring. That chore was buried in ten inches of snow early last November when it usually happens. We need to get the grounds cleaned up with the leaf blowers as well, a chore that has been set back a few weeks due to the late arrival of spring. But have no fear — we will be ready for you all to arrive mid-June, a little out of breath perhaps, but ready none the less.

Hoping May will be more seasonable than March and April were, it’s Caretaker Joe At Camp.

new walls bedrooms horvath house construction

A peek into the new Horvath House second floor

Caretaker Joe’s Chapter Book of Winter

By Joe Crain

As I watch the winter snow melt away (oh yes, we still have snow to melt!), 16 inches to go as a matter of fact, and we started the month of March with 32 inches on the ground. We didn’t see high temperatures above freezing until the 8th, and didn’t see a 40-degree reading until the 13th! That night was our first above freezing and we have only had four days that have had lows at, or above, freezing all month, so the melt has been moving at a rather slow pace…

Adam Kaplan delivering the final sunday service

Adam’s “Story of the Summer” Sunday Service

But as I had started to say, as I watch the winter snow melt away I am reminded of the topic of the last Sunday service of the season at camp each summer, officiated by Director Adam Kaplan. For those of you who have never had the pleasure of attending the service, Adam offers all in attendance the opportunity to reflect upon the season that we have just lived as if it were a book we had written for ourselves. He offers chapter titles and then allows all in attendance the opportunity to tell their stories that they had written in their book. For example, chapter headings might be: “The funniest thing that happened to me this summer…”, “The most challenging thing I faced this summer…”, or “The person that had the most impact on me this summer was…” It’s always an interesting service and a great way to look back on the camp season and how it impacted each story teller, and for the listeners the opportunity to hear about some really goofy and often moving stuff that can happen on the trail or here at camp over the season.

So, if I was to look back at the winter of 2019 as if it was a book I have written, it would go something like this…

Chapter one: I love skiing in November

The best part of skiing in November for me this year is that it started on the 11th of the month after an awesome 10-inch snow storm. Don’t get me wrong, the roller skiing I had been doing through October and the first week of November was great, but skiing on snow in November is rare and delightful! There is nothing better than the first tracks of the season, it is true, but when those tracks occur in November, and at camp… unheard of and, well, delightful!!

Chapter Two: Though December had a melt down and little snow, I love skiing on Lake Nebagamon

Wow, what a great December for skiing on Lake Nebagamon, and doing it on my brand-new Rossignol Back Country skis was almost too much. The month was so perfect for lake skiing that I was able to ski all four bays of the lake, including the YMCA bay for the first time! Another first for my skiing this December was laps around the Lake Nebagamon Cemetery, an outing I came to call the “Ancestors Tour.” it was a great 1/2-kilometer loop that kept me at a respectful distance from the eternal rest-ers, but had a monster climb on the north side and a great downhill on the south. After four laps I headed back to the lake to finish the tour filled with meaningful memories of my own ancestors that have passed.

Cross country skiing in YosemiteChapter Three: Seven consecutive days of skiing in Yellowstone Country in January; I love back country skiing in a caldera

I learned a lot on this year’s Yellowstone adventure: Nine hours on the trail battling fierce winds, climbing over countless downed trees, scraping pounds of wet snow off the ski bottoms, several times crossing open creeks, watching your guide tumble into a hole caused by a buried three-foot diameter tree, trying to avoid, but getting sucked into, that very same hole isn’t too much for one day… close but not too much. I was very inspired by the stories of all of the places the head guide, Monica, had skied and was glad to find out that I have no need to be embarrassed by the fact that I now own four pairs of cross-country skis. She proudly revealed that she was up to six! What an inspiration she is to me. And it turns out my seemingly absurd love of the sport is not unprecedented, she and her boyfriend (another of the guides at the Yellowstone Adventures Yurt Camp) go skiing in the Madison range, just outside of West Yellowstone on their days off! Did I mention how inspirational she is?

