Wintermoon Summersun began as one woman’s personal quest to create an eco-friendly, off-grid homestead in the Superior National Forest, over fifty years ago.

Kathleen Anderson purchased the initial land, moved in a historic Finnish farmhouse that was threatened with demolition, and hand-built a log bunkhouse, a sauna, and several other outbuildings. She established solar panels for electricity, and dug an 80’ deep well for water. Once she had established her space, she turned to preserving the area as a whole, purchasing hundreds of surrounding acres of forestland to protect it.

But the heart and soul of Wintermoon Summersun has always been the sled dogs. Kathleen was an integral part of the mushing community, and Wintermoon Summersun soon had almost thirty resident Alaskan huskies, each with their own personalities, quirks, and fan bases.

For over forty years, Kathleen shared Wintermoon Summersun as a woman-focused dogsledding and sea kayaking retreat lodge. It became a place to go to learn about more than sled dogs, but about the natural world, the boreal forest, and sustainability — all with wonderful people, fantastic home-grown food, and a traditional Finnish sauna.

When Kathleen passed in early 2024, Wintermoon Summersun took a bit of a pause — one that has been extended now after many of the handcrafted buildings including the homestead (along with everything inside) burned to the ground in the Camp Fire of May 2025.

However, if we’ve learned anything over the past half century, it’s that Wintermoon Summersun is an incredibly important place, and also that it’s much more than just a place. The dogs were heroically evacuated. The many people who have connected over those dogsleds and kayaks and that long wooden table still remain united. This is just the next part of the story.

As the trust running Wintermoon Summersun begins to rebuild, return to this page often. We’ll be adding ways to connect and help. For now our fundraising is through the GoFundMe below, but there will be a better mechanism soon.

We welcome you here with us.

Trondheim strong!