Logo from the Duluth Valentini's on London Road

Join the Valentini family for a night of fine Italian dining on the Gunflint Trail during President’s weekend, February 18th & 19th.  We are open for two seatings, 6 PM and 8 PM, during this dining event.

The Valentini name has been synonymous with Authentic Italian dining in Northern Minnesota since 1934.  Immigrating from Central Italy (La Marche) Louis and Justina Valentini settled in Chisholm, Minnesota and began the first of three generations of the family restaurant.

 Your guest chefs for the evening will be siblings Michael Valentini and his wife Sally, Carol Valentini and her husband Ed, and John Valentini.  Michael was a third generation owner of Valentini’s in Chisholm.  He and Sally sold the restaurant (to a cousin) and now live at the end of the Gunflint Trail on Saganaga.  Carol and Ed opened the new Valentini’s Vicino Lago in Duluth and have carried on the tradition of providing the best in ethnic dining to the Twin Ports.  John left the restaurant world to become a chiropractor in the Twin Cities, but he has always maintained a passion for cooking and frequently lends his talents to fundraisers and family functions.

The Valentini family has chosen a variety of entrées for this special weekend, featuring many of the dishes, sauces and desserts that have been staples of the Valentini family.  You will also have an opportunity to bring home a copy of the family cookbook “La Razza Die Ciurri” (translation: The Clan of the Curly Heads).  The book is filled with countless home recipes of culinary delights that were the hallmark of our Italian heritage.

See the menus for these special Bearskin Lodge dining nights here.   Make reservations online here, or call us at 218 388 2292, or email stay@bearskin.com.

Chef Scott Bergstrom preparing a meal at Bearskin

Scott will be cooking at Bearskin every Saturday throughout the winter, with the exception of President’s Weekend, when we will be hosting a special dining event. (More info on this to come or click here.)  Reservations are needed and we recommend letting us know early, as our small, intimate dining area only has seating for about 20 guests. You may reserve a 6 PM, 6:15 PM, or 6:30 PM dining time.

 Call us at 218.388.2292, e-mail us at stay@bearskin.com , or use the online form here to make your reservation. Anyone is welcome to dine at Bearskin Lodge, although we try to give our guests first notice for dining events.

Scott likes to change our menu frequently. You can check for menu updates here.  Click on the date and if the menu is available now, a link will take you to the menu. If the menu is not available yet,  we will take an e-mail address and contact you about the upcoming week’s entrée choices. The price ranges will stay consistent and the entrée choices will be similar, but Scott enjoys varying the rest of the menu.

Click on the date to see the menu when it is available.

Saturday, December 30,2011 (full)

Saturday, January 14, 2012 (Add Sunday, Jan. 15 if there are enough reservations by Friday)

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Saturday, February 18, 2012 | Valentini’s comes to the Gunflint Trail (6 PM & 8 PM)

Sunday, February 19, 2012 | Sera di Festa Italiano — An Italian Festival evening (6 PM & 8 PM)

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Saturday, March 3, 2012

November and early December tend to be slow times at Bearskin, in between busy seasons. Theoretically we could travel and enjoy some time away, but this is also one of the only chances each year when our cabins are empty long enough to accomplish repairs and updates. We have a tendency to get too many good ideas for improvements, with too little time to complete them. We especially overloaded ourselves this time–we barely finished before our Christmas season guests showed up.

Cabin 8 was our biggest project.  White Pine Cabin now has enclosed cabinets (too many, actually–you’ll have to bring lots of food to fill up all the empty space).  There are (TA-DA!) more electrical outlets  in the kitchen, so you no longer have to create an electrical cord octopus in the one kitchen socket.  And here’s the amazing part — the outlets work with 3 pronged cords.  We’re so 21st century here.  Even more remarkable is that the water heater has disappeared from the bathroom corner.  You now get to stare at a pine wall when you spend quality time in that bathroom, instead of musing over whether the water heater tank is developing a leak. 

Cabin 10 has a beautiful new stone fireplace, while cabin 5′s beloved old fireplace has been remodeled.  Lodge 1 and Cabin 4 have new kitchen floors and new cabinets. The wood floors in Cabins 9 and 10 are freshly sanded and refinished.  A new enclosed shower door is about to go into Lodge 4, but it didn’t quite show up on time to be installed before the holiday rush. We’ll complete that project after January 1st.

