The first snowflakes of the season fell in far northern Minnesota Friday morning

It's snowing, it's snowing, it's snowing, it's snowing. Well, if you didn't get the idea there and it's snowing or it was snowing up north. This is head camp, I think it's pronounced Minogan, I'll find out here in a minute. It is between Hungry Jack and Bearskin Lakes off the Gunflint Trail, north of Grand Marais. So yes, it's way up there and the enthusiasm here off the charts to see snowflakes in the air. It is that time of year where it's gonna happen. we're eventually bound to get our first taste of snowfall. And it's not unlikely to happen in October, but especially where these guys are. We've got Forrest Ahrens, the executive director of the camp, and who's with you here? Lisa, Louisa? I'm Louisa, I'm Louisa Mullen. Yeah, I'm the program director up here. All right, well, the two of you posting these videos from this morning, explain your enthusiasm for seeing the snow in the air. No, I think, did we lose their audio? No, guys, I think we're having a hard time hearing you. Now I just heard you again. The wonders of technology, especially from a remote area of Minnesota. Louisa, I just didn't hear you. Yeah, I can hear you Louisa, go ahead. Repeat all of that, you're explaining your enthusiasm. So it's our MEA weekend family camp right now. So we expected some fall colors, but lo and behold, we are here at the start of winter. So just enjoying that with all the families here for for the weekend. What is it about seeing those snowflakes that made you guys react the way you did? Can you say that one more time for us? I'm just saying, what is it about the snowfall, those snowflakes in the air this time of year that made you guys react the way that we saw you reacting in those videos? Yeah, we were having breakfast in the dining hall with all the families and a couple of the kids saw that it was snowing and everybody got really excited. And so a big group went outside to enjoy it. I think it's just the changing colors and the excitement for the changing seasons. And that we can still enjoy it up here. And that we have a full weekend planned while it's snowing. And it brings that excitement for the weekend. Yeah, is it easier to get enthused when you know that it's just snowflakes in the air? That it's just, it's ambiance. It's not anything that you're gonna have to actually deal with. Right, exactly, exactly. It makes the fireplace in the dining hall even more cozier. That it would, that it would. When would you typically expect to see the first snowflakes fall? And when do you typically expect to see them start to stick on the ground that far north? Forest, now we're not hearing you again. It's funny, we could hear- Weird. Yeah, no, it's there. Maybe you're not close enough to the microphone. I'm not sure. Okay. We were just saying that it is, it kind of depends on the year. We weren't really expecting to, we're worried about the snowfall this year and just how much snow we're going to get this winter. So it's exciting for us to be like, wow, it's October, the middle of October, and we're getting a little bit of snow. Some years it's later, but this is, you know, once in a while we start to see snow in October. Yeah. How much do you like it when you get a nice healthy dose of winter snowfall? up there. We love that. We really love that. I mean, so much of our winter programming is really based off of snow. We have 21 sled dogs in the winter up here. We do cross-country skiing and snowshoeing. So we love the snow up at Minojin. Yeah, Minojin. Okay. Well, tell me, I know it's a year-round camp. So what kind of programs do you offer now? And you mentioned the sled dogs. I mean, so who's all using the camp throughout the year and especially throughout the winter. Yeah, in the wintertime, we work with a lot of different groups. We host two in-house family camps over the holiday weekends in January and February. And then we work with a lot of retreats. We work with high schools. We work with college outdoor programs, affinity groups, organizations like Wilderness Inquiry brings up a number of groups with us from the Twin Cities. So a really wide range of people come up to Minojin, but usually about 60 people every long weekend. Wow, so back to the snowfall. How long did you witness this? How long did it last? Did it start and stop? And is it done? It's done. Yeah, it was just a quick blip this morning. Probably 20 minutes, don't you think? Yeah, maybe 20 minutes this morning. So maybe we'll see it, but it's supposed to warm up a little bit more tomorrow. All right, what do you got planned then for your campers for the rest of the day? Lunch is in about five minutes or so. So we're gonna head up to the dining hall for lunch. And then this afternoon, we have fort building for the kids in the woods nearby. And then we've got a couple of day trips to paddle to local overlooks in the area. Well, it looks like it's such a beautiful part of the state. I'm glad that you can get people out there to enjoy it year round. It looks like the fall colors are looking pretty good or are they? Yeah, we're kind of past peak up here at this point. Down in Grand Marais, they're probably right in peak right now, peak fall colors. But at this point, the trees are going bare. Yeah, what's that water temperature like in the lake behind you? And which lake are we seeing there? We're on West Bearskin Lake right now, about halfway up the Gunflint Trail. And it's getting really cold. We'll do a sauna tomorrow for people to sauna and jump in the lake. But this is the time of year where, what do you think? I don't know, 40s? Yeah, high 30s? Well, jump in and tell me. I mean, I mean, it's fine. Yeah, right. No problem. Yeah. All right. Well, thanks for sharing your joy and enthusiasm about seeing the snow in the air. It's always fun to see people excited about winter because down here we see it and we just think, it's gonna take me an hour and a half to get home. Right, right. Yeah, no traffic up here in the same way. All right. Well, both of you, thanks for the time today. Appreciate it. Enjoy the weekend. Thank you. Thank you so much.