GGO is getting a new dock

Last year's high water opened our eyes to how effective the large new dock in main camp is! With its welded frame and concrete piles, it did not budge an inch, despite being 11 inches under water for the better part of a month. The dock at GGO, on the other hand, did float up when the water got high. Originally built in 1993, we spent many days in 2009 patching it up and adding boardwalks to it just to get people to and from the planes in the high water. Over the winter, it was unknown what kind of shape the GGO dock would be in come spring. We decided not to risk anything and we bought all the concrete, steel, and pressure-treated lumber we would need to replace the dock - this before even knowing what shape it would be in. To our surprise, the dock had settled back down to its original position and looked good. However, the already aging wood took a big hit when it was submerged last year. Since we have a relatively light opening in terms of bookings, we decided to get the project done quickly before we really start filling up in early June. The low water and the fact that our first GGO guests arrive on June 3rd provided us with a perfect opportunity to get cracking on this dock! Pat took a crew of 6 guides over to GGO and started dismantling parts of the old dock. The plan was to pour concrete into the existing cribs, then extend the dock further out into the lake out and add a big "T" section - much like what we have here at the main lodge. Because of the dock's vulnerability to big East winds, the "T" section will provide a nice little haven for the boats that are parked there. There is also a floating section that will extend further on the GGO side to both dock planes and load/unload people from the boats if the water gets too low. The mastermind on the project is once again Leo. He has been getting all the steel ready so that once he gets to GGO, it will just be a matter of welding the pieces together and voila! New dock. Three solid days of work last week resulted in us having the cribs poured and all the steel prepped and ready to weld. Mother Nature has thrown us a curve ball recently as we've had a lot of rain. Because of this, the project has been at a stand-still for the past three days but the forecast looks good this week so we should be able to wrap up the major rebuild before too long. We'll be sure to add pictures of the new dock soon!