Lakefront MN Family Vacations

Almost everyone who visits the Gunflint Trail and northeastern Minnesota has heard of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW). Unfortunately, there are many visitors and guests staying on the Gunflint Trail that think that you have to canoe and camp overnight inside the BWCA in order to experience the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. That misconception is not true.

BWCAW CANOE DAY TRIPS
One of the popular Gunflint Trail summer activities, for people staying at a resort on the Gunflint Trail is to take a day trip into the Boundary Waters. There are many unforgettable “canoe day trips” into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area that can be made easily by people who are not experienced canoe paddlers. One of the better known canoe day trips into the BWCA is to go to Stairway Portage and Rose Falls, a waterfall between Duncan Lake and Rose Lake near the U.S./Canadian border.

Being adjacent to the BWCA(W), Hungry Jack Lodge and Campground is an excellent starting location for a canoe day trip to Rose Falls and Stairway Portage. Canoe rentals are available from Hungry Jack Lodge & Campground for BWCA(W) day trips and are very reasonably priced. So, unless you have your own canoe, we suggest that you get your Gunflint Trail canoe rental at Hungry Jack Lodge. By renting a canoe from Hungry Jack Lodge you will be able to leave for Stairway Portage and Rose Falls right from Hungry Jack Lake and not need to load a canoe on the top of your car and drive it up to Hungry Jack Lake.

DIRECTIONS TO ROSE FALLS WATERFALL
There are some people that are afraid that they will get lost is they canoe in the Boundary Waters. Trust me when I say that you won’t get lost. The trip to Rose Falls waterfall and Stairway Portage is simple and requires only a moderate amount of physical effort. For directions to Rose Falls watch the video shown below.



PLAN YOUR ROSE FALL CANOE DAY TRIP
Be sure to read the regulations shown below. Pack a lunch, snacks and water for your trip. Be sure not to take things that need to be kept cold. Make sure your camera batteries are charged. (You’ll probably take a lot of photos.) You may want to take a towel, dry shoes and possibly pants and leave them in your car so that you have dry/clean clothes when you return, if you get wet during your trip. Don’t forget the sunscreen and a cap.

Hungry Jack Lodge and Campground does have snacks, beverages and drinks available in the lakeside “Loggers Lounge” located in the main lodge at our Gunflint Trail family and fishing resort. “All You Can Eat”, family style dinners are available at Hungry Jack Lodge but require advanced reservations. Plan ahead, by making your dinner reservation the day before your canoe day trip (call us at 1-218-388-2265). Then, when you return from your BWCAW canoe day trip to Rose Falls you can relax and have a drink or two before dinner in what many consider the nicest lodge and dining room on the Gunflint Trail.

BWCAW REGULATIONS
Permits are required to enter the Boundary Waters and must be carried with you during your BWCA trip. Free Day Use Permits are available at Hungry Jack Lodge. Motors are not allowed on Duncan Lake or most lakes within the BWCA. The maximum group size in the Boundary Waters is nine people and four watercraft. Pack out whatever trash you have. Do not throw fish remains or litter in the lakes. Cans and glass bottles are not allowed in the BWCAW. Containers of insect repellent, medicines and other items that are not foods or beverages are the only cans or bottles allowed. Read the full BWCAW Regulations.

GUNFLINT TRAIL RESORT
Hungry Jack Lodge & Campground on the Gunflint Trail in northern MN has lakeside cabins and log cabins for rent. In addition to our Gunflint Trail lakefront cabins, we have a 13 campsites campground with water and electric hook-up, shower house and a central dump station. Secure online cabin reservations are available on our Gunflint Trail family resort website. Reservations for our northern Minnesota lakeside campground are not available online and must be made by phone. Boats, motors, canoes and pontoon boats are available for rent. The lake view “Loggers Lounge” in the lower level of our Gunflint Trail, Grand Marais, MN resort offers full beverage service, pizza and snacks.

For more information about Hungry Jack Lodge and Campground be sure to visit our website at http://www.hungryjacklodge.com/ or call us at 1-218-388-2265. For cabin, campground or dinner reservations call us at 1-800-338-1566.

Well, what do you think?  Do you like the new look of the Hungry Jack Lodge and Campground News/Blog?  We hope that you like it.

The layout and look of our blog previously used one of the plain looking generic templates that was available from Blogger.  The new blog template uses a newer graphic logo in the Header of the blog that emulates the new main lodge building at our northern Minnesota lakefront family resort.  The new logo was created by graphic artist Cathi Erickson.  This new logo will be used by Hungry Jack Lodge & Campground on all of the new printings of our brochures and other printed matter.

