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Mountain Bike Trail Report

November 15, 2014 admin

With deer hunting season now ending, the mountain bike trails will be open for fat biking until more snow. We are hoping to maintain around 10km of trail for fat biking during the winter months.

A great weekend on the mountain bike trails with the 24th running of the Laddies Loppet mountain bike race. Thanks to everyone who came and participated, sponsored, volunteered, and helped make it another great weekend. Coverage from Sunday and coverage from Saturday’s racing on skinnyski.com

The current loop being maintained, rated intermediate to advanced (Sport/Comp/Expert), is around 9 miles. The sections of singletrack on the main loop branch off the ski trail to adjust desired loop accordingly. Follow citizen signs to get directly back to lodge. The west loop or Twin Lakes singletrack is 100% intermediate to advanced singletrack and is 3 miles in length (part of the 9 mile loop) this loop can be accessed off the driveway by the wooden bridge. The sport comp expert loop is around 9 miles and features over 1200 ft of climbing on the lap. The KidsComp/ citizen loop is just under 3 miles.

The Sport/Comp/Expert loop starts lakeside by the Northern Pacific building adjacent to the Lucky’s Loype ski trail near the lakeside. The advanced loop can also be accessed by starting left on Skaters Waltz to bypass the lakeside section. Please note that the section of trail that follow Bullhead bay is closed for riding. This section is marked off. The majority of the Maplelag trail system runs on our property. We are riders and racers that hand built all the trail with help from other riders and racers. We maintain the trails privately with no funding or assistance but we are glad to share our dirt! Please contact us at [email protected] if you plan to ride or call 218-375-4466 if any questions on conditions or riding. Thanks and Enjoy!

Keep the wheels moving!!

Mike Hess enjoying beautiful late fall conditions. October 21st, 2014.

Enjoying a beautiful October day on the mountain bike trail. October 19th, 2014.

Section of singletrack recently cleared from leaves. October 18th, 2014. We have started clearing a few sections and will do more before the snow flies.

Group of Detroit Lakes high school students set to enjoy the beautiful fall riding conditions. September 28th, 2014.

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Mike Hess finishing up the "Fargo" section of singletrack. September 9th, 2014. — Mike Hess finishing up the “Fargo” section of singletrack. September 9th, 2014.

Twin lakes singletrack, September 9th, 2014.

Racing on the Maplelag mountain bike trails, August 30th, 2014. (skinnyki.com photo)

Start of one of the Comp class races. Laddies Loppet 2014. (skinnyski.com photo)

NW MN has started a High School mountain bike team, led by Maplelag teamer Anne Ellefson. First practice was at Maplelag. August 25th, 2014. — NW MN has started a High School mountain bike team, led by Maplelag teamer Anne Ellefson. First practice was at Maplelag. August 25th, 2014!

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Rider checking out the mtb course. August 14th, 2014.

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Tom Camp coming up from the Twin Cities for a ride on the course Saturday August 9th, 2014. Tom rode four laps of the sport/expert loop, each lap taking around 1 hour.

Riding the corkscrew on Twin Lakes singletrack. August 4th, 2014.

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Riding on Twin Lakes singletrack. July 24th, 2014.

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Before and after trail work on "Fargo" singletrack. July 18th, 2014. — Before and after trail work on “Fargo” singletrack. July 18th, 2014.

Steve and friend after a morning ride on the Maplelag course. July 3rd, 2014. A great Holiday weekend of riding on tap!

Work on new mtb singletrack, July 3rd, 2014.

Sunset from the top of "Pete's Porkie" on south end of Twin Lakes on new mtb singletrack. July 2nd, 2014. — Sunset from the top of “Pete’s Porkie” on south end of Twin Lakes on new mtb singletrack. July 2nd, 2014.

New mountain bike trail work on Maplelag property, June 25th, 2014.

jan25-1 — Blowing out “Pete’s Porkie” singletrack. New trail off the main twin lakes loop. June 25th, 2014.

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June 13th MTB Trail Photos

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Evening ride on Twin Lakes singletrack. June 5th, 2014.

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Stefan Helgeson heading out for a afternoon ride. May 22nd, 2014.

Greg Ames loading up after a beautiful Thursday evening ride. May 22nd, 2014.

Singletrack riding on the mountain bike course. May 14th, 2014.

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Riding on a fresh blown section of singletrack. May 7th, 2014.

Signature moss section on the Maplelag mountain bike course. May 7th, 2014.

Blowing leaves off the singletrack. May 7th, 2014.

Discovering a group of snakes underneath a pile of embedded leaves! May 7th, 2014.

