It has been really starting to look and feel like winter. I heard from an ice fisherman that we have 6 – 8 inches of ice on the lake
I wait a bit longer to venture out on the lake. I heard a few walleye’s were the reward for early ice fishing on the lake
Boats hibernating for winter
Smack talk about our Christmas Eve family ice hockey game has started. Can’t wait til we are all flying around on the ice with hockey sticks in hand
Before Christmas and dreams on hockey gold…. there is work to do. The guys cleaning up the last of the wood pile. Steve plows snow into this area so it needed clean up before the big snow on Wednesday this week
Turning our wood splitter sideways was Steve’s go to, to getting the big ones split
I have been trying to get a walk in the woods everyday. This is the Valley of Darkness on the red trail
Magical almost Christmas sparkly snow.
Birchwood is still open up to December 26th and our first openings after that are January 2nd. Weekends in January and February are filling up
Oogie would like everyone to know we got some great snow to play in
He also would like to report the ice is not quite safe as he took a very cold ice plunge next to shore. We think he might have learned a lesson in staying off the ice for awhile yet
It was a heavy wet snow that clung to the trees
No sun today to capture the ice in the trees
Definitely a pretty snow
We currently have openings up to December 26th. Beware the only cabin open December 23, 24 and 25th in Birchwood. The rest of the cabins are booked. If you were thinking Christmas don’t wait. Our next opening after the 26th is now January 2nd
We have plenty of cabins open on most weekends in January and February but they are slowly booking up. Martin Luther King weekend we only have Bayview left
I am spending this afternoon typing up our Summer 2023 rate sheet. I hope to get working on the Summer 2023 confirmation letters soon.
Beautiful quiet time to come up and enjoy the woods before Christmas
I was a little under the weather this week so pictures of our deer hunters and Thanksgiving guests did not happen like usual
Sunrise just before the big hunt
The Evan’s family has been hunting with us for 20 years or so. They hunt the land across the road and got a nice 8 point buck this year
Congrats to them!
The Pryzybl crew have been with us almost as long. They hunt down by Kitty Springs. No deer this year but lots of fun as usual
I missed catching our other hunters but lots of good memories made at the Cliff opening weekend
Chris and Amanda Moran practicing their wreath making skills with Steve’s crimping machine before heading back home for Thanksgiving
Thanks to both of of them for helping us get so many projects done over the last couple of weeks. The Office/Sock Shop expansion, Shamrock’s new deck and the new pink trail
Back to watching the lake freeze over.
We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving
Looking at spending Christmas with us, we have Birchwood and Bayview open up the the 26th. Our next opening is January 2nd over the Holidays.
We have plenty of cabins open from this weekend up to Christmas if you want to escape at the lower rates. Come see the resort during the quiet weeks up to the Holidays and enjoy the quiet while we watch the snow pile up
We have been talking for about 3 years of expanding the office into the old sauna. First we needed to build an area for our cleaning supplies which we did last fall. Next was the new sauna arriving and putting in our electric car chargers. We finished those projects in August
Now it was time to convert the sauna to being part of the office/Jenny’s Sock Shop. First step was cutting out a new window. How to do that? Chainsaw!
Popping out the bay window
Finetuning the cut
Yep that went as planned
Here it is with its new window in. They also added a small window in the side of the old sauna
This is the old changing room of the sauna. This room will be filled with items from Steve’s wife Jen. She does beautiful crafts and it will be fun to see what she fills this room with. She has been hard at work on needle felting
Many remember when Steve and Jen had an antique store in town. Jen, enjoys recreating old things into treasures. Lots of neat things will fill this room
The old sauna with a new floor and trim. The back wall will be filled with my old knitting machines on display. The rest of the room will be Amy’s cabinet of soaps and lots of socks. Everything that has been in cabinets in the community room are headed into this room. That will allow more room in our open community room for tables with games and our foosball table to return
View from current office. Notice the two new door ways into the new rooms
I hope to have things in the rooms by this weekend
Other projects going on are at Shamrock. Steve and Chris rented a stump grinder and got to grinding. The new deck on Shamrock is taking shape. There will be some flattening of the grill and fire pit area bringing it to be more level with deck. There is a roof coming to this deck similar to Holiday and Muskie.
In the meantime it is back to the fun of a machine and grinding up a stump
Earlier in the week we had the semi annual tetherballl mother daughter tournament between Anita and Jessica. Always entertaining and gathers an audience. I will not say who won but we can see who put out the most effort
Oogie found out what the live trap gets used for. The red squirrels, when it gets cold make the mistake of seeing if our basement is their winter hide out. Troy objects and out comes the trap for relocation. Oogie was fascinated by this development
As the days stay cold and Thanksgiving and Deer Hunting approach we start to wonder if the ground is going to stay white. I know the water at the lake is getting the thicker and stiller look it gets before freezing
If you are interested in Thanksgiving we still have Norway and Red Pine open
I tried to capture the beauty of the morning sunrise.
