Deer Park Lodge

The cool side of summer

The weather remains a bit on the cool and damp side here in the north woods. Fog continues to set in on us throughout the week.  As long as those winds are cooled down considerably by Lake Superior, the effects of them hitting land and the warm waters of Muskallonge Lake results in thick cool fog. But the forecast looks pretty decent.

Twice this week the weather was clear and in the mid-70's just down the road a couple of miles, and we were sitting in fog and mid-50's weather. Oh well, at least the bugs aren't present as they were the last month or so.

The Luna moths (Actias luna) showed up last week. We see these giant silk moths (family Saturniidae) for about two weeks each year.  They sure are beautiful things.  Seems as though we should be seeing the Cecropias (Hyalophora cecropia) too, but so far no sign of them.

Fishing remains okay. Nothing outstanding as of late, but everyone seems to be catching fish.  The Brook trout fishing and the inland lakes trout fishing is being reported as good.

  Several bear sightings have been reported in the store.  Several young whitetail bucks have also been seen close by.  The Bald Eagles put on a nice show right out front of the lodge the other day.  As I was on the dock renting a boat to a man and his two sons, two eagles swooped down several times in hopes of picking up a dead fish on the surface. It was a treat for me to see this, but for those three city guys it was certainly on the highlight list for their trip north.

Blueberries are now being picked.  Not in great numbers yet but certainly plenty for pies and pancakes.  This will only get better as the sun and warmer weather sets in later in the week.

Get on up to the woods of the Upper Peninsula and get your share of the fish, berries. Now is a great time to spend some time up-north.  If we can help in anyway in planning your trip feel free to give us a call.

Call (906) 658-3341 for reservations and information.

Hope to see you soon,

Mike & Monica

p.s. don't forget to mark your calendar for the first "Rock On!" Lake Superior Agate Show - September 19th and 20th - a joint effort by Deer Park Lodge and Muskallonge Lake State Park. There's still plenty of nice rocks to be discovered! More news to come...

 

More information here || Vendor information here

"Rock On!" Show off your agates!

Come on up. Let's see your rocks!

Here's the news we promised you back in June when we were talking about Mushrooms and Lilacs and first mentioned "Rock On" with Lake Superior Agates.

 The idea for this show centered around the numerous people we see coming into the area looking for and finding agates.  We have been fortunate enough to meet many of these folks and see some fabulous rocks. We have heard stories of people finding their "agate of a lifetime" and we have been lucky enough to pick up a few beauties of our own. 

Thus we thought it'd be fun to bring all these folks together at beautiful Muskallonge Lake State Park for a weekend of "showing off". In addition to showing off our rocks we will have some guest lecturers talking about not only agates but also all of the Lake Superior rocks including vugs and fulgurites.

We have no specific rules regarding how many rocks you can bring or how you choose to display them for everyone to see.  The main rock show will take place on Friday afternoon and evening, September 19 and Saturday, September 20 from 10:00am until 4:00pm.  Check back here for more information. We'll post an event schedule as we get details nailed down. Bring your own table to set your rocks out for your display.  You'll be responsible to watch out for the safety of your rocks throughout the day.

We're also recruiting vendors to add value, and fun, to the event. Lapidary, jewelry, books, crafts and more are all fair game. If you're a vendor, or if you know one who might be interested, there's more information here. If you'd like to share the details of this event with folks who may not have access to this blog, and/or be so kind as to help us spread the word, you can download a PDF version of the poster and print it (2MB).

Download rock_on_blog.pdf

A Michigan State Park Sticker or motor vehicle permit ( $6.00) will be required for entry into the park where the show is taking place.  We will be lining cars and trucks up side by side for those who plan on being at the show and displaying their rocks only for the day.  Of course, overnight camping is available, and reservations are advised. You can make yours here, or call the park at 906-658-3338.

We are already fully booked at Deer Park Lodge, but we would like to get a feeling for how many people will be coming to "show off" their agates, so please take a minute sometime and give Deer Park Lodge a call and confirm your participation. It would certainly be appreciated. 

906-658-3341

Rock on!

Mike and Monica

Happy 4th of July!

This past week has been a wet one for us. We picked up almost three inches on rain overall. The forest and ground cover is looking fabulous, better than we have seen for several years, and there are still some blueberries for the pickin'.

I took a group of guys over for some Grand Marais pier fishing the other night. As a group we probably caught 12-14 whitefish, a couple that were really nice size.  It was certainly a slow night but it is always fun to expose this fishery to people who have never experienced it before.  Sitting up on that pier with the waves crashing in and the sun going down and catching a few fish, makes for an awesome spot to watch the sunset.

No new birds for us this past week. We do have a couple of serious birders in the area through and they reported that they have seen over 75 different species this past week, with a pair of young red-headed woodpeckers and a good sighting of the winter wren being their highlights. Grab your life-list, come on up, and see what you can add. Check out this list of birds a guest spotted in just one week in July, 1997.

Fishing remains pretty good throughout the area with the exception of brook trout.  The rains have swollen the rivers and brought a lot of feed into the system for all those brookies.  That situation is certainly likely to change as the water levels drop back to normal.