Ski Trail, Uncategorized

Trail Report

November 13, 2014 Jay Richards

Wintery weather in place! Light snow flurries off and on the past 24 hours resulting in just under 3″ of fluffy snow. Thursday morning temperature checking in at 15 degrees. Temps well below freezing the past 5 days have set up ice on the ponds, sloughs and smaller lakes. We packed out a short loop including Suicide hill but the trails are closed until more snow and because of deer hunting until Monday. Snow depth on the trails ranges from 2-3″ of fluffy snow. We did not receive any snow from the storm on Monday.

A mostly dry October was great for working in the woods, fine tuning the trails including clearing leaves off the trail. We have made good progress on the leaf clearing and will continue right up until the snow flies for real! We try to clear 20-25 km of trail so we can be skiing on these trails with minimal snowfall.

We hit our peak of fall color around September 23rd, enjoyed a beautiful few weeks of autumn scenes but now with wind and freezing nights, most of the leaves have come down. This year was one of the quicker transitions of fall color we can remember.

Has been a great autumn for our fall tree planting project where we plant potted and tube trees. In the spring we planted over 5000 seedlings. We have been planting for over 40 years with over 100,000 trees planted on the Maplelag property.

The sunrises and sunsets this time of year are some of the best of the year and we have been treated with some great scenes this fall so far.

The mountain bike trail is now closed for the season until further notice. (click here for latest mountain bike trail report) No horses and motorized equipment equipment allowed. Thanks!

Photoset from spring, winter and fall!

Skating on the pond near the start and finish of Rootin Tootin ski trail. November 11th, 2014. (safe ice here doesn't mean safe ice elsewhere, always check for proper thickness before heading out!) — No school! Skating on the pond near the start and finish of Rootin Tootin ski trail. November 11th, 2014. (safe ice here doesn’t mean safe ice elsewhere, always check for proper thickness before heading out!)

Sunrise over Island lake as seen from the island. November 9th, 2014.

Just a few scattered patches of snow on the trails Friday morning. November 7th, 2014.

November 6th Trail Report Photos

Sunset over Little Sugarbush, November 6th, 2014.

November 5th First Skiing Photos

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Nature

Trail Report

November 5, 2014 Jay Richards

Photos from spring, summer and fall!

Sukkerbusk ski trail after leaf clearing. October 18th, 2014. Ready for early season skiing!

Aspen trees peaking this week with beautiful autumn gold. October 14th, 2014.

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Snow squall moving across the Little Sugarbush lake. October 3rd, 2014.

First flakes of snow for the season. October 3rd, 2014.

Bluejay surrounded by fall color. October 2nd, 2014.

Beautiful afternoon on Wavy Gravy. October 2nd, 2014.

Bluejay coming in for the landing! October 2nd, 2014.

Hudson helping out on the trails. September 30th, 2014.

Island lake ski trail. September 29th, 2014.

Start of North Loup ski trail. September 27th, 2014. Some great colors in the woods still.

Bringing a rock back to the Maplelag grounds after clearing from the side of twin lakes ski trail. September 25th, 2014.

Island lake ski trail. September 25th, 2014.

Fall color scene near the Finish Log cabin. September 25th, 2014.

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Nice blend of fall color around slough near JibFly ski trail. September 19th, 2014.

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Fallen maple leaf with a touch of frost. September 16th, 2014.

First frost of the year in the Maplelag ice skating rink. September 13th, 2014

With cooler nights, the leaves have slowly started to change color. A handful of leaves already making their way to the ground. September 5th, 2014.

Tube trees ready to be planted. A mix of spruce, tamarack and Norway pine. September 5th, 2014.

Potted pines ready to be planted. September 4th, 2014.

September 1 trail photos

Fog rolling off the lake this morning, thanks to temps in the lower 40's. August 26th, 2014. — Fog rolling off the lake this morning, thanks to temps in the lower 40’s. August 26th, 2014.

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Colorful mushroom on the side of the trail. July 31st, 2014.

Coral like mushroom on the side of the trail. July 31st, 2014.

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Beautiful July day as seen over a slough near Roy's Run. July 3rd, 2014. — Beautiful July day as seen over a slough near Roy’s Run. July 3rd, 2014.

Sunset from the top of "Pete's Porkie" on south end of Twin Lakes. July 2nd, 2014. — Sunset from the top of “Pete’s Porkie” on south end of Twin Lakes. July 2nd, 2014.

Submerged deadfall with new life growing from it in a pond with high water. June 27th, 2014

Nice bunch of wild roses along twin lakes ski trail. June 27th, 2014.

A wide variety of mushrooms, moss and lichens in the woods from the wet spring. June 27th, 2014.

June 25th Trail Report Photos

First yellow slippers of the year. May 29th, 2014.

Calm waters on Little Sugarbush. May 26th, 2014.

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Hen mallard nesting deep in the woods off the ski trail. May 20th, 2014.

Mallard nest deep in the woods, May 19th, 2014. Note: we stumbled across the nest by accident. Took a quick picture and happy to see the hen return and nesting today.

