Chik-Wauk Lodge

Have you ever heard of Chik-Wauk Lodge?  Do you remember watching commercials for Hamm’s Beer with wilderness waters in the background and in the foreground a large bear in a boat or a canoe?  Chik-Wauk Lodge and the last owners, Ralph and Bea Griffis were the hosts to this bear and his film crew on numerous occasions.  We have the old wooden boat the bear rode in hanging in our lodge.  Chik-Wauk Lodge was bought out by the USFS in 1980 with provisions from the 1978 BWCAW bill.  Ralph and Bea had operated it since 1957 and were allowed to live in the lodge building until the fall of 2000.  We were lucky enough to get to know Ralph and Bea when we bought Voyageur.  They are two very kind and wonderful individuals and the lodge they operated held many special memories for them.  I remember a conversation I had with them about the future of their lodge after they were no longer allowed to live there.  I thought it should be preserved for future generations to be able to see and started to talk with then USFS District Ranger Joe Barnier about getting it placed on the National Historic Register.  As a member of the Gunflint Trail Scenic Byway Committee I brought up the idea of having Chik-Wauk as an interpretive center at one of our meetings.  The Scenic Byway Committee thought this would be too big of a task for us and so we planned an informal meeting about this possibility.   From that meeting, a group of motivated individuals from the Gunflint Trail, have formed the Gunflint Trail Historical Society with its first project being the Chik-Wauk Museum.  You can be a charter member of the Gunflint Trail Historical Society and help to make Chik-Wauk a place for everyone to remember.  Just continue reading on where to send your $10.00.