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.
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.
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.
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.
