Black's Cliff Resort's Birch Bark Blog

Iris’s blooming at sunset. I wish these flowers bloomed all summer long

Troy took this great shot at the beach. Butterflies and humming birds are back

Fish have been biting. This nice 15 inch crappie was one of the best of the spring caught by Paul Steinmetz

Paul had a busy week cleaning fish

We had a cancelation on Bayview this week and Steve’s ears perked up and his paint brush came out. Bayview got a freshly painted porch and new pole on the front of the cabin

Troy asked for some help bailing out boats. One wrong step in a canoe……..

I have been busy making fairy light jars with my sock machine. I made 48 of them for Ben and Ali’s wedding and now made some for the shop

They have solar charger on the top that charges the lights. I will have lots more colors coming. They also have hangers for the jars that are not in the picture

The new Black’s Cliff puppy, Oogie Boogie, is getting bigger and bigger. Pick up day is July 10th. Hopefully Mack thinks the little guy is sort of fun even if he will be a bit of a pest at first for Mack

Back To enjoying early summer. Lillies of the Valley in full bloom this week

June 17 – 24th I put a special on Bear Den and Red Pine for smaller groups and reduced the price for larger groups as well. Check out our availablity calendar or give a call

We spent Memorial Weekend celebrating Ben and Ali’s marriage. My brother inlaw, Bryon caught this amazing picture waiting for the exact moment to take the pic

We are thrilled to welcome a daughter into the family who already felt like part of the family after 8 years

They are off to Hawaii for 2 weeks before returning home. They will be in Steven’s Point until the end of the year. After that they will be following where Ali has to go for her internship for speech pathology

They are off on their adventure

It was a little cold and Ali was glad for Ben’s jacket

Many toasts were made

Lots of dancing was done and much fun was had

The family knows how to rock a dance floor to celebrate

May is flying by and the resort is looking more and more ready to go everyday

The leaves and undergrowth are slowly popping out too as you can see in this picture

Grant graduated from Saint Norbert last week and this week got to muck around inn the lake helping Troy get the docks straight

We enjoyed having him home for a few days before he headed back Monday to start his new job for a few days before returning for Ben’s wedding later this week.

Ben and Ali are getting married on Saturday at a local wedding venue. So we are rushing around getting everything ship shape so we can sign off for a couple of days as we celebrate their wedding

You know Dad, they did not teach dock straightening in college

John Thompson stopped in this week and had to check out the docks to make sure they were straight

I think they passed inspection

Last pontoon boat went in at Hilltop. We are happily awaiting the reopening of Hilltop June 10th. New owners took over last week. A few new ideas floating around but it is going to keep its classic old school resort feel which we all love. Especially the bar.

The painting continues whenever the sun shines

Trying to straighten out the kitchens before summer adding in new things where needed. It is a complicated job!

Besides Ben and Ali’s wedding and Grant’s graduation we have some other fun news

July 10th we pick up our new puppy Oogie Boogie. Oogie is somewhere in this mess of puppies. Mack will be teaching the youngster the ropes this summer. The long line of great resort dogs will continue with Oogie Bookie

More puppy and Mack pictures to follow in July

We have a few June openings left

3 night minimum May 29 to June 7 Red Pine. Bear Den June 3 to the 10th Both are at reduced early summer rate

Bear Den and Red Pine are also open June 17 – 24th with a 4 and 3 night minimum. Call for details or check out our availability page on the website

We do have 2 nights open on Birchwood May 30th and 31st if anyone wants a last minute mid week escape

Our next opening is August 19th

Fall calls are coming in and I have opened up our calendar for booking up to May 7th 2023. I will be opening more of summer 2023 as the days go through in 2022

We have had a busy week getting resort ready and bouncing around to important family events

Number 1 this week was a big congratulations to Grant who graduated from Saint Norbert College on Sunday. It was bitter sweet seeing our youngest graduate but we know he is ready to take on the world

For now that means running a retail landscape store in Appleton. His girlfriend, Bex is a landscape architect at the same company. For now they will start life there. He will be home for a couple of weeks as we get ready for his big brother Ben’s wedding to Ali Saturday May 28th

Lots of changes on top of celebrating our 30th anniversary this week. Where does time fly?

Docks going in

Boats headed to the lake

Docks being painted

Pop tabs sent off to Madison Ronald McDonald House from our winter guests. Bring yours along on vacation to drop off. We will get them where they need to be

Back to enjoying a few quiet moments as we get ready for a busy week

Lots going on at the resort. If you stand around too long we hand you a paint brush

Birchwood getting its roof line painted this week

Our new motors we ordered 2 years ago finally arrived. We have 2 new 9’s and 2 new 6’s to rent.

