Bar None Lodge

A very critical part of goin’ to camp is the food. Obviously you need to eat. At camp its number one priority to eat well. A lot of meals consist of wild game; deer and grouse shot near camp, fish caught in the river or surrounding lakes. Of course there are also Vollwerth’s hot dogs and brats.* I have been fortunate to be at a few camps during mealtime and all three served me chili, a couple made with venison.

My last bowl of chili was at the Bar None Lodge, located on the West Branch of the Ontonagon River near Bergland, Michigan. Mealtime is especially serious at this camp. So much that they even post the menu for hunting season.

The kitchen of this camp is the biggest I’ve seen, with a stainless steel stove originating from the old Lakeview Restaurant in Bergland, a collection of cast iron skillets to make any chef jealous and plenty of counter space to work on. They needed a kitchen this large to feed the original crew of eight leaseholders. Plus they needed a table to accommodate them all. A large octagon shaped table serves as a centerpiece in this spacious camp.

Camp really is not the right word for this place and I can see why they named it the “Bar None Lodge”. There really isn’t anything else like it. That’s the way they wanted it. William Gray, Lee Ray, Dave Rolston and the other five original leaseholders built this camp in 1978 when they were in their "roaring" 20’s. They visited some other hunting camps and decided they needed a place of their own.

There is so much I want to show of this camp, or lodge, in a limited amount of time. This was the 16th camp I filmed. The completed film will be somewhere between 60 and 90 minutes in length. I’m not sure how I am going to edit this documentary yet as right now I’m focused on filming as many camps as possible. Once I review and transcribe all the footage I hope the story will easily fall into place. I’ve decided to also edit 5 to 10 minute stories of each individual camp to put on the website this winter and as a bonus feature on the DVDs.

*Side note:  If you have never had a Vollwerth’s hot dog, you don’t know what you are missing. Bar None, the best hot dog in the world and made right here in the U.P.!