We have had a busy week getting the resort ready for winter. Chris Moran and Steve were blowing off roofs
They are next going to cut a bunch of wood into chunks for splitting with our splitter. Anyone interested just holler:)
Jake and Grant were around this last weekend. It was time to get the last of the docks and the boat lift out
Who got the leaky waders? That would be Grant
Out went the slide as well. Where is Troy? Sidelined with a bum knee and not happy about it
Surveying the situation
After working we all headed down the trails with the dogs. Oogie is not far from his buddy Cooper. Linnea one of my good friends walking Jake’s dog Kira with Chris and his dogs Cooper and Libby.
Sunset on Lower Kaubashine with some migratory unidentified birds in the middle of the lake
I have taken pictures of all 3 of my goldens at this same spot on the walkway. Oogie carrying on the resort dog tradition. I was sure he was going to fall in but he somehow stayed dry
Sunset on a great fall.
We have plenty of cabins open the next 3 weekends if you need an escape. Thanksgiving we are down to Norway and Red Pine
Sunrise picture from Muskie shared by the Peterman crew this weekend. It was a beautiful weekend at the resort
We had a few nice muskie pictures shared from the Setzer guys who were up fishing the lake for the first time
Nice Fish! All returned to the lake to be caught another day
We have slowly started the resort shut down. It will not be long before we are putting the slide back in the water
We are trying out an experiment this fall. If anyone loves to help split and stack wood with our splitter or axes, please get ahold of us. We are opening up a cabin or 2 to invite folks to help us out filling the shed
Work 9 – 3 two days with us and get a cabin for 2 or 3 nights. We are doing this from now till November 18th. We may open it up again for after Thanksgiving until December 18th and again in the late March, April and early May time frame. In spring we will be looking for help with raking, painting, docks, wood, and other things. Interested message jenny at reservations@blackscliff.com to be put on the list.
We also just received word that The Town of Hazelhurst has just added 3 percent room tax to all lodging in town starting January 1, 2023 Unfortunately that means our tax rate is changing from 5.5 to 8.5 for 2023. Wish I had better news
First of all the big news of the neighborhood. There was a moose on the loose. This young male moose browsed through the neighborhood yards. He grazed got his picture taken and was in no hurry to move on
Troy and I got no closer than this as stories of charging moose came to my mind. We sat and watched him in Kim and Will Flower’s yard for about 5 minutes
It was the first time either of us had seen a moose in the wild. I have occasionally heard stories of them being spotted in the area but never in person
It was one of the neatest things we have ever seen
Back at the resort the dock crew assembled and the big swim docks were quickly taken out of the water for the season
Yes, Troy got the leaky waders again
Summer stuff headed to storage on the pontoon
Back to enjoying the late color
The colors are still beautiful
I just put a special on Wigwam for next weekend.
Our booking calendar is now open up to October 9, 2023 if you would like to book next fall
We have lots of cabins open starting October 23rd if you want a little escape with 2 night minimum
This beautiful picture was shared by Kate Coyle. She caught the amazing rainbow over the lake between rain storms. Great picture!
Misty lake pics taken this morning. The colors are just starting to peak through
This chair was just asking to have its picture taken this morning
What is a misty lake without a raft shot
Colors peeking out this morning
Mack did not make the trip to the lake. Instead Oogie was enjoying the early morning at the lake.
Yesterday wood cutting was starting at the woodshed. They are starting to fill the right side of the shed again
Its a start.
I have just opened up our booking calendar through August 26th, 2023 if you want to check out that last week we have 3 openings Eagles Nest, Red Pine and Bear Den. I will add in through mid September soon
I also added a special this weekend on Holiday for smaller groups and reduced nightly minimum to 2 nights. Check out our availability link for details
This stunning picture was taken by Kevin Carr this week kayaking at sunrise. Amazing pic!
The sunrises and sunsets have been spectacular these last 2 weeks
Michelle Jacques took this picture of the dogs waiting for us to finish cleaning. Oogie is learning with Mack to stick close by
We had our first electric car charging at our stations. This one is a hybrid that charges 25 miles a time. Not a ton of miles but enough for a trip to town and back.
Path to the beach always a pretty pic
If you need some quiet lake time I just put a special on Holiday for this weekend
I also have Bayview open Sept 28th to the 2nd and Eagles Nest open Sept 25 – 30th.
