Pine Ridge Resort News & Views

I have pasted below the proof for our new sweatshirts and t shirts with an expanded look at the new design.  I’ll try to describe them if case anyone is interested in having me hold one for you before you arrive this summer.

The lace-up hoodie comes in S, M, L, XL and XXL and is constructed of 9 oz cotton/polyester blend fleece.  The color is listed as “Cardinal”. I thought it looked really great.  $30.00
The long sleeve “T”s were a request from several of our guests so, of course, I went over board and got a lot of them.  They come in two colors, “diesel grey” and “washed navy”. Sizes run the same as the sweat shirts.  One extra thing about the “T”s, they are constructed of 2-sided jersey which allows you to reverse it for a change.  $20.00
The Signature 1/4 Zip is a heavier garment with no hood.  It’s a full 11 oz. course knit, sanded fleece that I really liked.  It comes in all size ranges except for small and is called “Athletic Heather”.  A bit more costly - $35.00
We also got another version of our most popular sweat shirt ever, the Vintage Washed 1/4 Zip Hood.  10 oz. cotton/polyester blend fleece. Full size selection and this year we got it in the “Meadow” color.  Green to you guys out there.  $30.00
Finally, many of you like a full zip hoodie so I added those also.  9.5 oz cotton/polyester blend fleece in the full size selection.  We got that this year in “Washed Black”. Neat looking shirt.  $30.00.

So if you would like me to hold one for you, give us a call or email me.  I already have notes to hold several of the long sleeve “t”s for the Hoffmans and Pittelkos.

We also have 4 of the gold lace-up hoodies remaining from last year and a wide selection of the short sleeve “T’s”.  The short sleeve “T’s” run $15.00 and have a different graphic.

It hasn’t been much of a winter this year and now that March is here, it’s about over.  So to get us all ready for spring, we’ll have another contest.  The rules are all below.  And while you’re all busy consulting your weather maps, I am going to be preparing for making this years batch of maple syrup.

First rule. The contest is open to anyone who has been or is registered to be 2012 guest of Pine Ridge Resort OR to anyone who has Liked Pine Ridge Resort on our Facebook page.  Entries in the contest can be made any time from now on until midnight, March 31, 2012. All entries must be submitted on the Pine Ridge Resort Facebook page.

Rule Two.  You only get one entry so pick carefully.  And pick quick.  If several people pick the same day, the entry with the earliest time stamp is the winner.  And, your first pick better be your best one because you can’t change it once it’s made.
You need to enter two things.  First, the date you think the ice will go out.  And, second, whether you think it will go out during the day or the night.  Your entry won’t be considered without both the date and the time period.  Here’s how I will decide “Ice Out”.

If I can see no ice on any part of Girl Lake looking from the resort when I first get up in the morning, then that will be considered an “am” ice out on that date.

If there is still ice on the lake when I get up but it has all melted by the time I go to bed that night, it will be considered a “pm” ice out on that date.  

So you need to specify the date and either “am” or “pm” on your entry. For example, April 12 “am”.  And, again, the first person to pick a time slot has priority in that time slot.

Pretty simple.  There will be first, second and third place winners.
Two second place winners will be either the second and third entries for that time period OR, if there is only one entry for the winning time slot, second place will go to the earliest entry of the next closest dates on either side of the winning date.

Two third place winners will be either the fourth and fifth entries for the winning time slot OR the earliest entry for the next closest slots on either side of the winning date.

Here’s an example of a possible scenario.  Ice out is April 12 in the “am”.  There are two people who picked that time slot, two people who picked April 12 “pm” and three people who chose April 11 “pm”.   The earliest entry for April 12 “am” is the 1st place winner. The later entry for April 12 “am” is one of the 2nd place winners.  The other 2nd place winner is the earliest entry for either April 11 or 12 “pm”.  And the two third place winners will be the next closest.  I’ll post the 5 winners and their entry times here after the contest is over.

