Late April in the Northwoods

The yearly battle of seasons is really heating up in Northern Minnesota. Spring appeared to be winning this battle earlier in the month. Temps were up into the mid 60's for like a week. The ice and snow was melting quickly and people were emerging from their winter hibernation.  Then, with the fickleness mother nature has in this part of the country, winter struck back with a vengance! When I arrived home from the cities this past weekend Bemidji was blanketed with 7 inches of snow! So much for spring winning. On the bright side temps are predicted to be about normal for the rest of the month and I am really hoping that our lakes will be free of ice by early to mid may ( they still have probably a foot of ice up north).

Despite having a mild case of spring fever life is good! Work lately has had a mixed bag of projects. We had another week of brush removal at Lake Itasca. Still very wintery looking earlier in the month.

We also helped out with our Crew members fire training which was also at Lake Itasca State Park. This was real fun as we had a  lot of hands on training we didn't recieve earlier. We dug a fire line, worked with pumps and hoses, got to spray some water, and even had a tiny prescribed burn which we had to "fight".

Crew Leaders Attempting to draw water from the small opening in Lake Itasca

Looking West across Lake Itasca towards the Wilderness Sanctuary

Crew Members drafting from a water holder

Crew Members figuring out our "Fire Engine"

The infamous Pack Test. To be certified as a Woodland Firefighter you need to be able to walk 3 miles in 45 minutes with 45 pounds on your back. It's fairly challenging!

This past weekend I was down in the cities for some training outside of work. I am  now certified to chainsaw in the Superior National Forest and use "old fashioned" cross cut saws. This allows me to do trail maintenance  in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, something I hope to do this year. I ended up having a great weekend in the twin cities and am very jealous that all the snow is gone there and the ice is out!

On a slightly off topic note my roomate from college is in a new band and played a sweet concert at Shamrocks in Saint Paul.

Alex is the Guitarist on the left

This past week of work I chainsawed almost exclusively for the work week at Crow Wing State Park. It was a fun project as chainsawing is very challenging both mentally and physically. This challenge keeps it interesting and makes the work day go by real fast. The site was quite beautiful and we a had a lot of wildlife sitings. Heard lot's of grouse drumming, saw some wild turkeys, deer, lots of birds, some unique waterfowl (a diving duck, either Canvasback or Redhead), and some vultures. So overall life is good. Still loving living up north and working outside! Really looking forward to next month as I have a few trips up to the BWCAW planned. One is a trail work volunteering trip and the other a recreational canoe trip. Should be fun!!!