Chapter four: Record breaking snow fall in the Duluth region in February; I love skiing in the streets

It turns out that although Duluth didn’t hit its annual snow fall average of 78 inches this year, according to National Public Radio, Duluth was the seventh snowiest city in the US. Its February snow fall total of 36.7 inches was a record breaker! For me the best part of receiving so much snow in one month is that it made for great opportunities to ski the roads around town. For great street skiing you need about five inches of fresh snow on top of a well packed base. Having plow drivers that don’t think that getting out there right after a snow fall is a plus as well, and this February was perfect. I was able to cruise the roads and alleyways all over our tiny little berg several times. It was just like roller skiing — but on snow!

Joe finishing a long distance cross country skiChapter 5: How much skiing can I get in before the melt down starts; I love new adventures on my skis

With perfect temperatures and a monster base at the start of March, I figured it was time to attempt some ski trips I have wanted to do all winter but hadn’t yet had the chance. One such trip was attempting to ski some of the North Country National Scenic Trail, which passes through the Brule River State Forest just south of Lake Nebagamon where County Road S crosses the Brule River, a popular starting point for many a canoe trip on the river. The NCNST, or just NCT to many, starts in upstate New York and crosses the northern tier of states all the way to North Dakota, with about 100 miles passing through northern Wisconsin. It is mainly a summer trail but sees snowshoers, and now a skier, occasionally in the winter. I learned a lot on my two-hour, four-mile trek on March 17th. One thing that I learned is it is a lot more stressful when you have to follow a poorly marked trail without guides. Those folks earn their fee! Another thing is that trying to find a poorly marked trail with just your Garmin GPS in the middle of an oak scrub thicket is near impossible! Also, no matter the high-tech gadget in your hand, nothing beats an old-fashioned compass. Next time I attempt the NCT, I’m bringing mine. The second first-time trip I took before the snow melted was to ski the portion of the Douglas County state forest that passes just north of Lake Nebagamon. Thankfully there is an established and groomed snow mobile trail in the forest and I had a wonderful seven-mile ski from Railroad road on the east end of town through the forest, to County Road F and back. On this trip I learned that most snowmobilers are very courteous and willing to share the trail with a lone and slow (to them) skier, and that the rolling hills of the forest are gorgeous.

The End

Already beginning to write my ‘book’ of roller skiing the greater Lake Nebagamon area in 2019 it’s Caretaker Joe At Camp.

Caretaker Joe Craves Candy

By Joe Crain

As a behind the scenes employee at camp I don’t have the opportunity to interact directly with the campers often, although I have had a few interesting conversations with early risers in the Swamper jop as we do our pre-wake up bell cleaning there. And on occasion we caretakers have done special projects with campers, such as last season’s rebuild of the Axmen Village barbecue pit. For the most part I am an observer of camper life, and one of the most intriguing times to observe campers is as they wait in the “Candy Line” in front of the Wanagan, camp’s not always open camp store.

No Candy Line today!

As I said, I have a behind the scene job and so I don’t really know the nitty-gritty of the camp store, therefore as I watch the line progress into the front door and out the back a lot of stuff goes through my mind… Is it open every day, or do the Hanson-Kaplan’s use some sort of algorithm that involves happiness to sugar intake to activity level calculations to decide when to open? Can the whole cabin come in or just that camper with the goofy, short-sided “pop can case” box and the “get-me” list from his mates? What happens if you don’t like candy? Are you shunned by your fellow cabin mates? Do those guys buy candy anyway and then haul home a bag of candy at the season’s end for their favorite sister in order to save face with the rest of the guys? Does Adam Fornear really get to be the curator of the fishing lure selection offered each season at the Wanagan, or is that just a rumor he spreads? If he does, does he really pick lures he thinks will catch fish, or choose only duds so there will be more fish left in the lake for him to catch? (A rumor I like to spread.)