I hope that’s not too confusing.  But don’t worry, I know what I mean and all you need to do is pick a date and either “am” or “pm”.  I’ll sort out all the entries.
Prizes.  First place winner receives a Pine Ridge Resort sweat shirt.  Two second place winners get Pine Ridge Resort “T-Shirts” (either a regular T or our new for 2012, long sleeve T).  And the third place winners get their choice of a Pine Ridge Resort fishing hat, beer mug or coffee mug. 

So that’s the contest.  I made up all the rules and you’ll just have to hope I understand them. Watch our Facebook page to see what dates have been chosen and submit your best guess.

A couple of clues.   2010 was our earliest ice out ever, April 2.  Last year, ice out was on April 26.  Since we have owned the resort, there has not been a March ice out but there has been at least one ice out in May.

Your major competition is Chris Heir.  Chris won the 1st Annual Ice Out Contest a year ago and took 3rd place in the “Ice On” contest last fall.  Chris seems to have a knack.  His Mom took 2nd place last fall so maybe weather forecasting runs in the family.  We’ll see how they do this year.
Good Luck to all.  Check with your favorite weather forecaster and let’s have some fun.

For those that regularly check this page, it must be quite obvious to you now that Terry is not a blogger.  Sorry.  Despite my best intentions, I just never seem to think about sitting down to blog. And if I do think about it, something else always seems to come up.   I do know that many of you are interested in what’s going on here at the resort and check the blog once and a while.  Hopefully, with the resort closing now for the season, I’ll have more time to create a few more posts.

That said, I think it’s time for another contest.  The “Ice Out” contest this spring drew a lot of responses so let’s have an “Ice On” contest.  This will be trickier because determining “Ice On” is different.  The ice can be on one day and a wind can blow it off the next.  So I’ve been thinking about how to define “Ice On” so that winners in a contest can be determined and this is what I have come up with.

The winning date will be the date that the entire area of Girl Lake seen from the resort is first covered with ice that remains for a period of 48 hours.   So if the lake is iced over one morning when we wake up but it blows off that day, we start over.  Or, as often happens, the majority of the lake can ice over but a large hole in the ice remains open for days.  The entire lake has to be iced over before a winning date is determined.  Again, the winning date will be that date when the entire lake FIRST ices over and remains for a full 2 days. 

And we’ll do the same thing we did last spring dividing the day into morning and night periods.  If the lake is open or partially open when it gets dark but is completely iced over when we can see in the morning, that will be considered an “AM” ice on.  If the lake is open or partially open when we can see in the morning but is completely iced over by dark, that will be considered a “PM” ice on.

So the “PM” period will be during the day.  That will be easy to determine.  The “AM” period will actually cover two different days. Anytime after dark will be considered the “AM” period for the following day.   An example.   It gets dark about 6:30 pm and there is still open water on, say, Nov. 12.   We wake up the next morning and the lake is entirely iced over.  The winning date will be Nov. 13 in the “AM” period but we won’t be able to confirm that until the ice has stayed on for 48 more hours.
Now, you might think that because there is a lot more dark than light this time of the year that the “AM” period will be your best bet.  Mostly, you’re going to be right.  But it often depends upon the wind.  I have seen the wind blow all night and found open water in the morning, only to watch the wind die off with the sun rise and actually the watch the lake freeze over in a matter of hours.

So here’s what you need to do to enter.  Go to our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/pineridgeresort.  Enter the date and whether you want the “AM” or the “PM” period for that date.  The first entry for each period will have priority so make your best guess now and submit it on the Facebook page.  Entries will not be considered complete without both the date and the “AM” or “PM” period.

The contest runs from right now until midnight on November 6.  That gives everyone a little over 2 weeks to enter.  Here is my only hint as to when the ice might form.  Most years, there is still some open water around Thanksgiving. However, when the kids were younger, they occasionally were ice skating on the lake on Thanksgiving.   Good Luck.