It looks like an awesome weekend for the Holiday.  Get out and enjoy it somehow. As always, give us a call if we can help you with your plans.

Call (906) 658-3341

Happy Independence Day!!!

Mike and Monica

STORE HOURS: Summer schedule - for your convenience!

Hi folks - just a quick note to update you on the General Store and Laundromat summer schedule.

•  General Store - Daily: 8:00 AM to 9:00 PM
•  Laundromat - Daily: 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM

The forest is in bloom and life is good on the UP.

All is well here at Deer Park. The rain the past few weeks sure has everything looking green and healthy. The ferns throughout the woods have really grown up this week and provide a nice canopy for everything under them.  The blueberry bushes will love the extra cover the ferns will give them and so far so good, there is a ton of blueberries blossoms all over the place. 

Also looking good are all the wildflowers like the Lady Slippers, Daisies, forget-me-nots and the hawkweed.  Plus, we enjoyed what was really our first summer-like day, and the first night we were able to keep the house windows open all night.

Cabin guests that came in last Saturday are doing well on the lake fishing.  Mike and his family have already cleaned and packaged 61 fish, mostly pike and rock bass.  Talked to a group that was here last year and they showed me pictures and told me the story about the 46" pike that weighed over 22 lbs that they back then. So far this year a 32" is leading the way for biggest fish.

The campgrounds are starting to see a bit more traffic and the reports from the State Park indicate that a good number of campers are expected to start showing up. If you among them, you're welcome to come by the general store (hours), and don't forget to check out our boat rentals.

Check out those dates we have available for our cabins.  If you are planning on coming up give us a call we'll be glad to help you out anyway we can.

(906) 658-3341

Safe travels,

Mike & Monica

Mushrooms, Lilacs, Butterflies & Birds. And new availabilities!

We finally got a good rain yesterday with over a inch, giving a good cleaning and quenching to everything. The grass and flowers sure are loving it. And, the Lilacs are blooming like crazy and butterflies, like this female Monarch, are feasting.

Our fishermen did pretty good throughout the week. The group kept 9 walleyes, the biggest being over 24", and released a good number of pike.  Another group who have been bobber-fishing with large minnows all weekend have caught a lot of northerns and had a nice 20" walleye last night.  One could go almost anywhere on the lake right now and catch rock bass. The small mouths are still on their beds, and we have heard of a few nice perch being caught, as well.

The morel mushroom pickers have been having great success this year when making the trek into last year's forest fire area. We weighed up over 22 pounds of morels that two old guys brought in after an afternoon of picking.  Can't imagine this will last much longer.

On the bird front we have had a couple of neat sightings and sounds this week. Had three American White Pelicans hanging around for a day. This is only the second time we have seen them on the lake. Early this morning a Whip-poor-will made it's presence known as it sung it distinctive call again and again. And yesterday afternoon between thunderstorms two mature Bald Eagles were doing their thing and really yakking it up way high above the store. And it's tough to beat watching the geese swim buy during another beautiful Muskallonge Lake sunset.

The campfire wood pile is now completed and ready for the summer tourist.  What a project that is, cutting and splitting over 23 pulp cords of wood.  If it wasn't for some strong young lads helping us out this year this would still be an on-going project.

We took a number of summer cabin cancellations this past week.  So if you're thinking about a vacation and haven't made plans give us a call we might be able to plug you into the schedule. Mid-summer openings don't come up too often. Take advantage of one of these! Check our new category - Availability: ALERT! for updated listings.

Updated July 22nd 2008:

• July 29 - Aug 02: Cabin #6
• Aug 02 - Aug 09: Cabin #8
• Aug 16 - Aug 28: Cabin #8
  
• Aug 23 - Aug 30: Cabin #4 (lakeside!)
• Aug 23 - Aug 30: Cabin #6
• We also have several dates and choices available in September, a beautiful time on the UP!

We're also working with the folks at Muskallonge State Park to sponsor some special events around our beautiful Lake Superior agates in September. Check back. We'll post more news as the details get worked out.

Hope to see you up here in the beautiful north woods of the UP!

Cheers,

Mike & Monica

Whitefish dinner and bass on the beds

The weather remains on the cool side up here in Deer Park. Twice this past week I got up and went fishing around 5:00 am, once the temperature read 26 degrees and then on Sunday it read 29. But on both days it warmed up quickly and we enjoyed a pleasant day.

The whitefish off the pier in Grand Marais sure have been hitting when the weather conditions were right.  On Sunday everything seemed perfect and the fish cooperated well. I took along with me a couple of friends and cabin guests and we hooked some really large fish. Everyone certainly enjoyed one of those special 'all you can eat" whitefish dinners.

Fishing on the lakes seems to be a bit on the slow side this past week. Nothing special being caught and you had to work for what fish you could catch. The bass are rather late but now are moving up onto their beds as are the rock bass. Heard several different reports of Steelhead still in the river, that too seems to be really late in the year, but that's the way it is this year.