Our other time-consuming project has been to hire a new chef for the restaurant.  Judi Barsness, of the restaurant Chez Jude, decided not to come back to Bearskin this winter. (Her Grand Marais restaurant is still open, but one restaurant is enough to run right now.) We’ve been searching and searching for an excellent replacement and finally found an accomplished chef who is a perfect fit for Bearskin’s winter dining.

Chef Scott Bergstrom received his training at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York.  He has many years of experience in all aspects of the food service industry.  Scott takes pride in creating attractive and delicious multi-course meals for his guests. His most notable culinary talents were displayed as the Executive Chef at “510 Groveland” in Minneapolis, as well as Executive Chef for guests in Curt Carlson’s private dining room “The Retreat” and at his private corporate parties.  When asked about his cooking style, Scott would say he likes to prepare healthy meals with the freshest “in season” ingredients possible.

 Scott’s first night of dining at Bearskin will be on Friday, December 30. Check our website at www.bearskin.com to see menu options.  Additional dates will be listed on the website shortly.

We will always consider the fall of 2007 to be the low mark by which all autumns that follow will be judged. We were relatively new to the resort business, we were dealing with staff transitions, Bob was still teaching during the week and commuting to Bearskin on weekends, and to top it all off, it rained constantly. Serious “Noah’s Ark” consistent rain, creating the highest lake levels since 1976. Share our memories of 2007 by clicking here.)

Fall, 2007 -- a low point for autumns and a high point for water.

This summer’s sudden flash flood created similar temporary high lake levels, but after 5 summers of running Bearskin we were better equipped in 2011 to make good decisions about a fast, appropriate response. This year we had $700 worth of lumber delivered ASAP and staff members worked nonstop to build sturdy, wide ramps to every cabin within 24 hours.  

We didn’t have the confidence back in 2007 to tell entrenched Bearskin employees that expecting guests to wade through 6 inches of water to access a dock was ridiculous. We may not have started with a great deal of hospitality business experience, but even back then we weren’t comfortable with leaving problems unsolved. Bearskin is about providing a quality experience and sometimes that costs money, along with agreat deal of staff effort and time. We’re in the business of helping guests make great memories on their vacation.  We try hard not to forget that.

Which brings us to us to the point of this post:  the remarkable staff that Bearskin has gradually acquired. When we arrived in 2007, we did not initially start with a staff group that was uniformly enthusiastic about serving Bearskin guests. We inherited some fabulous employees, but also a few with serious attitude problems. Our long-time guests still enjoy retelling all the good reasons for those problems, but from our standpoint we are very grateful that isn’t the way it goes now. 

Our current staff is young, energetic, and capable.  They’re well-educated, live healthy lifestyles, maintain positive attitudes, and enthusiastically embrace the challenges of life on the edge of the wilderness.  We can ask anything of them — “Quick, build 11 bridges by tomorrow!”–and they embrace the challenge. Guests repeatedly compliment us on the quality of current Bearskin employees.

So here’s a big “thank you” to the great group of people who actually make Bearskin Lodge possible.  Rain or shine, high water or deep snow, 90 degrees above zero or 50 degrees below, they cheerfully build ramps, shovel snowdrifts, retrieve dead animals, clean up wads of chewing tobacco, do mounds of  unwashed dishes, trap intruding mice, answer inexplicable e-mails, toss out dirty diapers, rescue canoeists, collect endless bags of trash, retrieve escaped boats, and solve all the other daily problems of resort life.  They do so in a drama-free way, with a positive attitude that makes working with them a pleasure. They are appreciated!

A group of Bearskin staff members dining at Trail Center restaurant courtesy of a much appreciated gift certificate from Jan, Bill, Mary and Rick.