Does all of the candy in the stubby sided box make it back to the cabin, or is there, as they call it in the retail business, “shrinkage”, followed by dubious excuses uttered by chocolatey breathed designated shoppers? What happens if the store runs out of bug spray at the height of mosquito season; do you get to fill out a complaint form or can you complain to Joe Briggs directly? Is it true that Adam and Steph stock their favorite candy in the store and then spread rumors about how awful that particular brand is, just so they can keep those delectable chocolatey goodness bars all to themselves all winter long? Is it anybody’s job to keep track of the expiration dates on the batteries sold? Is there candy line rules or prescribed etiquette? (Such as: 1. Wait patiently for your turn while in the Wanagan and then run out the back door at full speed as if set on fire when you get your stuff. 2. It is ok to jostle, make merry, and joke while in the Wanagan line, but always be polite and courteous once inside the store. 3. Remember it is not the loudest most obnoxious boy who ingratiates himself with the store staff but the most polite. 4…) Does anyone really think that their candy wrapper is biodegradable our do they just treat them as if they were? Can camp staff buy their candy supplies in the Wanagan, or are they only allowed to use the vending machines at Kozy Korner? Does anybody notice that I watch them and day dream about the workings of Wanagan?

Anyway, I always find it fun and interesting to see how excited the guys are as they wait in line for their turn to enter the store and present their cabin’s list to the lucky office workers who get to run the Wanagan that day.

Feeling a bit like the kid who ate to many of his favorite candy bars in one sitting, due to the record breaking 39 inches (as measured at the Duluth International Airport, DLH) of snow we received in the month of February, it’s Caretaker Joe At Camp.

Caretaker Joe Visits Near and Far

By Joe Crain

It was quite an interesting month for us here at camp, filled with weather extremes, off site adventure and a good showing at the annual camp in winter Reunion.

In the extreme weather category, we had a visit from them all. Extremely warm: a 37-degree high temperature on January 4thand a 36-degree high reading on the 7th; January 3rd– 9thsaw no high

“A gorgeous sun rise over the lake — If only I could turn my head to see it!”

high temperature below freezing; January 7thsaw 24 hours above freezing! Extreme cold: January 1stsaw a 5-degree high and -15 low; January 25ththrough the 31stsaw the lowest lows of the winter with low readings of (listed in order) -27, -29, -27, 0, -25, -28, and -13 degrees, and four days of that same seven-day period saw highs that didn’t climb above zero (The 25thhigh, -2, 29thhigh, -9, 30thhigh -10, 31sthigh -3!). Extreme low to high and high to low: January 3rd, low -18 degrees to high 34 degrees (a 52-degree positive swing!); January 21st18-degree high to -20-degree low (a 38-degree negative swing!) And the finale extreme for this January: it was extremely dry. Historically this month is one of the snowiest of our area’s winters but this year only about five inches fell. And though meager, the snow fall was welcome and covered the dense and icy 10-or-so inches left from December’s only real snow storm. Wow, I just dumped an extreme amount of extreme weather data on you!

Caretaker Joe tackles the Yellowstone winter

One of my favorite things about Camp Nebagamon is how it encourages us all, camper and staff alike, to seek out and embrace the adventures available in the wilderness that surrounds us, whether here at camp, near our homes, or anywhere we find it throughout this great and diverse land we call home, America. Each summer I am inspired by those boys who, whether for the first time in their lives or for the umpteenth time, take an off-camp trip with the tripping program here at camp. Last year I took that inspiration and, with some good solid “nudging” from my wife and the financial support of my buddy Visa, I headed off on a back country ski adventure to the 2.2 million acre wilderness of Yellowstone National Park. And just like what happens with so many boys at camp after their first trip to the BWCAW, I couldn’t get enough and spent a lot of time after my trip thinking about my next trip back. Well my buddy Visa and I pulled it off again this January and I went back to the Yurt Camp of Yellowstone Expeditions for another five days of back country skiing in the vast wilderness of YNP. And just like it must be for those boys who take a wilderness trip for a second time at camp, I found that on my second trip to the backcountry of YNP I was much less apprehensive and fearful of the unknowns that lay around that blind corner. Instead I was much more interested in embracing and seeking out those unknowns down around that blind river canyon corner. I was amazed by how different this year’s adventure was from last year’s. Not only was I more confident because of all I learned on last year’s trip, but also due to a totally different set of weather-produced conditions. In a lot of ways, it was just like going for the first time. In a nut shell I can describe this years’ trip as less euphoric and thrilling than last, but in a lot of ways much more interesting and technically and physically challenging. And yes- I am already starting to think about the routes I would like to explore the next time I am able to make the trip to my favorite National Park in winter.