Prizes.  First place winner will get a Pine Ridge Resort sweat shirt.  (Note:  All of this seasons sweats are gone so you will have to wait for your prize until spring when the new ones arrive).  Two second place winners will get Pine Ridge Resort T-shirts.  And two third place winners will get Pine Ridge Resort coffee or beer mugs.

One entry per person but everyone in a family can enter if they have their own Facebook page and “Like” Pine Ridge Resort.  Check your calendars and make your best guess.  The “Ice On” contest is on.

After the Rainy River disaster fishing trip, I was anxiously waiting for our annual lake trout trip to Lake Atikwa in Ontario.  My brother and I found this place five years ago and have made it back there every year since.  This year was way beyond our expectations.

You really need to have a good picture of what this place is like to fully appreciate how much we enjoy it.  Lake Atikwa is a 44,000 acre lake about 35 miles northeast of Nestor Falls, Ontario. There is only one private road into the lake so every thing and every body that goes in and out goes by float plane.  The lake is absolutely beautiful.  It is full of large and small islands and you really have to be paying attention to not get lost.  There is only one resort and four private cabins on the entire lake.  When we go, as early as we can in the spring, we usually have the entire lake to ourselves. 

As a matter of fact, sitting way out away from the resort one day, I realized that the closest people to me were in those airplanes making contrails in the sky 5 miles over my head.  It’s not the most remote place in the world, but it seems like it when you’re out there.

The resort is an old resort on an island in about the center of the lake.  Eight fishing cabins, a lodge and living quarters for the owner and the crew.  It’s the isolation that makes it so different.  There is no running into town for a drink or hamburger, no movie theaters and you don’t want to have any medical emergencies, especially after dark because the plane can’t come to get you until morning.  It’s all part of the attraction.

We fish lake trout primarily.  There are also northern and some walleye in the lake but the trout are the reason we go there.  Lake trout are cold water fish and typically inhabit waters around 100′ deep.  Atikwa is a perfect place for them with many areas over 120′ deep.  But in the spring, right after ice out, all the lake water is the same cold temperature and the trout freely come into the upper levels of the lake where they feed on spawning ciscos and other bait fish.  So you don’t need to fish real deep to catch them if you are there within the first two to three weeks after ice out.  We were there 8 days after ice out this year and the fish were all over the lake.

There were six of us in the group.  My brother and I started the tradition and we looked first to family to join us. But since the resort offers a price break if your group has 4 or more in it, we have invited friends along to make sure we get the lower rate.  And I keep telling guests of ours at the resort about the fishing and several of them have joined us also.  So this year, it was brother Bruce and I, Bruce’s son Shawn on his first trip up there with us, Dean Rieck and George Olson, long time guests at the resort who were also with us last year and, to keep an even number of people so that there are two in a boat, I invited another friend from the resort, Dan Swan along this year.  Dean and George had their own cabin and the rest of us were in one big cabin.

We flew in Monday morning.  Bruce and I, Shawn and Dan drove up from Longville, leaving here about 3:30 in the morning and getting into Nestor Falls about 8:30.  Dean and George had driven up to Fort Francis the night before and met us at the landing.  We weighed in and loaded up on the twin engine silver Beach float plane and were airborn about  9:30.  The flight is great.  We fly at about 500 feet and we always within site of lakes.  Sometimes we see more water under us than woods.  It’s about a 25 minute flight into the lake.

At the resort, the guys load all our gear into a trailer and haul it up to our cabins.  We put a pot of frozen chili on to cook while we organized the cabin and broke out our fishing gear. After lunch, it was down to the boats and off up the lake.  We had all new boats and motors this year.  Todd, the owner, bought 14 new Princecraft 16′ boats and mounted 25 HP Evinrude E-Techs on them.  The boats were a little light for real rough water but we didn’t have to worry about that.  The weather was beautiful. 