The Sylvan pontoon arrived back from the repair shop. It is working better than ever we hope. It was a little hard to get in reverse and we think we have that solved

Except for the captains chairs all the furniture was reupholstered by Steve this winter. The Sylvan is styling

We will be renting our 2 pontoons this summer the Bennington and Sylvan

Steve putting screens in the new screened doors for Kaubashine and Shamrock

Muskies new cedar swing all ready for assembly

Katie made the mistake of standing around too long and we gave her a brush to paint

Our biggest painting project of the spring is Eagles Nest. We are sad that we just can not keep the old varnished look going. The cabin just can not get another refresh and look good. We had to make a change. It is being painted in the same color as Bayview, Wildflower and Restawhile with brown trim on the windows. This is after one coat on the lower half. We know it is a change in the feel of the cabin but hope everyone can adjust

Dock work has just started

Things slowly going in. We have a couple of warm days ahead and I am sure the guys will be more willing to get in the chilly water

Kaubashine just opened June 4th, 5th and 6th

Red Pine has a partial week open June 6, 7, 8 and 9th with a 3 night minimum

Bear Den June 3 – 10th 3 night minimum

Norway June 11 – 18th

Bear Den and Red Pine June 17 – 24th are open as well

The Jung family was up at the resort with a Christmas theme this year. I never wonder if this family is having a good time. I hear next year the theme is Cinco De Mayo

Happy to see families having fun. That is what the resort is all about!

While they were having fun our family was busy getting the resort ready for the summer season.

Porches being opened and spring cleaned

Screens and screen doors brought out and cleaned and put back on

Nothing says summer like the slamming of a screen door

Then there is painting. Lots of painting! Anyone in the family who has painted Muskie’s huge porch has a health respect for its size

Steve looking to see if Birchwood’s porch was dry enough to get the glasses he left on the drink well when painting

Troy getting the raft ready for paint. It is being painted this afternoon and hopefully going out next week

Missing pic cause nobody takes my picture, was the perches on the stairway getting spruced up with paint

The only family member not painting. Sunning himself in the driveway. We may attach a paintbrush to his tail

Lake News:

Hilltop Resort has been sold. The boat launch is reopening this weekend on Sunday for us to use. We were a little concerned when the sale was not final about using the launch this summer. Happy to report that we hear the resort and bar will be operating as normal. I am sure they will change some things but just good to hear we are not loosing another resort in the area. Every year you hear of another one closing and turning condo

Back to work

For the most part the ice broke up over the last 24 hours with rain and high winds. Thankfully our docks were not hit as hard as they were last year

Not ready to jump off the raft with floating ice still in the lake but happy to see open water!

Still some floating ice but that should be gone in another day or two

We do have some repairs to do at Kaubashine and Shamrock’s dock

Its a little gloomy today but mid 60’s are seen by Wednesday and we can not wait!

Very ready for green instead of brown leaves.

News around the lake. Most know the Tom and Hilltop Resort passed away in January. We have been waiting to hear what would happen to the resort.

This week we heard it is sold and the owners want to keep it running as a resort. We will all be happy when the bar hopefully reopens. I will update when I know more. We are assuming we can work out use of their landing as usual but waiting to talk to the new owners

Treat Mom to a cabin weekend. Next weekend looks beautiful and we will have a few boats in the water. Right now plenty of cabins open

Summer Openings

Bear Den and Red Pine June 3 – 10th they can be broken up nightly

Norway June 11 – 18th

Bear Den and Red Pine June 17 – 24th

Our next opening is August 19th

We had a lot of melting this past weekend. We are hoping the ice goes fast. Time to put boats in the lake

I have seen ducks already going around the edges

We have plenty of cabins open up to mid May. After that it is filling up

We have had a few cancelations pop up here is the list starting May 30th

Birchwood <ay 30th and 31st 170/night

Red Pine and Bear Den are open June 3 – 10th We have decided to let them go nightly for a 3 or 4 night minimum at 330/night. Red Pine is also open before that starting May 29th

June 11 – 18th Norway 3 bdr at 2005/week

June 17 – 24th Bear Den and Red Pine 2965/week

Wildflower June 18 – 25th 1435/week

Our next opening is Red Pine August 19th at 2965/week

We had a very nice Easter weekend with our whole family at the resort.

Yes that is snow in the background. It has been a cold April and we are looking forward to ice out

Ben and Ali’s wedding is around the corner May 28th. We are going to have a busy May getting ready for the wedding and the resort open

It was nice to have a quiet weekend before the festivities get started

Monday morning, Sprinter arrived. More snow…… Will we close the door on winter?

Bryon is in the middle of designing a couple of new t-shirt logos for shirts this summer. This is my favorite

I will announce when we have colors and sizes.

Melting is definitely going on. We are happy to see ground again

View from the raft this morning. The lake has a way to go in melting

Can’t wait to roll the boats back in the water

We have been busy collecting sap and boiling down to syrup. So far we have collected 2 gallons of sap