Memorial Day weekend marks the beginning of summer.  Beginning Memorial Day weekend we will start serving the family style all-you-can-eat dinners that we at Hungry Jack Lodge are so well known for.  Reminder - Dinner reservations at our MN lakefront family resort must be made a day in advance.  So, if you want some of the best cooking available in all of MN while overlooking Hungry Jack Lake from our Gunflint Trail lakeside dining room of our lodge be sure to call Hungry Jack Lodge (800-388-1566) and  make your dinner reservations in advance.

SUMMER IS RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER
The photo on the right is of John Gulbranson.  John caught this 28 walleye in his usual fishing spot right off the dock on Saturday May 22. He caught and released this beauty. He was using a large sucker minnow fishing off the bottom in about 10 ft of water.

I know that we sometimes sound like a broken record about this issue, but be sure to make your vacation reservations at our northern MN family and fishing resort early.  That's the only way that you can insure getting the lakeside log cabin or rental cottage  that you want on the dates that you need or want. Hungry Jack Lodge and Campground offers safe and secure online MN cabin and cottage reservations.  Or, if you prefer you can call us at 800-388-1566 to make your Gunflint Trail rental cabin reservations and.  Reservations for the northern Minnesota campground at Hungry Jack Lodge and Campground must be made by phone and are not excepted using our online reservation system at this time.

The MN walleye and northern pike fishing seasons open on May 15th In 2009 the ice was not totally out of most Gunflint Trail lakes until just a few days before the MN walleye opener but this year Hungry Jack Lake and most other lakes in northern Minnesota were ice free a few weeks ago. Only time will tell as to whether the walleye fishing will be as good during the first few weeks of the season this year as it was in 2009.

Clean out your tackle box and get your lakefront fishing cabin booked at Hungry Jack Lodge on the Gunflint Trail in northern Minnesota as soon as possible. We already have a number of reservations for the Walleye Opener and expect to fill up lakefront rental cabins quickly.

MN LAKEFRONT RESORT ONLINE RESERVATIONS AVAILABLE
Unfortunately our online reservation system for cabin rental was down for a few weeks in April.

But, during this past week we have switched our lakeside cottage and log cabin Online Reservations to a new system. The new reservation system for our lakefront rental cabins now offers more photos of our cabins and cottages along with better descriptions. Just as in the past, you can be assured that any cabin or log cabin reservations that you make at our lakeside Gunflint Trail, Grand Marais, MN resort using our online reservations is totally secure.

VIRTUAL TOUR OF OUR MN FAMILY RESORT
The Virtual Tour of our Gunflint Trail resort has over the past couple of year become outdated, but we are in the process of being brought up to date.

During the winter 10 new “scenes” were shot at two different locations for our northern Minnesota resort Virtual Tour. There are now scenes of our newly constructed log lodge, including the main level with dining & sitting areas and gift shop, “loggers lounge” bar level and a number of exterior scenes.

Our old family lakefront resort Virtual Tour had been lacking tour “scenes” of our premium Elk log cabin. There are now 3 different Elk Cabin virtual tour scenes available for you to view.

The new virtual tour scenes of our MN lakeside resort are available for your viewing on the Virtual Tour page of our website and can be accessed by clicking on the text link for the scenes. We plan on shooting additional scenes for the virtual tour of our MN family and fishing resort during this coming summer. Once all of the new scenes are shot, our virtual tour will be totally re-created to include all of the new virtual tour scenes at our.

MN CABINS, LOG CABINS COTTAGE RENTALS
The rental cabins, log cabins and cottages at our Gunflint Trail, Grand Marais, MN lakeside resort are booking fairly fast for the MN summer fishing and Boundary Waters Canoe Area canoeing season. As always, our lakefront cabins and log cabins rent on a first come first serve basis. Each of our lakefront cabins is unique and many of our returning guests have a “favorite” cabin that they prefer. To make sure that you get the cabin that you want, on the dates that you want, we suggest that you book your cabin at our northern Minnesota resort as soon as you know your vacation dates.

Reservations for our campground are not available using our online reservation system at this time. Reserve one of our 13 northern MN campsites by calling (800) 338-1566. All of the facilities of Hungry Jack Lodge and Campground are available to campground guests.

We suggest that you book your lakeside cabin at our Gunflint Trail family fishing resort by using our online reservation system. However, if you have questions or for some other reason prefer to book by telephone please do not hesitate to call us at (800) 338-1566.

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The winter snowmobiling season at our Gunflint Trail lakefront resort has come to an end. We are in somewhat of a lull here at our MN lakeside family fishing resort as everyone awaits the beginning of MN fishing season.