Bruce and Shawn beat us off the dock and were about 5 minutes ahead of Dan and I heading up the lake.  By the time Dan and I got our lures in the water, Bruce had two lake trout in the boat. And that was the way it went all week.  It didn’t take Dan long before he had his first fish either.  We were trolling with rattling raps and rattle traps that dove down about 10′ to 12′.  Typically, our best fishing times were mornings until about 1:00 pm or so and then after 4:00 in the afternoon.  We had a slow period in the afternoon but the fishing really picked up late in the afternoon.  Unfortunately, we had to be back to the resort at 6:00 for dinner.  George and Dean cooked lake trout, fried potatoes and a new dish Dean invented.  Deep fried veggies.  Dean didn’t pay attention to his wife’s instruction on sauteeing veggies.  We really couldn’t tell the veggies from the fried potatoes.  Who cared. 

The next morning, Shawn and I headed out really early Tuesday morning while Bruce and Dan slept in.  In about 2 hours we boated 12 trout and headed back to breakfast.  After a big breakfast, we were all back out on the water.  And that was our pattern.  Fish all morning, back to the resort at 1:00 for a lake trout dinner, nap and relaxing.  Then back on the water about 4:00 to fish until sun started to go down.  Fish were biting every day and we averaged about 70 - 80 trout a day plus a few northern occasionally.  The northern weren’t biting as well as past years because the water was still pretty cold for them. 

Thursday we met on an island where the resort had set up a shore lunch station for a shore lunch.  Beer batter fried fish over an open fire and a pan full of potatoes, onions and peppers cooked the way they were supposed to be.   It really doesn’t get any better than this. 

Over the three and a half days we were there, we boated over 280 lake trout and probably a couple of dozen northern.  We caught fish from 10′ deep down to 50′ deep. The deep fish were caught using dipsy divers to pull trolling spoons down deep.  It was just an incredible fishing trip.  Makes it easy to forget Rainy River.   We are booked again for next year.  May 14 - 18.  Bruce tells me he is already buying new lures. 

And no one picked this date for the contest.  So here’s how the winners were chosen.  I set up April 26, pm, as the winning time period.  Then I looked at the time periods on either side of the winning period for entries.  The first possible winning time period would have been either April 26, am, or April 27, am.  But there was no one in those time periods either.

On to the next time period, either April 25, pm, or April 27, pm.  And finally, a winner.  Topher Hier (alias Chris).  Chris chose April 27th, pm, as his prediction and was the closest to the actual ice out time.  He wins a Pine Ridge Resort sweat shirt.  Chris and his family have been coming to the resort for almost 10 years now, I believe.  Congratulations, Chris.  You can pick out your new shirt when you’re here this summer.

Chris predictions was in the second time slot away from the actual ice out date so I had to move to the third time slot to find the 2nd place winners.  No one chose the 25th, am, but Lisa Thielen chose the 28th, am, and is the first of our 2nd place winners.  In the fourth time slot, there were two entries but Jeanie Ferenz chose April 24, pm, and sent her entry in on March 18th to become our other 2nd place winner.  Both Lisa and Jeanie can chose one of our coffee or beer mugs for their prize when they are here this summer.

The other entry in the fourth time slot was Angie Armstrong, predicting ice out on April 28, am, and whose entry arrived on March 25.  So Angie is one of our 3rd place winners along with Jan Marek, who predicted April 24, am.  Both Angie and Jan have been guests here for many, many years along with their families.  Angie and Jan both receive a Pine Ridge Resort card deck.

Others who were close and receive Honorable Mention are Nate Hoffman(April 29, am), Ulrika Wigert(April 23, pm), Brian Wulke(April 29, pm) and Aaron Weeks(April 29, pm).

It was fun and I want to thank everyone who participated.  Ice out is tough to predict even when you have lived here for 20 years as we have.  Last year it was April 2, the earliest ever and I think I remember correctly that the latest ice out date in our tenure here was May 5, just days before fishing opener.   Keep all that in mind and we’ll do it again next year.

But because it was so much fun and there was so much interest, I think we’ll have to have another contest before then.  Anyone have any thoughts about a good topic for a summer time contest?  Everyone does the big fish thing so let me know if you have any ideas on something more original.  There’s an obvious topic for the fall contest but since we just got rid of all the ice, let’s not think about getting new ice until after Labor Day.

