Voyageur North hopes to have cabins completed by September

Construction is planned for this summer to add five log cabins east of Voyageur North Outfitters.

The log cabins are the brainchild of owner Tanner Spicer, who wants to give people an alternative BWCA experience.

“A lot of people enjoy going on day trips into the BWCA. The advantage of staying in town is you don’t have to worry about the availability of an overnight permit for the Boundary Waters,” said Spicer.

The five cabins will be intended for those who want to experience the BWCA but with all the comforts of home.

“We have our established guests who come up to go to the Boundary Waters and stay overnight, but there’s a whole host of people that that’s not for them. They don’t want to do that,” said Spicer. “These cabins are perfect for doing that.”

Whatever the reason for staying in town, the cabins Voyageur North is planning to build will provide BWCA visitors with everything they need to enjoy the wilderness.

“Every guest will get two canoes with their cabin rental to take day trips to any entry point they want to,” said Spicer. “After their trips, guests will come back to town, go to all the great restaurants we have, and sleep in comfort. Hopefully, it can provide some economic boost for the rest of the businesses in town.”

There will be an additional game room on the property that will have an arcade in it, including a pool table, foosball and pinball machines. Guests will also be able to buy frozen pizzas, ice cream, and candy at a small shop in the game room.

The cabins will be located adjacent to Voyageur North Outfitters, between 19th Avenue and 21st Avenue, and are built by Voyageur Log Homes out of Orr, MN.

“Voyageur Log Homes had everything we were looking for with their outpost cabin. It fit the bill,” said Spicer. “If you count the loft, they’re about 906 finished square feet and are beautifully designed. They’re the perfect size for a getaway up here for the week.”

The process of building and getting the cabins permitted has been challenging for Spicer, especially because he is acting as the general contractor on the project.

“Acting as the general contractor is something I’ve never done before,” said Spicer. “There are a lot of things to learn, a lot of red tape to go through with permits and things of that nature and other problems I wasn’t expecting.”

Despite this, Spicer plans on having the cabins built by September of this year if all goes well.

He will rent the cabins out by the week, and plans on charging around $1,500.

Aside from the new cabins which Spicer plans to break ground on later this year, Voyageur North has also added some aspects to its outfitting business.

With the mild winter, Ely had this year, outfitters have been trying to evolve their business models, including Voyageur North.

“Our winter was much slower this year. We didn’t even put out our fish houses,” said Spicer. “I just didn’t feel the ice was safe enough to bring them out. I didn’t want to risk anybody’s safety.”

To evolve its outfitting business, Voyageur North will start outfitting for the shoulder season more.

“This year at the sports shows we went to, we pushed our cast and blast trips,” said Spicer. “We took a lot of reservations for those in September and October this year, and we hope to continue expanding on those.”

For the cast and blast packages, Voyageur North custom builds them for what the customer is looking for.

“We do whatever people are looking for,” said Spicer. “For example, someone from Montana came up and wanted to hunt ruffed grouse and fish walleye and smallmouth. So, we made that happen.”

On top of adding new packages to their outfitter business, Voyageur North wants to also renovate their bait store in the next year or two.

“We had planned on remodeling the bait store this winter, but with how mild it was, we couldn’t swing that this year,” said Spicer. “Hopefully we can get that remodel done next year.”

Besides the mild winter affecting how many people came in to buy bait, Voyageur North and the other outfitters in town had issues sourcing bait to sell.

“Last year was the tough year on bait because so many of the bait ponds froze over last year,” said Spicer. “They didn’t freeze out this year, and it was a super mild winter obviously, so the bait supply should be much better going forward.”

Spicer’s favorite part about owning a business in Ely is living and contributing to the area where he grew up.

“Having grown up here and having worked at outfitters and resorts, it was something I fell in love with,” said Spicer. “It was always my dream to own an outfitter someday. So being back and having the potential to have both an outfitter and a resort combined is just the ultimate dream.”