There has been confusion in the media and in our community over which Boundary Waters entry points are still open, particularly concerning which entry points are part of the Vento Unit. Here is the latest information:

 OPEN COOK COUNTY BWCAW ENTRY POINTS

42 Brule (must stay on Brule only)

54A Seagull (must stay on Seagull only)

55A Saganaga (must stay on Saganaga only)

57 Magnetic

58 South 80 Larch

60 Duncan

61 Daniels

62 Clearwater

64 East Bearskin

66 Crocodile

68 Pine

69 John

70 North Fowl

So yes, you can still take that BWCA trip. Entry points in our area are open.  Give us a call.  Over the past few days we’ve sent out many canoeists who were displaced from other BWCA locations,  but we still have quite a few canoes and lots of gear available. Fire disrupted many BWCA plans, but it doesn’t have to end your trip possibilities.

Smoke intermingled with the clouds is giving us very red sunsets lately.

The pictures of the smoky plume emanating from the Pagami Creek fire have dominated the news for the last few days.  The fire is big news as far away as Milwaukee and Chicago, because smoke and ash are blowing that way. Canoeists are having to frantically change their trip permits because their planned routes are closed.  Consequently, everyone assumes Bearskin Lodge will burn down soon.

The fire is one of the worst fires in Minnesota history.  At this point it is bigger than the Ham Lake fire of 2007. But (and yes, this sounds cynical) if you’re not in it, everyone loves a big fire. It’s a good news story, so every media outlet is making the most of it.  As a result, they’ve caused a lot of worry and confusion by overplaying and under-explaining what is occurring.

The BWCA wilderness covers a huge area.  The fire is in the western section of the BWCA, around Ely. It has consumed 100,000 acres of land in one of the most well-used, beloved areas of the BWCA.  It’s an erratic, fast-moving fire that has been difficult to control.   The forest service has closed a great deal of the BWCA, but they did so to prevent canoeists from heading into the area of the fire. 

 As soon as the forest service closed entry points west of the Gunflint Trail, people started to assume that area was burning.  Those entry points are closed to keep people from taking trips that would lead them towards the fire area; they are not closed because the fire is reaching the Gunflint Trail.  Sometimes people have to be protected from their own bad choices.  The nearest point of the fire is actually 35 to 40 miles away from the Gunflint Trail.

The Cavity Lake and Ham Lake fires on this end of the BWCA taught us that anything can happen with a wildfire.  We would never say with full assurance that the Ely fire couldn’t possibly reach us.  But it would be a very improbable scenario.  Ash and sparks from the fire could start a new fire almost anywhere, but the risk of the current fire burning all the way to the Gunflint Trail is minimal. 

We had rainstorms Monday that were actually caused by the fire.  The storms brought down lots of falling ash.  The lake is ringed with little fragments of burned pine needles, which is pretty interesting.   But we have had very little smoke here. It’s worse in Chicago!

At an informational meeting today, the forest service reported that the fire did not grow appreciably yesterday or today.  The SE edge, the area of concern for our location, is reported to be very stable.   They have 250 firefighters as well as a large deployment of water carrying airplanes and helicopters working long hours at the site.  Cooler temps and higher humidity have helped diminish the fire’s growth. 

 The fact that it is, um, snowing at the moment may also slow down the burn. That should give the news media something else to talk about. 

A Road Less Traveled

Cook County Highway 12 – The Gunflint Trail, a legendary, folklore pathway for hundreds of years.  It may have been an Indian trail from the lakes of beaver country to Lake Gitche Gumee.  Then a logging road from the timber rich woods to Lake Superior.  Today, a winding highway from Grand Marais to a remote vacation land in the Arrowhead region of Northeastern Minnesota on the edge of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.  A winding road that unwinds our minds.

We wind our way northward from this quaint fishing village, now transformed into a tourist service community with many unique shops and restaurants.  As we smell the fresh air of the forest, we begin to feel a change from our sometimes hectic lives back in “the cities”.  We are leaving that world behind for a few days to reconnect with the quiet, pristine, peaceful world of nature, and with each other.

We head uphill from Lake Superior, past the small community hospital which specializes in sprained ankles and scraped knees of careless campers, past the community golf course and the sawmill, the lone survivor from the logging days.  As we pass the roadside sign for Superior National Forest , our new feelings of peace grow.  We are leaving the world of telemarketers who always seem to call just as we sit down to dinner.  The doorbell won’t ring for a few days with someone selling cookies or magazines.  The television and internet won’t prevent any form of meaningful conversations until bedtime.  There are no sales quotas or production  meetings this week.  No voice mail or tweets, or even cell phone disconnects.

