The History of Northwinds Adventures
Farm Life
Every place has a story; Northwinds Adventures is no different. Situated on 220 acres with the beautiful spring fed, 10-acre Love Lake as the focal point, Northwinds Adventures is truly a unique property. The old homestead, rock fence lines and antique farm implements still “hidden” around the property tell a tale of farming and living off the land before mining arrived in the Keweenaw.
Love Lake
Love Lake was built in the 1960s by a local businessman. With several springs flowing year round through the property, once the lake bed was dug out, it did not take long before all of the natural springs created a fertile, 25-foot deep, 10-acre jewel.
Northwinds Goose Camp
Previously, the Northwinds property operated as a commercial goose hunting camp. We are located along a main migration route and our 8-acre Glacier Marsh and Love Lake are a popular rest stop for waterfowl of all kinds. Based on the waterfowl population on the property these days, there is no doubt the hunters who came through camp enjoyed successful hunting trips in a beautiful setting.
Keweenaw Base Camp
Back in the summer of 2012, current owner Carl Treankler toured the property when the previous owners were looking to retire. It was pretty close to love at first sight, and shortly thereafter, Carl was the proud owner and needed to figure out he was going to do with it!
Enter Camp Luther, a Christian Bible Camp in Three Lakes, Wisconsin…
Carl and his long time business partners, Larry Treankler and Terry Handstedt (Bay Tek Games, MCL Industries, LMG Presses, Green Bay Blizzard), have been generous in their support of Camp Luther over the last 30 years, and the decision was made to develop the land into an adventure base camp for the 15-18-year-old campers from Camp Luther. Unlike most summer camps, where the campers arrive and rarely leave the property for the duration of their stay, Keweenaw Base Camp (as the name implies) functions as a base of operations while the campers venture out during the day on exciting kayak trips, mine tours, waterfalls hikes and mountain bike excursions. This relationship continues as we enter our fifth year of hosting campers from Camp Luther/Keweenaw Base Camp from mid-June to mid-August.
Northwinds Adventures Today
In the more than 5 years that the Keweenaw Base Camp was established, there have been many changes. A 4 room counselors quarters was built to house the seasonal group leaders from Keweenaw Base Camp / Camp Luther and to serve as supplemental lodging for other guests. A second seasonal platform tent village was added prior to the summer of 2017 to increase our group capacity to 70 campers. The Brook Trout and Walleye cabins came on line in June of 2017 and offer nightly lodging for guests to the Keweenaw area and over the winter of 2017/18, the beach-side pavilion received an insulation and heat upgrade to make it available for year round use. The work is ongoing to add infrastructure to better serve Keweenaw Base Camp and it’s mission and to make Northwinds Adventures the premiere lodging option for visitors to the Keweenaw Peninsula; the Upper Peninsulas “upper peninsula”!
Our Village encompasses and owns a diverse group of various companies in three complementary competencies; manufacturing, innovation and community service. We are 515 employees strong centered around our common Core Values. Combining each of these market focuses allows us to have a very unique perspective and group of resources to develop innovative solutions, products and experiences that few others can even dream of offering. To that end, these are the four guiding principles we live by:
To work with people we love and care about. |
To create opportunities for the people we love and care about. |
To make a difference in the lives of our customers and suppliers. |
To run successful businesses so we can give back to the communities we live in and work in. |