Ice Update

Hugh is out of town in Thunder Bay, but Florence Carlson reports: "I saw a four wheeler go past my house on the ice this morning (where Hugh drills the holes to check the thickness)."

Bill & Hugh's Excellent Adventure

Hugh and Bill Ivaniski went ATVing yesterday, looking for sheds -- moose antlers that moose have shed just recently. They found four! Then they had a bonfire and roasted hot dogs.

Rotten Ice

Roseanne and Craig took these photos around Red Lake on April 25th.

Spring is here in Red Lake, finally

Roseanne enjoys gardening and, at this time of year, she is watching for these crocuses. they prove that spring is indeed here.

ICE UPDATE: April 25th

Hugh drilled a hole in the ice on Howey Bay on Red Lake today and the current ice thickness is 21"

Summer Is On It's Way to Red Lake!

Roseanne and Craig took these photos around Red Lake yesterday! The first two were taken by Chukuni bridge where the Beaver is parked - there is open water. The third photo is of Howey Bay.

WE ARE READY FOR BUSINESS!

The beaver is sitting mere feet away from open water, so we are ready and open for business! Ice out will be late this year, but as long as we can fly, we sure as heck can fish! We are looking forward to seeing everyone this summer!

The Beaver is parked by the Chukuni Bridge, where it spent the winter, in between Balmertown and Red Lake. The Chukuni River is on Red Lake. Thanks, Gwyneth, for the photo! Click on it to see a larger view.
The current ice thickness measured yesterday on Red Lake is 24".

Red Lake in Abu Dhabi

Of course our Red Lake boys needed Red Lake support, so Larry and Candace Herbert and Dave and Marg McLeod were there.

I can't resist posting a picture of my girlfriends modelling their new fashion statement. I like the colourful purses!

Peter did a good job in the race. He lost no points which means he flies safely!! Us mums are most concerned about that.

Sorry Pete, you will always be young Peter to me.

Red Lake Boys in the Red Bull Air Race

Peter McLeod is a Red Lake boy. His parents, Dave and Marg, own Howey Bay Resort. Peter got his pilot licence before his drivers licence and got hooked on aerobatics. AND at age 25, he finds himself in Abu Dhabi racing in the Red Bull Air Race !!!! Not only is he the youngest pilot ever to race in this event, he has kept the members of his team young as well. Nathan Herbert, Peter's friend from Red Lake, is his organizer.
Pete McLeod: “I’d like to prove to any critics that I’m ready for the Red Bull Air Race even though I’m the youngest rookie ever. I want to build a strong team this year and a foundation for a future world championship. It would be great to put pressure on the veterans. I would like to have podium potential in my second season and be able to make a run for the World Championship within three to five years. But it’s not easy because everyone seems to get faster every year.”

ICE UPDATE: April 22nd

Hugh drilled a fresh hole in the ice on Howey Bay (Red Lake) and the ice is now 24" thick.

Beautiful Day in Red Lake!

It is 52 degrees F in Red Lake today! It is beautiful out!
As of Sunday, the ice was 26" thick. Hugh will drill a fresh hole tomorrow and give us an update.

Stephanie is working in Zambia!

Craig's daughter Stephanie Carlson is a registered nurse who has recently travelled to Zambia, where she is staying and working with Nurses Without Borders. Stephanie graduated from Lakehead University in Thunder Bay with a Nursing degree in 2005. She has been working in Ottawa in the cardiac surgery wards and in general surgery wards. It has been a longstanding dream of her's to travel overseas to practice health care in poverty-stricken countries. She has worked very hard to get there, and she is now in Zambia! We are very proud of her, we wish her good luck, and we eagerly wait for updates during her trip.

She recently wrote, "I am currently in Kasane Botswana just next to the Chobe River which connects to the Zambezi. If you are trying to find it on a map it is near wear Zambia, Zimbabwe, Nambia and Botswana all connect. Kinsey and I are here on a little bit of a safari. We just spent two nights at this lodge called elephant sands. The entire camp is situated around a watering hole where you can see elephants. Back at the hospital in Mwandi, the opthamologists left on wednesday. We did a total of 65 surgeries while they were here. My days were very long it was like working back at home."