We look forward to seeing everyone this summer.  Have a great year.

Last Friday, I headed north with my brother to fish the Rainy River for walleye and sturgeon. I have been hearing guys talk about the tremendous pre-spawn fishing up there for years and finally decided to give it a try.  My nephew had put together a group consisting of a couple of his friends and their fathers, father-in-laws, etc., so there were 10 of us all together.  As soon as the ice goes off the river, walleye and sturgeon in Lake of the Woods head up river to spawn in Rainy Lake.  There is a special two week season for walleye that is mostly catch and release.  Sturgeon stays open for the season, I think.

To say the ice is off the river needs clarification.  The middle of the river is open but ice lines both shores.  Most of the docks were still iced in as were many of the boat landings.  They were using a bobcat to open the landing near our cabin when we arrived on Friday.

Now, I should have suspected things weren’t going to go well Thursday night when I discovered that we didn’t have reservations for Friday night when Bruce and I planned to head up.  When my nephew said everyone was heading up on Friday, I assumed he had reserved a place for us to stay.  Not so.  His thought was that we would all leave after work on Friday, drive half the night, sleep in the trucks for a couple hours when we got there and then go fishing.  Bruce and I didn’t want to drive all night long so we decided to head up early.  Fortunately, I found a cabin open Friday night so we left the resort here about 1:00 pm and arrived in Baudette about 5:00.

I couldn’t believe the trucks at the boat landing in Baudette. There must have been 150 at least.  They were parked for a mile along the highway both sides of the landing.  We figured the fish must be really biting.  Our resort was about 10 miles north of Baudette so we gassed up the boat, bought some minnows and headed for the cabin.
Saturday morning, we got up early, had breakfast and headed to the boat landing.  We got there at 7:00 am and still had to wait in line for a  half hour to launch.  There were boats all up and down the river.   We were pumped.  The fish just had to be biting to bring all these guys out.

Then, the first sign that things weren’t going to go well.  We hadn’t paid attention earlier but when we dropped our lures into the river,  they disappeared immediately.  The river was the color of creamed coffee.  A nice light brown.  You could see the swirls of mud going by the boat.  Walleyes feed by sight.  No matter how good those “eyes” were, they couldn’t see anything in that water. This wasn’t going to be good.
And then there were the boats.  Hundreds of them flashing up and down the river, sometimes 30′ from your boat at full speed.  I spent more time weaving my way around other boats and drifting ice flows than I did fishing.  Not that fishing did any good.  Not a bite in a full days fishing.

Sunday morning and a light rain was fallling.  Not nearly as many boats heading out but it didn’t matter.  The river was still very dirty and the fish were not feeding at all.  The other guys in our group had some success with sturgeon.  Sturgeon feed by smell and taste.  They are bottom feeders and grub along the bottom. Sight was not as important to them so Bruce and I decided to try that and give up on the walleye.

Now sturgeon fishing is about as exciting as watching paint dry.  You thread a glob of nightcrawlers on a big hook, hang about 8 oz of lead on your line, tosh is all in the river and wait for a fish to sniff it out.  And wait. And wait. And wait.  There’s not much to do in a boat while you’re waiting all day.  That’s why everybody gets back to the cabin at night half drunk.  Nothing to do so you drink beer all day.

So our second day was spent sitting in the rain watching the muddy water flow by and fending off ice flows.  Not a bite.   We saw a couple of other boats catch some fish but we didn’t have a bite.  Now, as boring as sturgeon fishing is, sturgeon catching is quite different.  I only know that because we watched other people do it. When you get a fish on your line that’s 50″ to 60″ long and probably weights 30 to 40 pounds, it gets pretty exciting.  So when someone actually hooked one, everybody in every boat within a block watched enviously as he/she worked to wind it in.   So with the exception of those few incidents of others catching a fish, Sunday was another bust.  We were totally soaked and miserable and headed back to the cabin for a hot shower.