And finally, this January’s unofficial camp-in-winter reunion was a huge success. The reunion has taken place annually for a long time now and coincided with what used to be the weekend of “Fish-o-Rama”, the Lake Nebagamon community’s annual ice fishing contest, which is now held the weekend of “Bridges Bar Ice Fishing Contest” due to the collapse of our local Lions Club sponsorship of the “Fish-o-Rama” a few years back. For me this reunion weekend started as I was working in the shop on Friday the 25th, (you remember from above that the temp on that morning was -27 degrees!) when Henry Pulitzer and Mathew Wilhelm stopped into the shop and gave me a break from stripping paint off of Range Cabin A’s French windows. After catching up for a while the two wandered off into the extreme cold to explore Camps’ grounds in its white winter regalia. A couple of hours later I saw how big the turn out for this years’ winter camp reunion was going to be, when I answered the door to what seemed at the time like an episode of “clown car meets polar exploration team”. In they came, all dressed in puffy coats, big warm boots, faces covered in balaclavas, and all were topped off with big warm hats. These guys had seen the nasty cold forecast and just as you would expect from a bunch of former campers, some of whom have become current Camp Nebagamon staff, they were PREPARRED! In rolled (and not in any sort of order); Zach Muzik, Max Goldsmith, Noah Kanter, Adam Schimberg, Andy Cohen, Sam Feldman, Dan Michel, Matt Myer, and Grant Chukerman! After rubbing my arm from the cramp I got from shaking all of those hands and making my quip about “Where did you park the Clown Car?”, we passed around some small talk and then the crew headed over to the Swamper hill for a good dose of sliding down the tiers beside Swamper 6 to the tennis courts below, a fun sled ride I highly recommend to all who brave camp in winter. It turns out that the camp in winter reunion crew swelled by five more at the dinner held by Henry at camp’s head cook Anne Rowe’s house on the lake. The additional reunion-ers were Todd Blatt, Anne Rowe, Elissa Skaggs, Andy Mack and Lindsey Evans. I’ll bet that reunion turn out rivals some of the groups Adam and Adam host on their winter tour!

Thinking up ways to earn some extra dough so I can once again go play in the snow of YNP, it’s Caretaker Joe At Camp.

Camp’s wintertime visitors!