We are entering the world of nature.  Skyscrapers and electronic towers are replaced by trees and views of distant hills across grassy valleys.  There are no manicured lawns here.  We don’t have to impress the neighbors.  The shoulders of the highway are carpeted with millions of tiny yellow wildflowers with an occasional pink or purple lupine tossed in.  Nature does give us a pretty burst of color every now and then.  We proceed up the trail with birch, aspen, poplar and pine sharing our roadside vista.  Occasionally we meet a car coming towards us – about ½ carrying at least one canoe or kayak.  We hope they have enjoyed the wilderness as much as we do.

We pass the first resort sign, Bearskin Lodge 20 miles.  The “other” world begins to peel away as skin following the summer’s first sunburn.  We begin to seriously wind down as neck muscles loosen a little and drain some of the stress from our bodies.  All the “stress” events of the “other” world don’t matter here.

Total relaxation won’t completely take over for a few days, but we can feel it start to envelop our bodies and psyche.  Our attitude begins to change from one of too many deadlines and unreasonable procedures of the business world to acceptance and cooperation in the natural world.  Control freaks don’t do well here.  We work together to finish ordinary chores and enjoy our friendship and time together – it’s fun to be here, together, in this world.

Another sign – Bearskin Lodge 12 miles.  We continue our winding  journey, uphill, downhill, left curve, right curve, a brief straightaway and then more hills and curves.  Our anticipation mounts as we break the crest of each hill.  Is it around the next bend?  We pass a small lake on the west shoulder – I make a mental note to bring the canoe back and try for a few small mouth bass.

Bearskin Lodge 6 miles – almost there.  We had hoped to see a few critters on our drive, a deer, a bear, a moose, a fox.  Not today, but there will be more drives before the week is over.  We have learned to respect their land and enjoy our brief meetings.  This is their world – they live here.  We only visit.

Finally we see the final sign – Bearskin Lodge – we made it.  It’s been a long 6 hour drive, but we are here.  Cabin 10.  It’s called cabin 10 by the resort owners.  It’s called heaven by us.  Cabin 10 is a beautiful log cabin made with 24 inch diameter, Engelmann Spruce  logs.  The quiet and serenity of this place completely surrounded by forest, 20 rods from the lake is why we drove here.  The massive logs give us a feeling of security compared to our 2 X 4 walls and aluminum siding 20 feet from another house with 2 X 4 walls and aluminum siding.  It’s good to be here.

“Here” is peace and quiet, serenity and relaxation.  There are no schedules or demands here.  When we get hungry, we eat;  tired we sleep.  When we want to fish, we fish, or hike, or swim, or paint, or read a book.  We take cameras to relive memories that nature gives us.  This also allows us to share memories of Bearskin with friends back home.

Bottom line – we are here.  The journey has become the destination.

Bruce Bates

July 2011

In between we should have blogged about our fantastic summer staff or about celebrating the anniversary of buying Bearskin. We certainly should have written about the Gunflint Canoe races, the mid-July flooding, or the 97-year-old kayaker. Didn’t happen. The down side of  having an extraordinarily full resort all summer is that it’s very time-consuming.  Busy is a good thing.

The one blog we didn’t need to write this summer was the annual post usually entitled something like “Help, we need a recipe idea for the Taste of the Gunflint event.” Luckily for us, one of our longtime guests, Sarah Dale, did the thinking for Bearskin and came up with an inspired idea. The original concept was for resorts to serve a recipe featured in the Gunflint Trail cookbook, A Taste of the Gunflint Trail, such as the recipes for Sally’s Acorn Squash Soup and Sally’s Herb Bubble Bread. But we’ve already used all the doable Bearskin recipes that were included in the book.

Sarah Dale has been visiting Bearskin for years, and has fond memories of cooking school with Bearskin’s almost legendary former Chef Sally Bresnahan. Sarah even saved this stylish birchbark cookbook from 1994. (It’s desperately trying to return to tree trunk form, but with effort you can flatten it out enough to read the recipe pages.)