Monday added a new feature to the mess.  The current in the river was substantially faster than the day before.  Apparently, more water was let over the dam at Fort Francis because that water was really flowing.  And full of debris.  Every 10 minutes you had to wind in your line to clear all the dead grass and weeds off.  Very few boats around by then and our results were the same as the past 2 days.  Not a bite.  But the day was sunny and the sun felt good.
So Monday night we pulled our boat out to head home Tuesday morning.  The other guys in the group were going to fish again Tuesday morning before heading home but Bruce and I just couldn’t stand the tension and excitement anymore so we were heading home early.  So we thought.  The other guys pulled their boats off the river every night but my nephew had rented a slip at a resort so he wouldn’t have to be loading and unloading each morning and night.  That worked well until Tuesday morning.

We woke up Tuesday morning and looked out to see the river packed shore to shore with ice flows, trees and old dock parts floating by.  Somewhere up river, something let loose about midnight and the debris was jam packed across the river as far as we could see.  Fishing plans were abandoned and everyone decided to head home.  But there was Shawn with his boat still at the pier.

It was safe because the piers protected it but there was so much debris packed against the piers that he could not get out to bring his boat to the landing.  And the landing was packed also.  So while four guys worked to push out the debris and free his boat, I put on my waders and worked on the landing.  It took two hours to free Shawn’s boat.  In the meantime, I helped about six other boats onto their trailers.  It was the most fun I had all weekend.  The fast current kept pushing ice and logs into the landing so guys had to really time their approaches well.  I stood out in the current and pulled the backs of the boats straight so they could get up on their trailers.

Shawn finally made it up river and we got him loaded up about the time I expected to be back here at the resort.  Quite a trip.  Prop got all dinged up from hitting ice, my rain gear let in about as much rain as it kept out and not one fish to make it all worth while.  So much for fishing the Rainy River.  But, you know, there’s always next year.

As of today, April 4, there are 35 entries in the “Ice Out” contest covering a period from April 3 to 30.  There is still lots of ice on Girl Lake and it’s not going away soon.  But it’s time to close off the entries.  So the deadline for getting your entries in is Friday, April 8, at Noon.  No chance the ice will go out by then so make your best guess and submit it on our Facebook page at www.Facebook.com/PineRidgeResort. All the contest rules are in our previous Blog post.

By the way, the deadline date is significant.  That’s when I head north with my brother and nephew for 3 days of walleye and sturgeon fishing on the Rainy River at Baudette, Mn.  The ice is leaving the Rainy as it flows into Lake of the Woods and the walleye are beginning to move up the river to spawn in Rainy Lake.  These are pre-spawn fish and the fishing is primarily catch and release.  But there are supposed to be some huge walleye in the river during this short open season before the spawn begins.  Looking forward to having a 30″ walleye on my line. 

And then there are the monster sturgeon.  My nephew, Shawn, caught a fish well over 48″ last year.  That would be fun too.  I’ll try to get some pictures and post them for you to drool over when we get back.  Have a good week.

So here it is.  The first Pine Ridge Resort Ice Out Contest.  We’re going multi-media on this one so all entrys will have to be posted on our Facebook page.  Here are the rules and how it will go.

To enter, you either have to be a “Fan” of Pine Ridge Resort on FaceBook or you need to “Like” us to enter.  Go to www.Facebook.com/PineRidgeResort to “Like” us and enter.

You only get one entry so pick carefully.  And pick quick.  If several people pick the same day, the earliest dated entry is the winner.  And, your first pick better be your best one because you can’t change it once it’s made.
You need to enter two things.  First, the date you think the ice will go out.  And, second, whether you think it will go out during the day or the night.  Here’s how I will decide. 

If I can see no ice on any part of Girl Lake looking from the resort when I first get up in the morning, then that will be considered an “am” ice out on that date.  