Caretaker Joe Skis Into the New Year

by Joe Crain

The Lake Nebagamon Lighthouse oversees the frozen lake

Well, as imagined at the end of last month’s article, Mother Nature did make an about face, and the November that was like a December gave way to a December that was like a November! Right from the first day of the month of December the temps rose into the low 30s and the meager snow cover that had survived the unusually snowy November began a steady decline that continued through the month. The second week of the month gave us a brief visit with normalcy, as the temps hovered in the mid 20s throughout the week. With that little exception, the rest of December was well above average as the temps rose to the mid 30s, with the weekend of December 15th and 16th topping things off with 45-degree readings both days. With little to no precipitation recorded until the last couple of days of the month, the snow cover was reduced to an icy couple of inches and mostly bare grass under the trees. It wasn’t until the 29ththat things returned to ‘normal’, with the day starting in the single digits and reaching only into the teens. And now our snow cover has returned to close to average levels as well with a rather abrupt and aggressive two-day snow storm that happened on the 27thand 28th. Here on the outskirts of the south shore of Lake Superior, we were blessed with just over a foot of fresh and rather sticky snow, while those lucky souls on the north shore of the Great Gitchi Gumi received a whopping 24 inches of the glorious white stuff. The storm affected much of the Midwest from the heart of Texas on up into Canada. For us the storm started with nice fluffy flakes on Wednesday night, followed by three hours of heavy rain on Thursday morning. Then that was topped off by about eight inches of heavy wet snow throughout the day, and the storm finished off with another several hours of fluffy flakes into the day on Friday. I figure that if the temps had stayed cold throughout the storm our snow total would have easily reached the 24 inches that the north shore of the big lake received, where the cold held out. With a quick check of Skinneyski.com, it looks like for the first time this December the Afterhours Ski trails of the Brule State Forest will be groomed and ski-able. Can you guess what I will be doing this afternoon?

Speaking of skiing, I was able to keep my early ski season going despite the warm and dry conditions of this month by skiing on Lake Nebagamon. The beauty of ice skiing is you only need an inch or so of snow to get a good grip and glide! I took full advantage of my opportunities to ski on the ice and was able to ski a good number of days, and was able to make tracks on all four bays as the conditions failed on shore. And not a skier to give up easily, as the lake conditions began to fail as well when the temps hit the 40’s mid-month, I donned my new wide and short back country skies and toured along the sides of the roads. But alas, that too began to melt down and I was forced to lose a whole week of ski time. Fortunately, the recent storm hit and things are looking up again.

Range cabin windows getting a facelift!

In the shop, things have been all windows! With caretaker Andy installing all new windows in Range cabin E (Associate Director Adam Fornear’s summer abode). Cabin E has needed re-windowing for years, as the old slat style (think old mobile home style) windows have lost most of their mechanics to age and were very drafty and leaky. Andy had to tear out the old windows and do some casement work, then install some good mid-range side sliders. For my part, I have been in the shop working on the “French door” style windows of cabins A, B, and C (or Apple, Birch and Cedar for you who are newer to camp) that I had taken off of the cabins before the weather turned cold in November. The job will take me well into the new year, requiring Hours and hours of removing the old and applying new glazing compound and scraping and painting. And of course, Caretaker Jack, who is seasonal staff, is on his annual winter break, probably sipping cold drinks down at his property in Florida as I type here in the finally-frozen Northland.

Very ready to use up my last week of vacation this year by again skiing the Back Country of Yellowstone National Park the 1stweek of January, it’s Caretaker Joe At Camp.

The recent snow has buried Camp!

Caretaker Joe is Set Back by the Snow

By Caretaker Joe Crain

Mother Nature continues to run a month ahead in the weather department here in the North Woods of Wisconsin. Although it did look like things were going to return to normal, with the first week of the month’s temperatures reaching near normal temps of the low-40s, that ended abruptly on the 7th, when the high temperature dropped below freezing and we were greeted with a snow storm that deposited eight inches of snow. After the storm passed we found ourselves smack in the middle of December with temperatures stuck in the middle-twenties for highs, and teens and single digits for lows! It wasn’t until the 14ththat we had a brief return to November-like temps with three days in the mid to lower 30’s. After that brief visit back to what the calendar claimed was November, the bottom dropped out again and we saw only one 40-degree reading the rest of the month, and only three days that made it above freezing!! Oddly enough, even with all of this December-like weather throughout the month, it did manage to rain a bit the day after Thanksgiving, (the last 40 degree day of the month!) which promptly froze over the next day as the temps dropped back below freezing. The brief encounters with normal temps and the splash of rain dented our snow cover some, but didn’t melt it off completely, and with a couple of days of lake-effect snow thrown in at the end, we finished up with about three crusty inches of snow on the ground, and lots of slippery sidewalks.  As I’m writing this on the morning of the 28thof November the temperature outside is 3 degrees, making me wonder if Mother Nature is going to run ahead again through December.

