All posts by Jay Richards

Ski Trail

Ski Trail Report

Trails are open for skiing and fat biking. No new snow overnight allowed for textbook spring conditions to occur today and beautiful late season skiing. Reports from folks on the trail were good. This morning we groomed all the classic tracks to take off the icy edge. Trails softened in the afternoon then glazed over again at sunset. This evening we groomed Sap Run and Sukkerbusk setting new track and also renovated and combed out Skaters Waltz. Sunday skiing will be faster in the morning before warming softens the deck in the afternoon.

We have been grooming daily on 25km of trail. 10km skate, 15km classic. This time of year be prepared for changing conditions, especially on the south facing slopes if sunny and unexpected icy/crusty spots.

Grooming plans: We will continue grooming on 25km of trail, touching up as needed until at least the first weekend of April. We will plan to be open Easter week and weekend, weather permitting but with the base we have, we are confident spring conditions will persist through the middle of March. 

Trails groomed for classic include Sap Run, Sukkerbusk, JibFly, Twin Lakes and the side of North Loup.

Trails to be groomed for skate include Skaters Waltz and North Loup. 

As we transition to spring skiing be aware of possible variable conditions mid day if sunny or temps near or above freezing this time of year. Waxing can make for much better ski experience, even if you have no wax skis the fish scale zone will work much better if a paste wax is applied to this area to keep the dry base from attracting the moisture in the snow and icing or sticking on the bottom.

Lot of animals on the move and tons of tracks everywhere, especially on the inner trails. Wovlves, eagles, grouse, porcupines, fox and pileated woodpeckers some of the wildlife sighted….keep your eyes open!  

Fat bike trails are open, click here for latest report

Total snowfall this season at 79″. Compacted base on trail 9-14″.  

There is no ski rental at Maplelag. MN Tru North in Perham MN is offering ski rental 218-346-5253

(Trail maps posted here)  

The Brant cabin available as a warming area with restrooms and sitting area and tables, parking available across from Brant cabin as well. 

Trail passes can be purchased on our website. (scroll down to bottom of page)

Late afternoon skiing on North Loup, April 1st, 2023. Track reset in the morning. Will be crusty in the morning than softening later. Pick your preference and just ski!
Sunset grooming on Sukkerbusk, April 1st, 2023.
Birch mushrooms, April 1st, 2023.
Sunset grooming on Skaters Waltz, April 1st, 2023. Early skating best on Skaters then North Loup will be good for softer skiing afternoon.
Resetting track on JibFly, April 1st, 2023.
Resetting track on Twin Lakes, April 1st, 2023.
Late afternoon striding on Sukkerbusk, March 31st, 2023.
Skating through the Switchyard, March 31st, 2023.
Fantastic skating on Skaters Waltz for March 31st, 2023.
Combing out Skaters Waltz, March 30th, 2023.
Grooming from Bullhead lake, March 30th, 2023. Take the big hill straight down! 
Combing out the skate lane on North Loup, March 30th, 2023.
Cutting fresh ski tracks on Twin lakes ski trail, March 29th, 2023.
….and fresh tracks on Twin Lakes! March 29th, 2023. Tracks went across both lakes, north to the woods and to sloughs to the north. 
Dr. Bob getting first crack on the fresh corduroy, March 28th, 2023.
Monday skiers, March 27th, 2023. Great seeing first timers to Maplelag enjoying the late season skiing.
Sunshine and miles for late season skiing! March 25th, 2023.
Maplelag, News, Seasons, Spring, Staff

March 31st Rebuild Update

We know that people are eager to hear what the future plans are on rebuilding a new lodge after a fire destroyed the main lodge on October 10th, 2022. To keep it simple and to the point, we are in a constant state of planning and seeking the best path forward. Still to be determined. We have tossed around a full variety of ideas. Having the energy, desire and passion to do what we feel is best will in the long run be the most successful for Maplelag and ensure the guests have the best experience possible. We are so blessed to be in the deep northwoods surrounded by the beauty of nature, no mater what time of year and we look forward to sharing this special place with our guests.

Maplelag is a large property with many buildings and structures. We may decide to not build a new lodge, but in place, update some cabins and build around a slightly different business model. We find that some buildings were not used to their full potential and nearly all the buildings need improvements, upkeep and changes.

At this time to rebuild a new lodge for the winter season 2023/24 is not possible. One of the biggest restrictions is financial. The hospitality industry along with many other industries were hit hard during the COVID years. We did everything we could and utilized all the resources to keep Maplelag. We are very grateful we were to remain open when so many businesses were forced to close permanently after being shut down during the restrictions.

The past month we’ve been fortunate to visit Nordic centers and trail systems, both locally, and east and west. These visits have been most valuable and inspiring to garner new ideas, rejuvenate and build energy for our future.

Brainstorming ideas for upgrades and improvements in the Candy Store cabin.
Brainstorming ideas in the Brant cabin.
Grooming March 30th past the Switchard and warming house/parilla. Ideas and plans for improvements in these buildings. More details to come as things come to fruition.

Items of discussion in our planning for next season and moving forward:

Ski Rental: We hope to have ski rental available for 2023/24. It would be on a advance reservation system so everyone is fitted proerly.

Website: We are in the process of creating and building a new website. Since we are doing this in house, this will be a lengthly process and a work in progress as the new business model comes to life.