If there is still ice on the lake when I get up but it has all melted by the time I go to bed that night, it will be considered a “pm” ice out.  

So you need to specify the date and either “am” or “pm” on your entry. For example, April 12 “am”.  And, again, the first person to pick a time slot has priority in that time slot.

There will be first, second and third place winners.  First place is described above.

Two second place winners will be either the second and third entries for that time period OR, if there is only one entry for the winning time slot, second place will go to the earliest entry of the next closest dates on either side of the winning date.

Two third place winners will be either the fourth and fifth entries for the winning time slot OR the earliest entry for the next closest slots on either side of the winning date.

Here’s an example of a possible scenario.  Ice out is April 12 in the “am”.  There are two people who picked that time slot.   Two people picked April 12 “pm” and three people chose April 11 “pm”.   The earliest entry for April 12 “am” is the 1st place winner. The later entry for April 12 “am” is one of the 2nd place winners.  The other 2nd place winner is the earliest entry for either April 11 or 12 “pm”.  And the two third place winners will be the next closest.  I’ll post the 5 winners and their entry times here after the contest is over.

I hope that’s not too confusing.  But don’t worry, I know what I mean and all you need to do is pick a date and either “am” or “pm”.  I’ll sort out all the entries.
Prizes.  First place is a Pine Ridge Resort sweat shirt.  Two second place winners get Pine Ridge Resort beer mugs or coffee cups.  And the third place winners get a Pine Ridge Resort deck of poker cards. 

So that’s the contest.  I made up all the rules and you’ll just have to hope I understand them. Watch the FB page to see what dates have been chosen and submit your best guess.

I’ll give two clues to ice out.  One, last year was our earliest ice out ever, April 2.  And two, the weather up here just turned warm on March 14 and, at that time, there was still over 2′ of ice on the lake.

Good Luck to all.  Check with your favorite weather forecaster and let’s have some fun.

I have been snowshoeing in the woods south of the resort for 5 or 6 years now.  It’s beautiful country out there with lots of ponds and varieties of trees and wildlife.  The area has several old logging roads that make getting around on snow shoes easier than crashing through brush.  In such an area, there are lots of critters and I have seen some of them and the signs they leave in the snow.  Lots of deer, fox, weasel, otter, rabbit and squirrel tracks can be seen at various times.  Occasionally, there has also been tracks I believe are bobcat.

But the first time I saw the wolf tracks, I was really excited.  I knew there were wolves in our area but I had not known they were this close.  The wolves were using the trail that I laid down with the snowshoes to travel on.  I suppose it made it easier for them to walk in the deeper snow.  It’s pretty impressive to see a predator’s track 5″ across on top of a track that you had made.   

And then, three years ago, snowshoeing along one of the logging roads on a day when there was a light wind and a heavy snow falling, I looked up and there were two wolves watching me from about 30′ away.  They had just come up a rise but apparently couldn’t hear me coming because the snow falling deadened the sound of my walking.  I caught them by surprise or I would never had seen them.  Wolves stay far away from people (I hope) but there we were, face to face.  They looked at me for about 15 seconds and then took off in separate directions.  I don’t think I moved for about 15 minutes. 

Since then, I have not seen them again.  But more and more often, I saw their signs.  Tracks along my tracks, scat, urine markings along the trails and, two years ago, a deer kill made by the wolves.  I was walking along one of the logging roads when a large group of crows flew up out of a small ravine just a little distance from where I walked.  Crows are scavengers so I wondered what had attracted them and hiked down for a look.  It was a freshly killed deer only partly eaten.  Three days later, when I checked it again, the bones were completely cleaned off.

The odds of seeing any wild thing in it’s native environment are very small when you’re just walking along.  They are so sensitive to their surroundings that they are aware of you long before you know they are around.  So I really didn’t think I would ever see the wolves again but I loved seeing their sign and knowing they were around. 

