Consider a therapeutic sauna session to end a day on the lake or trails.
There will be matches, kindling and wood in the cedar-clad sauna for the stove. If desired, there is a wooden bucket for adding water to the rocks on top of the sauna stove for steam. Robes in the sauna closet are for your use. The shower adjacent to the sauna is available to use during the summer months; in the winter consider jumping in the snow!
There is an outdoor fire pit and outdoor grill for you to use. It is essential that you determine if fires are allowed in the area at the time of your visit. Please be sure that sparks do not escape and that fires are properly extinguished. There is a five-gallon bucket in the basement to be filled with water at the outside faucet. Please have this standing by. The owners are very cautious about fires, as the cabin was built in the aftermath of the 2007 Ham Lake Fire which burned 75,000 acres of forest.
There are two one-passenger 10' kayaks, one two-passenger kayak, a canoe and life jackets for you to use. The cabin is located on the south shore of Gunflint Lake, about halfway down the length of the lake. There are great options for day paddling in either direction. Gunflint Lake is a very large, sparsely populated, “motor-traffic” region within and adjacent to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. There is no dock on the shoreline - canoes and kayaks are launched from land so you will get your feet wet.
There are six sets of snowshoes for you to use at the cabin. Trails accessible directly from the cabin include the Gunflint Lake South Rim, Bryce Breon Trail and the Border Route Trail. Many of the snowshoe trails can be hiked in the other seasons.
The cabin is part of the Upper Gunflint Trail System with groomed ski trails. You can access the trail system directly from the cabin. The Upper Gunflint Trail Ski Pass is required and can be purchased at local lodges.
photos courtesy of PlansMatter