Big time rain on Sunday wiped out a lot of the remaining snow. Around 1.25″ of rain recorded in the gauge! A beautiful morning on Monday with sun shining and woods alive with Spring! A check of the trails found mostly ice covered sections with some areas clear. The rain did take out 3-4″ of frost but we are at least 2-3 weeks away from the mountain bike trails being ready for riding. The ice on the lake is always a good indicator and Little Sugarbush is still locked in with just a couple feet of open water from the edges.  There has been a lot of waterfowl on the move but no signs or sounds of any loons.

http://picasaweb.google.com/6birdman6/April11thTrailReportPhotos02

Despite the warm weather this week, the woods and some of the trails still holding on to some snow and enough to get out for a ski on Saturday. With rain today and continued warm temps, the snow should go fast. Some of the mountain bike trails are free of snow but we need 2-3 weeks of drying before we can open the trails otherwise riding too early will damage the trail. The weather this past week has been good for the sap to run from the maple trees but is coming to an end. We no longer collect sap but many of the locals in the area collect sap to boil down for syrup. It takes 40 gallons of sap to make a gallon of syrup!! The lake is still thick with ice and we will be lucky to have ice out by the end of this month. Last year the ice was off on April 2nd! It is great to see the signs of spring. The waterfowl is on the move looking for open water (no sounds of loons yet) and the long days and intense sunshine on the clear days is heartening.

Total snowfall  this past season was 94″.   We are closed for the season. Thanks to everyone who came to Maplelag this season making it another great year. The trails will open for mountain biking once the snow is gone and we have a few weeks of drying.

http://picasaweb.google.com/6birdman6/April11thTrailReportPhotos