Lob Pine Lodge

Unencumbered by "conveniences" like electricity and running water (no having to blow out the water lines every fall in preparation for winter), this is a shot of the interior of our friend's home-away-from-home. An editorial note: it's adorable, and this picture does NOT do it justice!

One year, when our friend was due to arrive for the summer, we got the key from another mutual friend so that we could "break in" and clean the cabin, put out wildflowers in vases, and fill a cooler with food, beer, wine, and ice. Even tho he figured us to be the culprits, we never have owned up to it . . . ! ;)

The cabin was named Lob Pine Lodge due to the uniqueness and stark beauty of these altered trees. From the book 'Lob Trees in the Wilderness': "Lob trees were, in effect, wilderness highway markers giving travelers much needed orientation." And, from Wikipedia, "Lob trees were prominent trees used as guides or landmarks along voyageur canoe routes. Branches were lopped (or lobbed) off the trees just below the top to make them more conspicuous. They were located at important places along canoe routes to indicate a portage, trail, or direction to a fur trading post. Often the tree was named in recognition of a bourgeois or trade official in the expedition. Research has shown that this was adopted from earlier First Nations tribes who practiced this form of marking."