Feels a bit like winter to start off the month of November. First flakes of snow on Sunday and Monday and a hard freeze last night with temps down in the 20’s. Colder weather getting us excited for the upcoming winter season and potential for snow and skiing later this month.
We have had a fantastic fall of trail work and continuing this week up until deer hunting. The trails are now closed for the upcoming deer hunting season. We will open the trails again when there is enough snow to groom for the ski and fat bike trails. Lodging for the winter season operations will begin the December 17th weekend. There is no lodging available for winter operations before that but if skiable snow, we will have the trails open for day skiing.
Last of the poplar leaves coming down, November 1st, 2021.Brief moment of sunshine at top of “Toot” hill, November 1st, 2021.
The mountain bike trails are now closed for the dirt season. The trails will open again for the winter season and fat biking, weather permitting, Thanksgiving weekend. Once again we will be grooming over 20km of trail for fat biking. Thanks everyone that helped make it another fantastic year of Mountain Biking at Maplelag!
Sunset ride on Bulhead Bootleg, October 31st, 2021. Trails closed at sunset on November 1st.Grooming fat bike trails at Maplelag, February 13th, 2021. Once again we will have over 20km of fat biking available featuring the Twin Lakes and Bullhead Bootleg singletrack loops.
Happy November 1st! First flakes of snow last night lingering into today! We are excited for the upcoming winter season and potential for snow and skiing later this month. We have had a fantastic fall of trail work and continuing this week up until deer hunting. The trails are closing at sunset today for “dirt play”. We will open the trails again when there is enough snow to groom for the ski and fat bike trails. Lodging for the winter season operations will begin the December 17th weekend. There is no lodging available for winter operations before that but if skiable snow, we will have the trails open for day skiing.
Still some fall color with the tamaracks at peak in the middle of Kohlepp slough, October 23rd, 2021.Bullhead lake as seen from the Bullhead lake trail, October 23rd, 2021.End of Twin Lakes ski trail, October 21st, 2021. Ready for winter snows!Looking across slough towards south Twin Lake, October 21st, 2021. Ice on the edges! Clearing deadfall on Twin Lakes trail, October 21st, 2021.Poplar and tamarack trees displaying their autumn gold this week, October 19th, 2021.Late fall color scene at Twin Lakes crossing, October 20th, 2021. Saturday hikers on Rootin Tootin! October 16th, 2021.Frosty coating at start of JibFly trail, October 16th, 2021.Frosty scene at Twin Lakes crossing, October 16th, 2021.Saturday clearing on Skaters Waltz, October 16th, 2021.
Trails are open. Overall mostly tacky conditions. Nice weekend of riding in place. Best conditions will be in the afternoon. This is the last weekend to ride for the dirt season. Trails will be closed for deer hunting at sunset on November 1st. We will open the trails again for the winter season, weather permitting, Thanksgiving weekend.
One more ride on Bullhead Bootleg, October 25th, 2021. (Ben Olson photo)Navigating the “Moorhead” singletrack rock garden, October 25th, 2021. (Jamie Jepson photo)Wooden feature on “Bjorp’s” singletrack, October 25th, 2021. (Jepson photo).Twin Lakes singletrack, October 23rd, 2021.Bullhead Bootleg singletrack, October 21s,2021. Great sight lines with the leaves down. Suicide Hill, October 21st, 2021.Lakeside singletrack, October 19th, 2021.Sunday Funday! Incredible riding conditions for October 17th.
Beautiful late October weekend in place. Just under an inch of rain on Wednesday. Up until this point, it had been relatively dry. Overall conditions this fall have been great for clearing leaves off the ski trails with the dominating dry weather as we finish our final phase of fall grooming. We have been working on most of the trail system daily clearing leaves off as they fall. Having the trails as clear as possible before the snow flies allows us to open the trails on minimal snow.
Maplelag is committed to 100% natural snow skiing and we spend extra time preparing the trails to be able to provide good skiing on minimal snow.
The mountain bike trails are open for riding. We will continue maintaining the trails, and will be open, weather permitting, until November 1st. The Maplelag trails are closed to horse travel and motorized vehicles.
Still some fall color with the tamaracks at peak in the middle of Kohlepp slough, October 23rd, 2021.Bullhead lake as seen from the Bullhead lake trail, October 23rd, 2021.End of Twin Lakes ski trail, October 21st, 2021. Ready for winter snows!Looking across slough towards south Twin Lake, October 21st, 2021. Ice on the edges! Clearing deadfall on Twin Lakes trail, October 21st, 2021.Poplar and tamarack trees displaying their autumn gold this week, October 19th, 2021.Late fall color scene at Twin Lakes crossing, October 20th, 2021. Saturday hikers on Rootin Tootin! October 16th, 2021.Frosty coating at start of JibFly trail, October 16th, 2021.Frosty scene at Twin Lakes crossing, October 16th, 2021.Saturday clearing on Skaters Waltz, October 16th, 2021.Moss along the mountain bike singletrack, October 16th, 2021. Moon rise over Maplelag, October 13th, 2021.Leaf clearing on a mossy segment of Skaters Waltz, October 12th, 2021.Clearing a “snow field” on the side of Skaters Waltz, October 12th, 2021. We have random “fields” designated along the trail to collect snow we use to transport to the ski trails vulnerable areas such as south facing, turns and uphills.Porcupine in a tree off in the distance along Skaters Waltz extension October 12th, 2021. Good to see the Maplelag creek flowing again after the weekend rain, October 11th, 2021.Rootin Tootin trail, October 7th, 2021Crossing to the western trails, October 7th, 2021.Mountain bike singletrack, October 6th, 2021. We are clearing leaves off the singletrack this week as well.Another clearing on Suicide Hill, October 5th, 2021.Fall grooming on Sap Run trail, October 4th, 2021.Our wonderful trail volunteer, Denny, out for a hike on Skaters Waltz. Good to see Denny out after hip surgery the end of the summer. October 4th, 2021. Clearing out side of trail on “Kamikaze Hill” on Skaters Waltz, October 4th, 2021. There are select areas we clear along the side of the trail used for “snow farming”. On south facing slopes or other areas that need more snow on the trails, we have spots we can shovel from early season to build up the base. Fall color scene at end of Maplelag driveway, October 1st, 2021.Leaf clearing on Sukkerbusk trail, September 30th, 2021.
A Family Owned and Operated Destination Cross-Country Ski Center
