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Chris Simon
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Chris Simon
Resort owner, triathlete, turkey hunter, mother —
what will she do next?
Some people are so tightly woven with a place, you can't talk about one without at least mentioning the other. Like the president and the White House. Elvis and Graceland. Minnie Pearl and the Grand Ole Opry.
The same can be said about Chris Simon and Boyd's Mason Lake Resort, an outdoor retreat deep in the Wisconsin Northwoods. Chris, along with her brother, Dick, run the resort she's called home for decades.
When Chris was 10, her family moved from California to northern Wisconsin. "My first memory of the resort was turning off Highway 70 onto the dirt road to Boyd's," she said. "It seemed as though that two-mile stretch separated the resort from the rest of the world."
Chris, now in her 50s, still describes Boyd's as a tranquil, secluded paradise. On the surface, it's a place where the sound of silence rings loudest. But beneath the four private lakes that rest on the resort's 2,600 acres are bucketsful of feisty musky, walleye, bass and bluegill, ready to fight the lines of visiting anglers.
Likewise, under Chris' calm, seemingly shy demeanor you'll find that same underlying spunk that has driven her to complete a triathalon, a wild turkey World Slam, raise two sons into successful men — and run the lakeside retreat that draws 2,500 anglers, nature lovers and vacationers every year.
Growing up lakeside
"One of my fondest memories of growing up on the resort was taking walks with my parents and grandmother," Chris said. "Every year, my grandmother would visit us for the summer. We would walk the trails from her cabin to the lodge for dinner. Our walking trails are riddled with rocks and roots, so we would mark all hazards with bright orange paint so she wouldn't fall."
Chris nurtured her adventurous spirit and love of the outdoors along the banks of Long, Little Bass, Dave and Dog lakes, where she would picnic, ride horses and swim with friends.
As an adult, she has a different perspective of Boyd's. What was her playground as a child, then a summer job as a teen, is now a 365-day-a-year occupation.
"I have more appreciation for the amount of work that goes into making the resort run smoothly and keeping our cabins in pristine condition," Chris said. "It takes commitment and dedication."
It's a labor of love, but it's worth it to Chris to live close to nature and carry on the Boyd's tradition.
About Boyd's
Founded in the mid-1890s, Boyd's is one the oldest resorts in Wisconsin. It began as a logging operation that later also became a place where city folk could spend their summer days fishing, swimming and basking in the sun. It was a world away from the likes of Milwaukee and Wasau.
Hugh Boyd, the resort's namesake, used his sawmills and the ample supply of native hemlocks to build the main lodge, various out-buildings and about 30 cabins that have served as the backbone of the resort for nearly a century. He left the resort to his sons, but that's where the family interest in Boyd's ended.
The Simon family, retired orange ranchers from the West Coast, stepped in with a check and a dream to keep the family-friendly destination open. The Simons greeted their first visitors in 1967. Chris and Dick took the reigns in 2006.
Outward and inward focus
"I admire Chris for thriving in such a remote location and creating a fulfilling life for herself," said Sue Ducrest, who has summered at Boyd's since she was 8. She and Chris are lifelong friends. "She's never bored. I live in a city with distractions all around me and I get bored. She's always preoccupied with some sort of goal, whether it's health, personal or for the resort."
One of Chris' more recent accomplishments was completing a wild turkey World Slam in 13 months. She began her quest by taking an Osceola in Florida, then a Merriam's in South Dakota. After bagging an Eastern back home in Wisconsin, she flew to Campeche City in Mexico to get an ocellated turkey. A jaunt up to Durango yielded a Gould's, and she completed her goal stateside with a Rio Grande in Monterrey, N.M.
"My slam experience taught me that if you have a dream, you should go for it," Chris said. "It was an incredible journey, not only the hunt, but the preparation and the people I met. It left me with a sense of accomplishment."
Hunting wild turkeys drew Chris to the NWTF.
"Over the past several years, our local turkey population has grown to where we now have a hunting season," she said. "I fell in love with the sport — the art of calling in a tom, knowing where to conceal myself, the uniqueness of each hunt.
"I wanted to join an organization that would preserve habitat for wildlife and that would promote ethical hunting strategies. Meeting like-minded people has been a bonus."
Chris is involved in the Price County Struttin' Toms Chapter. She helps organize its Hunting Heritage Banquet and has been the guest speaker at the Wisconsin Chapter convention, where she showed video and talked about her World Slam experience.
Making time
Spring turkey hunting is the perfect pastime for someone who runs a summer retreat. Chris gets little "me time" before the resort starts humming. It's a concentrated ball of activity — the laughter of guests in the dining room, coordinated chaos of the serving staff in the kitchen, lights flicking on an off in the cabins that surround the main lodge — amid the silent shadows of the vast forest.
Caring for guests is a 24-7 job.
"Summers are a blur of excitement," she said. "But winter sets in and everything is quiet again. The summer staff has moved out; the year-round staff is hard at work maintaining our cabins. It's nice to have time to strap on some snowshoes, take my dogs and enjoy the woods."
Ice queens
According to Chris, every season brings new opportunities and new adventures. Two years ago, she adopted a wintertime project dubbed the Women's Weekend.
"We wanted to give traditional ice fishing a feminine twist and make it a safe place for women to learn a sport they might not ever be exposed to otherwise," Chris said. Participants cozy up in an eight-person shanty, complete with a wood burning stove and crystal chandelier. If the fish aren't biting or it gets too warm inside, they can take a turn at running an auger or go for a spin around the lake on a snowmobile.
Other weekend activities include dog sledding, a timber felling demonstration, shooting and hikes through the snow to gather bows for making wreaths.
Jenny Godfrey, of Aiken, S.C., loved her time on the ice at Boyd's.
"Since it rarely snows in the South and never stays cold long enough to freeze a lake, I really enjoyed my first ice fishing and snowmobiling experiences," she said. "My husband didn't think I could handle the cold weather, but I proved him wrong by staying outside on the ice all day in 1-degree weather. Who knew a bonfire on the ice could keep you so warm?"
Chris hopes women leave the weekend empowered.
"It takes a level of courage and an adventurous spirit to try something new — to shoot a rifle, take a squirmy walleye off a hook or trust your life to a team of sled dogs," Chris said. "Most of our guests step entirely out of their comfort zone during their visit, and I hope they leave saying, 'I can't believe I did that!'"
This January, Boyd's will turn its attention to couples, changing the format of the weekend to include guys.
"Our focus will be more on dog sledding and not as much on ice fishing," she said. "I think everyone, even our year-round staff, will learn something new." — Karen Lee