Then, last Christmas, my family got me a trail camera.  I hadn’t even thought of that before but the possibilities quickly presented themselves. It was fantastic.  I got pictures of both deer and wolves last winter but the wolf pictures were never very good ones.  Most were at night, and they always seemed to be traveling away from the camera.  Still, it was exciting to see them.

The camera has been on a trail again this winter since the end of deer hunting season last fall.  Lots of deer pics until yesterday when I took a walk out to pick up the SD card from the camera and see what new pictures were on it.  On the way out, I saw fresh wolf tracks on the trail leading right to the camera.  And it looked like more than one wolf made the tracks.  Hard to tell how many since wolves follow in each others tracks.  I knew there were several wolves in the area but to see them all on camera was too much to hope for. I could hardly wait to get the SD card back to the house. 

The first shot below was taken at 6:35 in the evening so it was dark.  The camera has an infrared flash so that it doesn’t scare off it’s subjects with a bright light flash.  It caught four wolves in one picture.  You can only see the flash reflecting in the eyes of two of them but it’s enough to know they were there.

I was estactic.  But then I noticed that the photo had been taken before the most recent snow fall and the tracks I followed that afternoon were in new snow.  I flashed through 60 pictures of a small deer wandering back and forth in front of the camera for an hour before the next picture popped up.

Two wolves, right in front of the camera.  Wow!!! The next picture was a shot of the second wolf approaching.

The third picture shows the second wolf even closer to the camera. But it showed something else that I missed the first time.  Look closely at the trail behind the snow covered branch towards the back of the photo.

The second wolf is now right in front of the camera but you can see a dark area behind the branch.  A third wolf, caught by the camera, below.  Watch the time stamps on the bottom right hand corner to see the progression of the pictures.

Fantastic.  And when I first saw the tracks, you could only see one set of prints.  Each following wolf walked exacly in the tracks of the preceeding wolf.  I followed those tracks for almost a quarter of a mile and only rarely did one of the wolves move off the path created by the lead animal. 

There was one more track that did not follow the other three.  It went in the opposite direction and was a series of incredible leaps. The tracks were very fresh.  I wondered if that fourth wolf was still around when I came hiking by and I scared it.  There were no other tracks around so it wasn’t chasing anything.  It ran, leaping these incredible leaps, for over two blocks before it finally broke off the trail into the woods.

Back home, looking again at the photos, I realized something else. The photos were time stamped at about 9:15 on Jan. 5.  I walked along that trail at 2:15 on Jan. 5.  So that fourth wolf could very easily have still been in the area when I came by.  Maybe if I had looked up from the tracks I was following, I might have seen it go by.

Can’t wait to get back out and see what’s new.  I’ll let you know.

For a couple of years now, many of you have tried to convince me to setup a Facebook page for the resort.  Knowing myself and how well I kept up with my Blog, I figured the Facebook would be just something else I’d start and not follow through on.  But a recent Resort Convention seminar convinced me that the social media is the new way to connect with my guests, both old and new. 

So I dived in about a month ago.  Had a few false starts trying to figure out how to get the Resort page up but it is up and running.  You can find it at “Facebook.com/PineRidgeResort”. 

I have posted several pictures and the resort video on the page.  The page is set up for everyone to be able to post their own pictures and comments also.  Several guests have already posted their resort pictures and they are great. Thanks for sending them in.  We should see a lot more as more guests learn about the page.

And I just added a new feature to the page, allowing people to add their “Reviews” of the resort.  I hope you will take a few minutes and add your comments.  Your thoughts will give people new to the resort some additional feedback so they can make a better decision concerning whether the resort is right for them or not.  Feel free to add your Likes and Dislikes.  It will also give me an idea of what I should be working on to improve Pine Ridge Resort.

If you “Like” the page, you will probably find yourself getting “Updates” from me once and a while.  Facebook lets me keep in touch with fans and keep you up to speed on what is going on.

So my journey with Facebook is just beginning. I’m having more fun with it than I expected.  It’s great to keep up with friends and the “Instant Chat” has been fun.

So check it out.  And maybe, we’ll meet on Facebook.