Our trees still haven't fully leafed out yet and a few morels are still being found. Not sure why but the mosquitoes this year are thick. It must be because of all the snow we had. Whatever the reason, bug spray has been a must have this week. We've got lots of birds in the yard, including this nice Rose-breasted Grosbeak. Hopefully they'll get off the feeder and start eating some bugs!

Monica just now is starting to put the flowers in the ground. Those morning frosts have prevented this task from getting done any earlier.  But the lake is starting to warm up nicely.  The young kids in the neighborhood were in it last weekend and playing around.

We do have just a few openings left for the remainder of the summer. We can accommodate a couple or two friends in one of our one-bedroom cabins for several dates throughout the summer, but we have only a couple of options available for a larger group. Give us a call if you are thinking about making plans to come up and we'll share what options we have available.

Call (906) 658-3341

Bring on the sunshine and gorgeous Muskallonge Lake sunsets!!!

Mike & Monica

Make Memorial Day memorable!

The weather has remained cool, but the weather man gave us a pretty strong indication that the upcoming holiday weekend will bring change, and we should see some fabulous weather.  Warmer, sunny skies, with dry conditions. Yeee Ha, bring it on!!!!

Went over to the pier in Grand Marais the other day and caught a bunch of whitefish.  It's that time of year when if we have the right conditions the fishing can be very good. And what a beautiful spot to fish. I debated about what clothes to take and luckily for me I decided my Ice Armor that I use all winter would be best, and boy was I right. Dang, it was windy and cold, but the fish were biting, so it made it all worth while.

The DNR just completed the removal of 10,000 pounds of brown bullheads from Muskallonge Lake. That can only be a plus for us and the continuation of some pretty good fishing on backyard waters. Also caught, but released, were a lot of pike.  With the "no size for pike" rule still in effect for Muskallonge Lake, there will again be a lot of pike caught and eaten from our lake.  The reports from the Blind Sucker Flooding campgrounds have also been very positive for pike. The steelhead reports for the past five days have been the best all season. There is a lot of fish in the river right now.

Had some serious agate hunters around this past week taking advantage of the renewed access to the Lake Superior shore. Our friend Terry took home 3 awesome rocks and two or three other real good ones. He and his wife and friends spend a lot of time on the beach, but each year one of them seems to always come up with some of the finest agates we will see that year. This web site has some real nice examples for sale. But, come on up and find your own beauty.

We still have our two lakeside cottages open for the weekend. These two bedroom units face the lake and have front row seats for some of the finest sunsets anywhere in the country. If you book one or both of these cabins for the Memorial Day weekend and mention this "blog site" we will give a 10% discount for your stay.

Call (906) 658-3341 to make your reservation!

Looks like a great Memorial Day weekend.  Get outside and enjoy it.  We hope to see you Up North.

Cheers,

Mike & Monica

The grass is back! And some bird facts!

Ah, spring. Longer days, and temperatures hitting the 50's. It sure is nice to look out the window and see the grass running out to the lake. Won't be long before we're hearing the ring of horseshoes, and the sounds of boats on the water. Might even have to break out the bocce balls.

With this change in weather, and terrain, we're also seeing more and more birds in the yard. Especially around the feeders, giving us the opportunity to do a little birdwatching through our new camera. We've "captured" a few, from the house, to share with you.

This is an Evening Grosbeak enjoying a meal. Pretty birds, capable of flying higher than I ever imagined. According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, a female Evening Grosbeak ran into a small airplane over Colorado, 6,200 feet above ground - over 12,000 feet above sea level. Gotta wonder what she was doing up there.

This is a White-throated Sparrow. Notice you can see the ground! Apparently, even though the look nothing alike, this bird sometimes mates with the Dark-eyed Junco, also a sparrow. They produce grayish, dully marked Sparrows with white outer tail feathers. Let us know if you've ever spotted one.

Finally, this guy is a Hairy Woodpecker. According to the guide, the hairy likes to forage behind the larger Pileated Woodpecker, pecking in the heavy blows and taking insects that the pileated missed. That is, when they're not eating our birdseed.

Come on up and enjoy the changing season. Watch some birds. Get out on Muskallonge Lake. Search for some newly revealed agates along the shore of Lake Superior. It's a great time to be on the Upper Peninsula!

(906) 658-3341 - Reservation information

Give us a call at and we'll be happy to help you make it happen.

Cheers,

Mike & Monica

Boats in the water for May 15th opening!

Just a quick post to remind you that Pike and Walleye season opens up on Thursday, May 15th. The pressure will have been off the fish for a while, and this will be our first shot at those bad boys since the end of February.

Next year, in 2009, the winter season will extend through March 15, just like the Lower Peninsula, because the fish, especially the Walleye, have been doing good up here on the UP. So get on up and take advantage of the extra two weeks rest the fish got this year. It'll be the last time since the season was shortened back in the 1990's (learn more here).

Our boats have been laid up for the winter, but they're coming out from under the snow, and we'll have them back in the water and ready to go for the opening (rental info here).

Give us a call at (906) 658-3341 and we'll be glad to help you plan your trip.

Tight lines!

Mike and Monica