The new groups are off and running

After a week off from guests, it was great to see everyone show up this afternoon. Most of them have been to Black Bear Lodge before, and they were quite excited to be back and to get out fishing. And it did not take this experienced group very long to find the fish. I believe almost every person but one caught some fish today. That is even more impressive considering there is over 40 people in camp and that most did not fish until after dinner. The Yorkville group caught around 350 total fish, most right in our bay. I hope they can keep up that pace. Apparently the fish are enjoying the cooler weather just like us. The high temp today was 66 deg and it will dip down into the low 40's over night. Great sleeping weather!!

Patty and Brian were the last ones to leave the dock,
and were the first ones back (notice the dock behind her).
They caught this stringer full of walleyes straight across our bay at the Outpost, just look over her left shoulder, that's the spot.

The main roof is on...

Black Bear Lodge jigsaw puzzle.

With a little help from "Bob" my bobcat,
I seal up the loft.

Main roof is covered. Next step is the rafters
and roof over the front porch.

Re-building the cabin

This is part 2 of the cabin story...

 (Part 1 happened last year when I took apart the cabin up on the East hill, 

so that I could relocate it into the middle of camp.)

The photos below show how the cabin was/is being re-constructed step by step. When I took apart the cabin last summer, I made sure to label each piece and stacked them in order, ready for re-assembly. 

So far, the pieces seem to be fitting close to where they were originally (with a bit of trimming and adjusting here and there). As of this post, I am about 1 day away from starting the roof. The rafters and roof will be the toughest part, the main roof has a pretty steep pitch and there is a lot of square footage, meaning there will be lots of plywood and steel that needs to go up. But I made it this far, and there is no turning back now.

I may give this cabin a personal nickname of "The Gym", because during dis-assembly, I personally moved every log, rafter, sheet of plywood, and sheet of steel by myself (I did have some help stacking the steel and moving the windows and doors). So far during re-construction, I have moved and set every log and beam alone (I hope to have help with the roof and windows). What does this mean (other than I may be nuts), it means I did not need a gym membership for the past 2 summers to stay in shape. 

The first thing I need is a floor.

Once the concrete forms were set, the 3 pieces
need to be put back together.

I'm sure I am thinking something like,
"what have I gotten myself into".

The first log is set into place.

"I sure hope this is right".

Row 1 is done, only 18 more to go.

In case you were wondering, swinging a
sledge hammer to drive in 10 inch spikes is
great for the shoulders and fore-arms.

Just a giant 'Lincoln Log' set.

Many of the logs got secured by screwing
in 10 inch log screws.

The last row of logs are set into place.

The front porch is then put on and secured.

The cross beams and porch beams are set next.

Finally starting to look like a cabin!!

The roof  is started! With some help from the boys from Teen Challenge, I was able to get the many of the rafters in place. Unfortunately, as expected, things are not lining up as easily as I would have hoped. This is always the biggest problem with re-builds. It will just have to be slow and steady for a while, with a little creativity when needed. 

More kid pics...