The opening date for Minnesota Walleye fishing is May 15th. The summer Lake Trout and northern pike fishing seasons begin on the same date. May 29th is the opening date for Large Mouth Bass and Small Mouth Bass.

Because our MN family fishing resort is so popular with anglers we already have a number of lakefront cabin rental reservations for the week of the Walleye/Lake Trout opening season. However, there are still a few fishing cabin rental vacancies at our Gunflint Trail resort. If you and your friends or family plan on fishing during the week of the Walleye Opener we suggest that you make your rental cabin reservations at Hungry Jack Lodge and Campground very soon. We’re sure that remaining lakefront fishing cabins at our Grand Marais, Gunflint Trail resort will fill up quickly.

Being adjacent to the Boundary Water Canoe Area (BWCAW) guests at our northern Minnesota fishing resort also have the opportunity to fish the mid Gunflint Trail lakes inside the Boundary Waters (BWCA(W) very easily. Walleye fishing the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness is only two very short portages away from your lakefront fishing cabin at our Hungry Jack Lake resort.

Gunflint Trail fishing guide service is available at Hungry Jack Lodge family resort. Boat and canoe rentals are also available at our lakeside resort. Our family fishing resort also has live bait and MN fishing licenses along with a limited amount of fishing tackle.



For more information about Hungry Jack Lodge and Campground, located off the Gunflint Trail in Grand Marais MN., please visit our website at http://www.hungryjacklodge.com/. You’ll find a host of information on the Hungry Jack Lodge website about our lakeside cabin and log cabin rentals, fishing guide service, boat & canoe rentals and fishing in the Boundary Waters and Hungry Jack Lake itself.

Snowmobile trail grooming is being done today on the mid Gunflint Trail snowmobile trails and is being done 3 to 4 times each week. We got about 1” of fresh snow last night, here at our mid Gunflint Trail snowmobiling resort. Grand Marais MN received about 4” of snow last night and the Devils Track area got a very respectable 8” of snow.

Early January was poor for snowmobiling in the Grand Marais and Gunflint Trail areas of Minnesota, but that has changed. Though we personally have not had a chance to do much snowmobiling so far this year, guests staying at our MN winter resort that have been snowmobiling plus snowmobilers that stop in to quench their thirst or to enjoy some of the great food that we offer to snowmobilers, have reported that the Gunflint Trail area snowmobiling trails are in great shape.

The video shown below was shot by snowmobiling guests staying at our MN snowmobiling resort on January 27, 2010.



Minnesota ice fishing has been extremely good this year, both inside the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCAW) and on other lakes up and down the Gunflint Trail that are outside the BWCAW. In addition, with temperatures being a little warmer than normal along the Canadian / Minnesota border, ice fishing has been more bearable, resulting in most ice fishing being more productive that we normally see in the Gunflint Trail area. People are staying out on the ice longer and catching more fish than they would normally get while ice fishing during January and February. We’ve seen a lot of nice lake trout that have been taken by ice fishermen staying at our Minnesota winter resort this year.

Winter log cabin rental availability and online reservations are temporarily unavailable from the Hungry Jack Lodge website due to our winter family resort switching over to a new reservation system. Hopefully we will have the issue solved soon. Until our online reservations and availability are online again please phone in your reservations for winter cabins and winter log cabin rentals. Hungry Jack Lodge reservations can be called in toll free at: 1-800-338-1566.

Our snowmobile rentals for the Grand Marais MN and Gunflint Trail area have been flying out the door. If you or someone in your group needs a snowmobile rental for the Gunflint Trail be sure to phone Hungry Jack Lodge winter resort with your snowmobile rental reservation as soon as you know the dates that you will be on your snowmobile vacation.

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Ice fishing for trout on northern Minnesota’s Gunflint Trail has so far turned out to be one of the best in recent years. This year, all of the trout ice fishermen are being blessed with mild temperatures for a change. It is usually -20F or colder during early trout ice fishing season. Ice fishing success so far this season is generally pretty good.

Hungry Jack Lodge, located mid-trail on the Gunflint Trail, is surrounded by several lake trout lakes that seem to produce a good number of fish during the ice fishing season each year. A few of the ice fishing lakes in the area of our northern MN winter resort, that can be accessed by snowmobile are; Moss Lake, West Bearskin Lake, Birch Lake and Clearwater Lake.

ICE FISHING IN THE BWCAW
If you are feeling more adventurous and would like to hike in to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) to ice fish, our MN ice fishing and snowmobiling resort is located near the Duncan Lake and Daniels Lake entry points. These 2 lakes also produce some great fish throughout the winter months.

