“You can’t push the river” was a catchphrase of the late 60s, attributed to everyone from obscure Chinese philosophers to New Age guru Fritz Perls. Whoever said it first fully understood the type of dilemma we faced here at Scott Lake Lodge after the surprising and dramatic announcement this week about the opening of the Canadian border.
For the last three days we have burned the phone lines (actually the Wi-Fi link) with hundreds of phone calls and emails to vendors and customers, but the current against us was just too strong.
With gut wrenching disappointment we have concluded that there are just too many obstacles to pull off even a shortened season. One can imagine that quickly repopulating a small village on the 60th parallel brings with it a lot of expense and risk. Not enough of our current customers could make the commitment to make the trip. Commercial air travel and border issues were the tough issues for too many.
To justify the investment of bringing in staff, supplies, paying a premium to vendors to short notice responses we needed a full house for six groups. At only a third of our critical mass, we weren’t even close. And we just ran out of time to secure new guests and rather critical things like airplanes—fairly important at a fly in lodge. It was probably the most difficult decision in my 26 years of running the lodge. Jason Hamilton, our General Manager who put his heart and soul into getting the place ready, landed on the same decision. This was a tough call but the risks of not delivering a quality experience from your home to our dock were too much.
We can now devote all our focus on getting our island ready for the 2022 season. Our construction crew here can take a deep breath and finish with care and quality all the infrastructure work that is currently underway. We have five remodeled cabins and all thirteen have been enhanced. Hundreds of gallons of paint and stain have been put on the 28 buildings on this 12-acre island. And we have several other big surprises for our guests. We want to make sure that 2022 will be the season guests will all remember (not a patched-up season with very complicated travel arrangements and lingering Covid anxiety). Our customers’ support and trust got us through these two bizarre years. We will never take that trust for granted and we will never stop working to earn it. We will reward it.
We did have a few of our 2021 guests pass on 2022 trip and opt for refunds. So, we have some open spots for all interested anglers. We sell out every year. Don’t wait. Give our Sales Manager, Jon Wimpney, an email or better yet a phone call at 306/209-7150. With two decades of guiding here Jon can tell a fish story or two. Or if you’re lucky book you into a great angling adventure in one of the most pristine areas of the globe next summer.