Although my roller skiing of the roads around Lake Nebagamon had to end with the first big snow on the 7th, there was enough snow to cover the roots and rocks on the trails through Camp and I have been able to ski them on four occasions already! My first two tours happened the week of the 11th, just before the brief warm up, and with another bit of snow the weekend of the 17th, things were thin but good enough again that I was able to shuffle and glide around Camp for another couple days before the Holiday break. Unfortunately the rain the day after Turkey Day left the snow too thin and crusty to ski Camp, as well the roads have been left too icy and snow covered to roller ski, so the only option left for my pre-ski season training is the elliptical in my basement. Not nearly as inspiring as gliding through the woods on the back side of the Upper Diamond, nor as picturesque as rolling past the lake on County Road B, but if this fall continues as it has been I’ll be back on the CNST (Camp Nebagamon Ski Trail) any day now.

As you can imagine, the December like weather has had a negative impact on the two big fall chores we do each November: leaf blowing and wood splitting. Strangely this is the second year in a row that these two annual chores have been negatively impacted by early-winter-like weather! Last year, you may recall, we were stopped midway through leaf blowing with a 10-inch snow storm that hit even earlier than this year’s seven-incher! Last year’s fall-chore-stopper storm was deeper, but short lived, as the temperatures returned to normal and both the leaf blowing and wood splitting were completed after the snow had melted off by mid-November. This year the snow stopped us one day from completing the leaf blowing, with only the tennis courts not getting cleared. But with no warm up and a lot of snow left on the wood pile, we have not been able to split a single log! The first time in my 24 years at camp that those two chores have not been completed! I guess I know what we will be busy with as soon as the snow melts next spring, but who knows maybe December will end up being like a November and we will get it done before the start of 2019.

Hoping you all have a great Holiday Season with friends and family, it’s Caretaker Joe At Camp.

Caretaker Joe Looks Back (and Forward!)

Fall has come to us abruptly this year here in Lake Nebagamon. The beautiful warm weather we enjoyed all summer continued well into the month of September with temperatures staying up in the 80’s, a good 20 degrees above normal. But as the vernal equinox approached it was as if MotherNature all of the sudden noticed what the date was and said “woops, I need to get going with fall!”,and overnight we went from highs in the lower-80’s to highs in the mid-50’s, an over correction 10 degrees below normal! The cooler temperatures have brought out the beautiful fall colors though, which makes the chill in the air tolerable. The first cold spell of the camp off season always gets me thinking about the events of the summer that is ending, a sort of last ditch effort to hold on to the warmth of the summer, at least in my head, if not in my actual finger tips. This fall, as I look back over the past summer’s camp season, I keep coming back to these 4 words: wow, unbelievable, impressive, and validating.

Wow, Camp Nebagamon has just completed its 90th season! I wonder if Muggs Lorber, as he wandered about the Northwoods looking for the perfect site to bring his dream of a boys’ camp into being back in 1928, had any inkling that his dream of a place where young boys could get away from the pressures of city living and be immersed in the pleasures of nature, comradery, and self-discovery would still be thriving 90 years later? 90 camp seasons, 5,040 camper days on site, 27,810 off season days spent preparing, repairing and recruiting for the next season of boys to come, and three (and very soon four) generations of young men being guided and nurtured toward manhood. WOW!!

Unbelievable that this summer had approximately 19 inches of rainfall from June through the end of august and 18 inches of that rain fell in just two storms! 11 inches fell the weekend before camp opened and seven inches fell the weekend before the 90th reunion took place!! In my wildest weather dreams I have never imagined a scenario were the lake water level would rise nearly two feet just before the campers arrived, drop nearly three feet while the campers frolicked about the grounds, and then again rise nearly one-and-a-half feet again after they left! Unbelievable!!