This morning at 7 am I went to the mail box and there were already 7 vehicles parked at the Moss Lake parking access. I think a lot of fisherman are taking advantage of these mild temps and getting out to enjoy the Minnesota northwoods. Live minnows are usually a bait of choice, however don’t forget, designated trout lakes prohibit the use of live minnows.



NORTHERN MN WINTER LOG CABINS
If you are considering coming up to the Boundary Water Canoe Area (BWCAW) or Gunflint Trail to ice fish we suggest making your reservation as soon as you can. The winter cabin rental vacancies at our MN winter resort have been very minimal and we are running close to full during recent weeks.

Due to somewhat poor snowmobiling conditions we still have some winter cabins and log cabins available for rent at our Gunflint Trail winter resort. However, once we get some heavier snows, the winter cabins available for rent at our Gunflint Trail family winter resort are sure to be filled by snowmobiliers and ice fishermen alike. Make your winter cabin rental reservations early!!

For more information about our Grand Marais, Gunflint Trail winter resort or to make reservations for a family winter vacation visit our website at: http://www.hungryjacklodge.com/ You can also call us at (800) 388-1566 to find out about our current winter snow, ice fishing and snowmobiling conditions.

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GUNFLINT TRAIL SNOW REPORT









We currently have a fair number of winter cabin rentals available at our Minnesota winter resort for the snowmobiling and ice fishing season. If possibly, we suggest that you make your winter vacation reservations at our Grand Marais, Gunflint Trail resort as soon as possible to insure that you can get a rental log cabin on the dates that you want.

GUNFLINT TRAIL & GRAND MARAIS SNOW REPORTS

The Gunflint Trail area and Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) in northeastern MN have again proven to be very productive for ruffed grouse and moose hunters in 2009.

TWO FOR TWO ON MN MOOSE HUNTING

Pat Kruger & Burt Weeks along with Bob and Tyler Kreofsky are real happy. They hjarveated two moose and are pictured below with some of the people who helped in bringiong the game out of the woods.

All of the hunters shown are from Plainview, Minnesota.

GROUSE HUNTING AT OUR NORTHERN MN RESORT

As is almost always the case, ruffed grouse hunters at our Gunflint Trail lakefront hunting and fishing resort are having an excellent year. Due to the high success rate that grouse hunters consistently experience in northeastern Minnesota, many of the fall guests at Hungry Jack Lodge & Campground return year after year to hunt ruffed grouse in the Gunflint Trail area of MN.

Lakeside cabin, log cabin and cottage rentals are available during the summer, fall and winter seasons of the year at our Minnesota family resort. Our deluxe lakeside family resort cabins and log cabins accommodate from 2 to 20 people. Our Gunflint Trail lakeside resort welcomes any size group or family for summer, fall or winter vacations or get-away's.

For more information about Hungry Jack Lodge and Campground visit our Minnesota resort website at http://www.hungryjacklodge.com/ Online MN lakefront cabin rental reservations are available from the Hungry Jack Lodge & Campground website. Or, you can call us at (800) 388-1566. We will be glad to answer any questions you may have about our Gunflint Trail, Grand Marais, MN lakefront family resort.

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When the new lodge at Hungry Jack Lodge and Campground is completed it will be the most up-to-date and probably most impressive resort lodge on the Gunflint Trail in northern MN.

The “Loggers Lounge” on the lower level of course has a fireplace and is considerably larger and less constricted than our old bar area. When it opens, the Loggers Lounge will have tap beer (6 taps) plus full liquor service. Multiple TV's, pool table & video games plus the latest in jukeboxes. Our bar will seat almost 3 times than of our old bar and there are multiple tables available for those who do not wish to sit at the bar.

The main level of our new lakeside lodge boasts a larger dining room, an outside dining porch for use during the summer months, a large casual sitting area with fireplace, a more efficient and less crowded office & check-in area and a new & better organized gift shop. Views looking east towards Hungry Jack Lake are truly spectacular from the two story cathedral ceiling main floor area.

Our kitchen, as before, is on the main level of the new lodge. The kitchen has the latest in food preparation equipment. With more efficient kitchen equipment and a larger dining area we will be able to accommodate more people and larger private lakefront banquets, weddings and gathering than we had in the past. Once our new lodge is open we will again be serving our all-you-can-eat, family style dinners, that had been a favorite with both guests and local Cook County MN residents.

The NEW main lakefront lodge building at our Gunflint Trail, Grand Marais, MN lakeside resort will open on December 26th, for the Gunflint Trail winter snowmobiling and MN ice fishing seasons.

Beginning December 1, 2009 the new lodge will be available for Business Christmas Parties, Banquets and Weddings ONLY.

For information about the availability of Hungry Jack Lodge for banquets, weddings and parties please call us at (218) 338-1566.

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