After returning from my backpacking trip with some fellow classmates (as you may recall from my previous story) I immediately moved into my little room on Smitty's property and began working the next morning. Now, some of you may be wondering who or what Smitty's is. You might even be wondering where the hell it is. For your convenience, here's a map to see!
Smitty's on Snowbank is a resort located on Snowbank Lake on the northern edge of the Arrowhead region of Minnesota. For anyone familiar to the area, it's on the Ely side of the of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, 30 - 40 minutes down the Fernberg (highway 169 heading east out of Ely) at the very end of a little dirt road named Snow Lodge Road. I cannot stress enough at how wonderfully located this place is. First, Smitty's is located on Snowbank Lake, a huge, beautiful lake in one of the most breathtaking landscapes in the continental U.S. Dotted with hundreds of islands ranging in size from a couple feet across to over a mile across, Snowbank Lake by itself offers incredible scenery. On top of that, the water clarity goes down over 15 feet. And, of course, the fishing is stupendous. Now, let me get to where I fall into this. I worked here, from the spring all the way to August. I know it was just one summer, but it was one fantastic summer at that. Ron, Julie, and Denny are fantastic people to get to know. The thing that struck me the most while I was here was just how close the guests were with these guys. Most of them have been coming back to the resort for the last 10, 15, even 20 years. Some have even been coming since they were kids, now bringing their own families along.
Anyway, enough of the antics. What I really wanted to talk about were the fabulous adventures I had working at Smitty's. And yes, I meant that. FABULOUS adventures. As I said above, the location of this place is fantastic. Half of the lake itself is actually in the Boundary Waters, with various portages leading off to other lakes deeper in the wilderness. I had the opportunity to camp on a few locations around the lake during the summer, from locations around the shore to locations on some of the bigger islands. My favorite location, hinted to me by the man himself, Ron Schmidt, was a cedar grove on the southern tip of Harri's Island, the largest of islands on the lake. Aside from being a majestic cedar grove and being awesome in its own right, this site has fantastic local for anyone who enjoys sunsets. Let me describe this one to you: It was the end of a long day at work and my day off was tomorrow, so I decided to pack my things and boat out to this cedar grove spot. The wind was subsiding in the evening glow of the setting sun, as I proceeded to not set up a tent, but a hammock. For me, location was everything. To my delight, I found two sturdy trees along the shore, so after hanging it up I prepped for bed. You may be thinking, "Bed? It's summer! Why go to bed before sundown?" Again, it was long day of good, hard work. I was ready to fall over. As I lay down in my hammock, I recline back and take in the glow. The sun is just starting to come down across the lake, barely touching the tops of the trees. I lit up my pipe and slowly took a puff, instantly relaxing. And then, absolute peace washed over me. If not for just this evening, it was perfect. I lay there, puffing my pipe with the sound of the water quietly lapping at the shore beside me, watching this moment go by. The glow from the sun went to a deep orange, bathing the sky in hues of red, purple and pink while it tucked itself lower and lower beneath the treeline on the other side of the lake. It was, by all accounts, breathtaking.
Now, I have a thousand more stories to tell about this place, but the last thing I want to say is that Ron will make a man out of you. I'm not entirely sure just how hard he is on all his staff, but he would constantly slap me around and keep me guessing. But I don't mean this in any negative manner. No, this man used to be a teacher once upon a time, and teaching is something that I can see has never left him. I talk more about him than the others I met up here because I generally worked with him more than anyone else, so I got to know him that much better. Among other things, this is the guy that I will credit with really teaching me how to fish. Never in my life have I had someone go fishing with just me and talk me through all of the weird little things fishermen are supposed to inherently know. Again, city kid born and raised. My mom grew up in St. Paul, my father in Guadalajara, Mexico, which is a city of over 7 million people. So neither of them really knew about fishing. So, Ron shaped me up in this regard. On top of that, this summer was pretty hard on me. I had still been going through after shocks of some hectic times in the spring, among them the ending of long-term relationship with my high school sweetheart. As we learn in life, matters of the heart can make the deepest of wounds. By default, these are the hardest wounds to heal. Whether Ron or anyone else knew it at the time, I was still hurting. It was rough. But they helped. Ron especially helped. Whether it was on purpose or not, I still don't know. But he slapped me around enough and built me back up so I could at least be me again. For that, I could never thank him enough.
Anyway, for any of you wanting to check out this beautiful lake and the awesome resort I mentioned, check them out at www.smittys-on-snowbank.com. Adios!