Reservation program: Hard to believe but our old reservation program “GuestTracker” served us very well for nearly three decades. We had a backup we were able to restore but will transfer all the data to a new system. We hope to make the reservation process much more user friendly and easy to make and pay for reservations online.

New Maplelag ceramic mugs recently completed by local craft artist Mary Laabs. Along with the plastic water bottle above, these will be a few of the items available in the new store. It will be a gradual process to build up the store inventory again but we will have many items that were in the previous store available on site for sale and also online hopefully.

Asado: The asasdo or Argentinean bbq was used sparingly and we are looking for ways to use it more in the late summer and fall. This is attached to the warming house which will see some changes in the future as well.

Cabin Rentals We fully intend to have cabin rentals available for the winter season 2023/24. What units and the time frame will be available as soon as we make final decisions.

Cathouse Many of you will remember the cathouse as a meeting point after the first lodge burned in December of 99. We have been cleaning in this building to make it more efficient and safer. We call it the “Cathouse” as it stores man of the “cats” The snow cat, BobCat skid steerer and Arctic Cat snowmobile to name a few.

Thanks again to everyone for their support as we navigate the next steps forward for Maplealg. Love and peace to all.

Bike Trail

Fat Bike Trail Report

Fat bike trail is open. Wednesday we groomed the entire InnerWest loop. Should be great riding in the morning Friday and looks good for nice riding in the mornings on the weekend. Snow looks to stay south of us and with a hard freeze tonight, should be really nice riding Saturday morning. Use caution lakeside of Twin Lakes otherwise very good riding.

The InnerWest loop consists of select inner singletrack segments, SukkerWest singletrack and the Twin Lakes singletrack loop. Total distance on this loop is around 17km. The start is just south of the main parking lot. Look for the FatLagChilada signs and follow to ride the loop. Other riding options include the SukkerWest loop and the Twin Lakes loop.

Great riding Friday until mid day, March 31st, 2023. Saturday should be good most of the day but best to get out before noon for best conditions.
Silky smooth singletrack! March 31st, 2023.
Fat bike trail after fresh grooming, March 30th, 2023.
Saturday morning riders, March 25th, 2023.
Last downhill on Twin Lakes singletrack, March 25th, 2023. Use caution descending, stay off the front brake!
Ski Trail

Ski Trail Report

Trails are open for skiing and fat biking. A great day of skiing. Very light dusting of snow overnight. No new snow today or evening as of 9pm. A little bit of wind bringing down scattered organic forest matter but otherwise great late season conditions. With no new snow today, we will be grooming in the morning Saturday bringing up drier snow. We groomed on side of the double track on Sap Run late afternoon but determined be better to groom in the morning on Saturday since no new snow. Bottom line should be great skiing on the weekend! Springlike conditions on a big base. No rain today.

Good seeing everyone out enjoying the special late season conditions! Thanks to the Twin Cities skiers that have trekked north.

We have been grooming daily on 25km of trail. 10km skate, 15km classic. This time of year be prepared for changing conditions, especially on the south facing slopes if sunny and unexpected icy/crusty spots.

Grooming plans: We will continue grooming on 25km of trail, touching up as needed until at least the first weekend of April. We will plan to be open Easter week and weekend, weather permitting but with the base we have, we are confident spring conditions will persist through the middle of March. 

Trails groomed for classic include Sap Run, Sukkerbusk, JibFly, Twin Lakes and the side of North Loup.

Trails to be groomed for skate include Skaters Waltz and North Loup. 

As we transition to spring skiing be aware of possible variable conditions mid day if sunny or temps near or above freezing this time of year. Waxing can make for much better ski experience, even if you have no wax skis the fish scale zone will work much better if a paste wax is applied to this area to keep the dry base from attracting the moisture in the snow and icing or sticking on the bottom.

Lot of animals on the move and tons of tracks everywhere, especially on the inner trails. Wovlves, eagles, grouse, porcupines, fox and pileated woodpeckers some of the wildlife sighted….keep your eyes open!  

Fat bike trails are open, click here for latest report

Total snowfall this season at 78″. Compacted base on trail 9-14″.  

There is no ski rental at Maplelag. MN Tru North in Perham MN is offering ski rental 218-346-5253

(Trail maps posted here)  

The Brant cabin available as a warming area with restrooms and sitting area and tables, parking available across from Brant cabin as well. 

Trail passes can be purchased on our website. (scroll down to bottom of page)

Late afternoon striding on Sukkerbusk, March 31st, 2023.
Skating through the Switchyard, March 31st, 2023.
Fantastic skating on Skaters Waltz for March 31st, 2023.
Combing out Skaters Waltz, March 30th, 2023.
Grooming from Bullhead lake, March 30th, 2023. Take the big hill straight down! 
Combing out the skate lane on North Loup, March 30th, 2023.
Cutting fresh ski tracks on Twin lakes ski trail, March 29th, 2023.
….and fresh tracks on Twin Lakes! March 29th, 2023. Tracks went across both lakes, north to the woods and to sloughs to the north. 
Dr. Bob getting first crack on the fresh corduroy, March 28th, 2023.
Monday skiers, March 27th, 2023. Great seeing first timers to Maplelag enjoying the late season skiing.