Sarah collected many of Chef Sally’s recipes over the years and suggested that we try Sally’s Fresh Mushroom Soup. I think of mushroom soup as a goopy, beige substance dumped out of a red and white Campbell’s can into a casserole dish. We use it, but we sure don’t eat it.

So we had our doubts about this recipe. Then we tried it. No wonder people love it – this is mushroom soup of a very different kind.

We’ll be serving Sally’s Fresh Mushroom Soup during the Taste of the Gunflint Trail event this Sunday, September 4th, from 11-5. The event is a fundraiser for the very successful Chik-Wauk Museum and Nature Center.

You can work your way up the trail Sunday afternoon tasting Gunflint Trail treats, then finish up with a piece of homemade pie and ice cream on the front porch of Chik-Wauk. There’s a $5 suggested donation and coffee and lemonade will also be served. After you’ve eaten your fill, venture inside the museum to enjoy the interpretative and interactive exhibits on Gunflint Trail history. Local authors John Hendricksson, Betty Hemstad and Beryl Singleton Bissell will also be hanging out inside, ready to sign books.

If you’ll be in the area over Labor Day weekend, join us for a Taste of the Gunflint and pick up a copy of Sally’s recipe.

Alas, time is up on our brief entrance into modern times.  They are taking away the new machines.  The replacement plan is for us to buy your license for you online, using our computers, our paper, and our printer.  No more slippery blue paper licenses, apparently.  The good news is:  You can do this yourself online, and you won’t have to stand for 15 minutes at our  counter, cringing as we make mistakes typing in your weight and gender. (Buy your license here.)  The online option has been available for quite awhile.  Now  that you aren’t even getting  a fancy piece of blue paper as a reward for time spent redundantly repeating personal information to us, there may be even less of a reason to put yourself through that. 

If you are coming to Bearskin in the next 2 weeks, we STRONGLY encourage you to go online now–yes, right now–and buy your license.  The State of Minnesota is currently doing a dysfunctional act. State government may shut down on July 1st.  We did this a few years ago, so we know how it affects travel: rest stops will be closed, so every gas station bathroom along your route will be knee-deep in overflowing paper towels. (Buy some chips from those people after you visit their restrooms — it will help fund the septic systems they all need to get pumped after the rest stops reopen.) State parks will be closed, so you will have to entertain the kids en route by visiting minimalls. 

And above all, don’t expect to be able to buy a fishing license anywhere.  The DNR says enforcement crews will still be out on the lakes (you know, “essential services”) but license sales will halt.  If we’re lucky, Minnesota will get its act together and none of this will happen on July 1.  If you have already bought your license online, you won’t need to worry one way or the other.

Camper Cabin #1, completed 2 summers ago

It was a simple cabin, without electricity, heat or water  –  the world’s best little tent, a sturdy place to stay dry and relatively bug-free in any kind of camping weather. The first camper cabin was a great success, making it possible for many people to try a campground experience without owning a camper, trailer, tent, or even much gear. It was designed with a ramp in order to make it handicapped accessible. Camper Cabin #1 also proved to be an excellent starting or ending destination for many groups heading out on BWCA trips.

This year we received permission from the Forest Service to build a second camper cabin. A few lessons were learned last time, first and foremost being to get the thing finished before August. This camper cabin has a small loft, which can serve as an extra sleeping area for adults (not a good choice for small children) or as a great “out of the way”  place to store gear. It also has a screened porch. Like the first camper cabin, it is handicapped accessible, has sturdy bunks and a dining table inside, has a fire ring and picnic table outside, and has a path leading to the lakeshore from the campsite.

The first rental was June 15th. Surprisingly, Camper Cabin #2 is already somewhat  booked for this summer.  But it’s new and relatively few people were even aware that the camper cabin was being built, so it isn’t as booked up as Camper Cabin #1. You can reserve both camper cabins at reserveamerica.com (recently renamed active.com).

Below are pictures of our staff hard at work on the camper cabin.  You will note one “staff member” who is not overworking herself. (Hint: She has lots of wavy black hair.)