All season long I was impressed by how polite and appreciative this year’s campers were! From thelittlest Swamper all the way up to the hard to impress veteran Lumber Jack I heard, “thanks for cleaningthe Jops” or “thanks for doing all you do, camp wouldn’t work without you”! You can’t imagine what amorale boost it is to hear that daily to guys that have just spent their morning, to put it delicately, clearing the remains of the previous days Rec-Hall delights. You were an impressively polite and appreciative group of campers this year, thanks to you for that!

It was validating to hear from so many of you that attended the 90th reunion about how great camp still looks, 10 or 20, and for some, 60 or 70 years later! And how, although many things are updated, most of camp is just like it was when they were here as a boy. I received so many complements on the bike trailsI developed, and how awesome it was to have actual “holes” for the Frisbee golf course! It was so validating to hear that all of the hard work that I, and all of the caretakers, have put in over the years at camp to preserve and improve on what Muggs set out to do 90 years ago is so appreciated, and that makes it well worth it!!

Stunned by the fact that camps 100th season will also be the year I will be eligible for full retirement (“the good lord willing and the creek don’t rise”), it’s Caretaker Joe, At Camp.

Caretaker Joe Enjoys the Thaw

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There is an old saying about the weather in Wisconsin that goes: “If you don’t like the weather right now, just wait ten minutes.” Boy has that adage come true this May! Typically our temperatures swing about 20 degrees from the morning low to the day’s high in May, but this year mother nature was a bit more erratic and our temperature swings were averaging closer to 40 degrees. The old weather phrase especially rang true on the 7th, when we experienced a dazzling 50 degree swing. And speaking of dazzling swings, we even experienced a day mid-month, that had everybody talking, that went from 80 degrees down to 50 degrees in literally ten minutes, and the weirdest part was that there wasn’t a cloud in the sky the whole day. Thankfully most of the swings throughout the month weremore gradual, and in the low to high direction. As a matter of fact, almost all of this May’s temperatureswings ended with temperatures well above the mid-60 average, and we enjoyed a lot of days in the upper 70s and lower 80s. In and of itself, this was a bit dazzling to us winter-weary northlanders. After all there was still ice on the lake the whole first week of the month.

You may recall that in my April article I talked about the bittersweet experience of skiing on the lake deep into the month, and that at the end of the month there was still 27 inches of ice covering the lake. Many of us locals were convinced that it would be well into mid-May before we would be seeing waves out on the water, and there was little chance the ice would be off for the fishing opener on May 5th. Astonishingly, all of the ice was gone by May 4th!! There was a pretty big traffic jam at the public access the morning of the 5th, because eager fishermen tried to be the first boat out on the lake, a task that typically would have been done weeks earlier. Though not a record for latest ice-out, it is pretty rare for the lake to still have ice in May. There have only been six times since 1948 that this has been the case, three times in the 1970s and now three times since 2013. In 1972 and 1975 the ice- out days were May 1st, and in 1975 it was May 5th. In 2013 the ice held on all the way to May 14th, the record latest date, and in 2014 the ice held on until May 7th. On average the lake is ice free by mid- April.

With the big weather flip in May, we have really been running full tilt around camp trying to get all of the big projects completed that had been held up by the weather. The first couple weeks saw usfeverishly working on the remodel of Kozy Korner, camp’s staff lounge. With a big chunk of that done, I left caretakers Andy and Jack, as they worked on sanding and refinishing the floors, to blow the leaves and detritus, left from the unusually long winter, off of the grass spaces around camp. I was able to blow all of the grounds in about six days working alone, a job that is usually done in four to five days in the spring by two of us. From there we jumped into the Rec Hall where Jack finished up a major floor repair he had started back in November just before his winter lay off, and Andy and I erected the new larger freezer box out on the end of the newly expanded Axeman porch.

Wow, what a wild ride the last three weeks have been!!

With lots left to go, I am really grateful for the helping hands of this year’s pre-camp crew and excited for the start of the 90th season! At Camp, it’s Caretaker Joe.

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