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Blood root flowers emerging from the forest floor. May 6th, 2014.

Blue Jay enjoying the rare sunny day this week. April 29th, 2014.

As usual, the loons were back as soon as the ice was going off the lake. April 26th, 2014.

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Ski Trail, Uncategorized

Trail Report

April 20, 2014 Jay Richards

Happy Easter! A gorgeous day on tap with light winds, sunshine and temps near 70. A nice change after big time wind on Friday. The trails are closed since the snow has melted and we wait for the frost to come out. The south facing singletrack sections and a few other areas on the mountain bike course are rideable but we need 5-7 days of continued drying to officially open all the trails. There is some great forest riding on the forest roads in the area until the mountain bike trails are open.

Even though the trails might be free of snow and appear dry, some of the worst damage can occur while the frost releases from the ground. Please stay off the trails until we post as open. Thanks! It won’t be long until we can weave through the singletrack. We had a fantastic ski year with great snow from early December up until April 8th. Thanks to everyone who patronized Maplelag!!

Total snowfall this season was 59″.

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We no longer “sugar” at Maplelag but many locals in the area collect sap to be boiled down for maple syrup. We serve pure maple syrup at Maplelag with our syrup coming from the Kroll’s Zuckerwald in Long Prairie, MN. A few photos below from the early years at Maplelag setting taps to collect sap.

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Denny Barry and Terry Olson enjoying a skate ski adventure on the Maplelag trails. April 3rd, 2014.

April 2nd Trail Report Photos

apr01-04 — Skaters Waltz seeing skate traffic today. April 1st, 2014.

apr01-05 — Great crust skiing conditions after new snow and base freezing down again. Pretty much can ski anywhere. April 1st, 2014.

No fooling, grooming on Skaters Waltz, April 1st, 2014.

Fresh grooming on Skaters Waltz, April 1st, 2014.

John Pfund enjoying the beautiful Saturday morning. March 29th, 2014.

Jonell out on Sukkerbusk, enjoying the late season spring conditions. March 28th, 2014.

North Loup after fresh grooming. March 28th, 2014.

Skaters Waltz after fresh groom. March 28th, 2014.

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Sunrise over Roy's slough. — Sunrise over Roy’s slough.

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Great March skiing on Twin Lakes Saturday morning. March 8th, 2014.

Setting new track on Mother North Star, March 8th, 2014.

Setting new tracks on Sukkerbusk, March 8th, 2014.

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February 27th Trail Report Photos

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Ski Trail

Trail Report

February 21, 2014 Jay Richards

A blustery day on the trails as the temp was in the lower single digits with a stiff northwest wind. The return of cooler temps not stopping folks from hitting the trails enjoying the great conditions.

The past few weeks we have seen an unusual amount of wildlife on the trails including a amazing encounter by a beaver of Maplelag guest Ron Refsnider. Ron provides a firsthand report with some photos below: “Photos attached from my beaver sighting on Tuesday, where Wavy Gravy and Island Lake Trails run concurrently across the marsh near the beaver lodge. Attached are several low-resolution photos of our encounter with it. This was about 1:30 pm, and the shadow and poles are both mine, so you can see how close he came to us after he dropped his branch and waddled up the trail to investigate us. Then he went back, pulled his branch up to us and started chewing it up, with the branch straddled the classic tracks. At that point we decided to move on, so we had to herd him off the trail with our skis and poles. He wasn’t too eager to leave the trail, and he hissed, ground his teeth, and smacked his tail on the snow twice; I guess the packed trail is much easier walking if you have legs that are only 6 inches long.” Thanks Ron for passing along the incredible photos.

A great day for the Section 8 Nordic Ski Championships at Maplelag last Tuesday. Temps were chilly for racing with air temps right at -4 at race time. The sun making it feel a bit warmer but afternoon breezes making it feel cooler. Congratulations to all the skiers who performed on the day. We are proud of all the skiers and enjoyed hosting the event. Best of luck to all the skiers who qualified for the state meet. Photos on the event page and results and more photos to come on skinnyski.com

We have been grooming daily, sometimes both in the morning and evening, on select trails. Surface conditions are powder/packed powder and ski conditions are excellent. All the trails are “open”. Parts of Bullhead lake trail, Kristin’s Kutoff, Single Green and a few other short segments not groomed and open for bushwhacking.

Total snowfall this season at 50″. Compacted base on trail 8-13″ and 22-48″ snow depth in woods. Around 55km of trail available for classic and 15km groomed skate. The trails are open for day skiing. The trail access pass is $15 for adults and $10 for children 16 and under. Ski rental is $15 for adults and $10 for kids. Lunch is available for sale by reservation during the midweek now, weekend meal service not available. Meeting room 3 in the lower level of the lodge also available for day skiers for Apres ski!

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February 17th Trail Report Photos 7

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