ICE UPDATE: APRIL 19th

Hugh drilled a hole in Howey Bay on Red Lake and the ice is 26" thick.
One week ago, on April 13th, the ice was 32" thick. Hugh also says the ice is less solid than last week, chipping more when he drilled it.

Babe Winkelman on Telescope Lake

Babe Winkelman and his family went fishing on Telescope Lake to shoot an episode last summer. The episode played again this morning and his wife Kris showed this recipe which is simple and easy to cook on a fire or in the oven.
CHECK OUT THE EPISODE!

Ice Out Last Year

This was the view from our lawn in Red Lake on May 17th, 2008. Floating icicles!

Birds & open water at the bridge

Our good friend Joanne Ivaniski sent us this photo yesterday. She took it at the bridge between Red Lake and Balmertown, where there is a current from the Chukuni River.
She and her husband Billy are aircraft mechanics and run the seaplane maintenance facility across the bay from our office.

Blogworthy Boats

A week and a half ago, when my Dad (Hugh) and I went to Viking Island, we came home with some old boats. This was our "work excuse" to take a two day trip on the frozen lake. We took a lot of photos, as you may have checked out. Towing three boats and a sled behind Hugh's Ski-doo is way easier than it looks. They glided easily across the two portages on the way home. -Harriet Carlson
Click on the photos...

ICE UPDATE

We found out through the internet grapevine that our own Hugh was apparently on the radio. Check out this blog by Dan & Brenda Baughman from Bow Narrows Camp. This resort is located near Trout Bay, which we've showed you photos of.
Dan said yesterday, "Hugh Carlson of Viking Island Lodge and Outposts said on the radio today that there is at least 32 inches of ice on the lakes. So when will spring breakup occur? No one can tell yet but since it is now April 14 and there is 32 inches of ice out there it's guaranteed not to be an early-record which, for Red Lake was April 22. Hugh was optimistic that it would be gone by the start of walleye season, May 16. All that matters is the weather from now until then."

More: Viking Island in the Winter

Snowed in!

More from Trout Bay

Our very good friend, J.J. Richthammer, a locally born historian who wrote Arthur & Florence's memoirs at least 15 years ago, commented on this photo: "Eighty years ago next month your grandfather (Arthur) first saw and fell in love with these shores of Trout Bay. It was the setting for his first home in the Red Lake area and he built several cabins from 1929 through the early 1930s for his friends. He loved every shore of this bay." Trout Bay is at the very west tip of Red Lake, 25 miles from town. The creek from Douglas flows into Red Lake in this bay, and the portage to Douglas Lake is beside it. Click here to see a map for reference.

80 Years Ago

When Arthur Carlson Sr. arrived in Red Lake in 1929, he and his friend built their first place in Trout Bay. He was 21 and working as a prospector staking claims. His cabin was built with logs from the immediate area, and the roof was "shingled" with birch bark. This is where, he used to say, "we'd get up in the morning and check the rabbit snares to see if we had breakfast." He and Florence built Viking Island in the late-1940s.

Moose Signs

Moose have definitely been on Viking Island this winter. It's quiet, peaceful, and easy to get to with the frozen lake. We didn't see any fresh tracks, but we saw broken branches on the trail behind the tower cabin. Moose like to eat the red berries off mountain ash trees. They break the branches down to get to the higher berries. They usually break the branches to help their calves eat, which are born around late April & May.

Viking Island in Winter Time

Last weekend, Hugh & Harriet snowmobiled to Viking Island to do some work. Work included cooking pork chops on the fire and listening to the hockey game on the radio, but they also dug some old boats out of the snow to bring back to Red Lake. The weather was beeeeautiful. Harriet called it "t-shirt and snowpants weather." Click on the photo for an enlarged view.

