Brant Cabin which has a new paint job and site of the new store, community area after renovations and remodeling inside.
Hard to believe it has been one year since the fire on October 10th, 2022. We want to thank everyone that has supported us and provided comfort, love and financial support the past 12 months. We are extremely grateful by the kindness and heartfelt acts.
Sunset on a horrific day as fire destroyed the main lodge at Maplelag, October 10th, 2022.
It has been a very busy Fall. The plan is to remodel and enhance the cabins we already have as part of the resort. We are doing new construction as well as remodeling, making kitchens available in select cabins to rent for the upcoming winter season and eventually year round. We have also remodeled the Brant Cabin which will be the site of the new store and a community area for day users and overnight guests. At this time we are not rebuilding a new main lodge like the previous two lodges that had food service, serving up to 300 guests at one time. We will be begin taking formal reservations in November.
Beautiful fall color surrounding the freshly painted Six Swedes cabin. Inside is remodeling featuring a kitchen and improvements to the bathroom.
Maplelag continues to be a family owned and operated business, (no, we did not sell) that maintains nearly 75 miles of ski, snowshoe, mountain bike and fat bike trails. We are one of the few trail systems in the country that operate such a large system privately and is self funded and maintained. This is a major operating expense and our rates and passes will consider this when we set new pricing. This also includes self funded conservation efforts as we strive for a balance to offer outdoor recreation opportunities to experience the unique diversity of Maplelag’s forest.
(photos below with updates on each project)
Bruce and Steve doing a fantastic job remodeling the bathroom on the left and and adding a kitchen to the right!Jason and Ben framing the new kitchen area on the Candy Store.New roof on the entire Candy Store completed this past week.Ready for sheeting!Lapland Cabin with kitchen addition. We are very excited for this project. Major changes inside as well. We hope to have completed by late winter/early spring to be available to rent year round. Pat with the finishing touches on the Brant Cabin which has a new paint job and will be site of the new store. The Candy Store, Six Swedes, Brant, wood fire sauna and Sod Roof all with fresh painting and staining this fall. Keith repairing windows on the Red Caboose.Jonell and her sister painting the interior of the Red Caboose.Repairing the bathroom area in the Red Caboose. Exciting changes in this area. Fall grooming on the Twin Lakes ski trail. We are spending every chance we have on the ski trails preparing for the winter. Having the trails cleared as clean as possible before the ground freezes and the snow flies allows us to open the trails on minimal snow. Constant clearing of deadfall on the ski trails. Better now than the winter!Members of the area school mountain bike team “Northwest Wolves” on the trails for practice. One of the highlights of the mountain bike season is having the team out and their energy and enthusiasm. Maplelag is happy to donate the use of the trails. Good progress on the Candy Store addition this week.First frost of the year this past week….always gets us excited for the upcoming winter months! Beautiful fall sunset along the Goat Ranch rd. at the end of the Maplelag driveway..
This Saturday September 23rd we will have a “Fall Color Day” at Maplelag. This day will simply be a time for people to come out and enjoy the trails or property taking in the fall colors. We will have the new store located in the Brant Cabin open and also Wood Fire Pizza food truck will be on site from 12-5.
Fall color across from the Brant Cabin where the new store is located, September 20th, 2023.
September 23rd we will have a “Fall Color Day” at Maplelag. This day will simply be a time for people to come out and enjoy the trails or property taking in the fall colors. We will have the new store open (located in the Brant Cabin) and also Wood Fire Pizza food truck will be on site from 12-5.
Wood Fire pizza food truck will be on site September 23rd, 2023 12-5pm.Maplelag store, located in the Brant Cabin will be open in the afternoon, September 23rd, 2023.
Touch of fall color on the maples near the cabooses.
September is here and it is starting to feel and look like fall! After a unusually warm Labor Day weekend, temperatures have cooled down with a little bit of much needed precipitation.
Jason and Ben ready to break ground on the Candy Store addition!
We kept the tradition going of hosting our annual mountain bike race, Laddies Loppet which was the 33rd running. It was the longest running event before the fire on October 10th and we were very happy to host it again this year. It was so good to see familiar faces, many who have been coming back for decades including a few that have been here and supported since the first year! We have forged some great relationships over those years and always great to connect on life and family happenings. We want to thank again the sponsors, the support and volunteer staff and the officials who combined with the racers made it a great day despite the heat. We ran the race out of the warming house and had the start and finish near the cabooses for the first time. We learned some things and already have a list of things to improve on in the future.
We will be having a Fall color day on September 23rd. We will have a food truck here, Wood Fire pizza and the store will be open. The trails will be open for hiking, mountain biking to take in the beautiful fall colors. Our peak is a little earlier than what most maps will show and begins around the third week of September. With many trees already changing, it won’t be long until everything is vibrant with brilliant orange, yellow and red.
The beginning of this week kicked off a busy one as we began construction on the Candy Store cabin, one of the cabins we are remodeling and adding onto for this upcoming winter season. We will be adding a full kitchen to the south entrance for people to prepare meals that are staying in this cabin.
We also finalized plans for the remodeling of the Six Swedes cabin where we will also be adding a kitchen. We will begin construction on the Swedes in a week or so.
Other projects in the works including the continuation of staining of select cabins. Pat has been here for almost a month and getting closer to wrapping up phase one of this project. It’s nice to see the cabins get a fresh look on the exterior.
We also have been working on the cabooses preparing those for rental this winter. Also on the cabooses you might notice equipment which is in place to improve on our networking. Thanks to Bruce and Bjorn Adelsman for their work on this project. We are getting closer to taking reservations and look for more details in the next post early next month. Thanks to everyone that has inquired and shown interesting in staying at Maplelag this coming winter season.
Keith installing a new counter top in the red caboose.
Finally we continue to build inventory in the store and getting product for the winter season. We are excited to be one of the few places in the area to carry the colorful and purposeful Skida brand hats.
Thanks to everyone that stopped into the store over the bike race weekend. We continue to build up inventory before the winter and will post days we will be open in the coming months.
Lastly as the leaves begin to turn and fall to the ground, we will begin leaf clearing off the ski trails. This will continue right up until the ground freezes and snow flies. Having the trails cleared with no debris and grass cut low allows us to open on minimal snow.
Fall grooming will be in full force until the snow flies!
Kids Comp racers lined up for the first race of the day, Laddies Loppet 2023.Thanks everyone that came for the final race in the Minnesota Mountain Bike Series. Thanks to all the volunteers, race officials and support personal that helped make it a great day despite the warm temperatures.