Strange Animal Tracks

My Dad & I went to Douglas Lake on Saturday & Sunday this past week. Snowmobiling along, I saw these strange tracks. Some animal had been trekking a long way, all the way across the lake, and further. There were also signs of one, or multiple, animal playing around the narrows going west on Douglas Lake, into the right arm of the lake. Dad said they were otter tracks. They move by pushing with their paws, then gliding a few feet, then pushing, then gliding. It makes for an interesting pattern. It is also interesting that they spend all winter in freezing water, swimming under the ice and sometimes taking up residence in abandoned beaver houses. -(Harriet)

Cool Rock on Red Lake

Check out this beautiful rock wall on the west side of Red Lake about five miles...it is orange, yellow, and red, and it looks rusty. It is common to see rocky outcrops like this in our area. Click on the photos for a closer look.

ICE ROADS north of RED LAKE

On TV, we've been watching a program about ice roads in the Artic. Interesting, but we do have our own stories from north of Red. The native settlements north of here get as many supplies as possible shipped by ice road between December and March.

Arthur grew up with Leigh Moncrief and the Moncrief family have been building and hauling on ice roads all Leigh's life. At 12 he was helping his Dad. A few times, Arthur got to go along. Usually, it is just slow cold dirty work, but the guys out there need to know what they are doing. Construction of the roads is a long involved process as the lakes are plowed and the ice tested. The swamps are packed and temporary bridges across rivers are built. Once the road is complete, the haul begins. Sometimes a few things go wrong.

Here the driver was going too fast. The ice broke up and down went this load of cement bags. Lady Driver!! can't help but mention that part. When you drive on the lake with a heavy load you can see and hear the ice bending and a wave forms ahead of the truck. If you catch up to the wave, the ice breaks. Your allowable speed is determined by ice thickness and truck weight but 20 km/hr is a good starting point.

Here is a crusher on it's way from Poplar Hill to Red Lake a little late in the season.

It is still at the bottom of Barton Lake providing great fish habitat. The company was advised to dismantle the crusher and take it out in pieces but spring was coming and they took a chance. Darn!

The very next day, they tried to take their trailer around the crusher. They went off the road where the ice is thinner and went down just as they tried to get back onto the road. Darn again!

I've asked Leigh for more pictures but he is usually too busy working to play tourist.

Arthur's Garage

It's coming along! The roof is on!

New Viking Island T-Shirts!

Since you are online, plugged in, and hip to the new internet age...we can show you our new t-shirt design before the printers in Winnipeg even get to it. Why not, eh? It's a throwback to the past, with the old logo, but modernized a bit with our Norseman added to it (of course...). And, printed on baseball tees!

Rhian - 7 Months Old

Gwyneth & Rhian were out and about yesterday. Hugh and Harriet met up with them for lunch at Righty's Sports Bar & Restaurant on the main street in Balmertown. Rhian was pretty thrilled about the Michael Jordan basketball cards that were embedded in the clear resin table tops. Meanwhile, Hugh was happy about all the nostalgic Montreal Canadiens photos up on the wall.

Ice Roads

Hugh & Harriet went on the ice road yesterday, from Cochenour to McKenzie Island, and then to Red Lake. With all the fresh snow, it was only one lane.

The Second Viking Island Logo

The crossing fish/paddle/rifle/rod logo could be considered the Carlsons' first original logo, since the viking ship was "borrowed", as we mentioned in a previous post. In the early 1950's, our guest from near Chicago, Rudy Kotlar "was quite an artist," Florence says. "When he wrote us letters in the early days, he would decorate the front of the envelope with a drawing, by hand, of a forest, or some ducks." Rudy designed this logo for Viking Island. It was on Arthur and Florence's letterhead first, then t-shirts later. It remains a classic!

The first photo below is of the old logo, as a circle. The old letterhead can be seen four posts back on the blog. The second photo is of Hugh & Harriet, wearing old VI sweatshirts, sitting in the fish cleaning cabin when it was being built, in the early 90's. Click on photo for larger view.