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	March 1st through 7th, 2021

There was some cold last week. It lurked mostly in the mornings, but the afternoon temperatures went well above freezing and the word was given. It was time to tromp the trails, haul the buckets, and tap the maples.

The thaw has not been kind to the remaining fort, but then it seldom is. It's currently a warm week away from being transformed into just another lump on the ice.

The ice and snow that had covered many of the roads has turned into puddles that reflect birch trees and blue sky. Later in the week the water evaporated leaving dry pavement.

Not so much on Knott Lane. Shade preserved the afternoon slush and cold nights and mornings turned that slush to very hard, very lumpy ice.

On Monday, buckets, lids, spiles, and other detritus were pulled down from storage and trails were packed.

Tuesday marked the first of many full trailer trips to the sugarbush. The snow was a foot or two less deep than the previous years, but deep enough to make wheels worthless.

Over the course of a few days, holes were drilled and filled with spiles that were tapped into place.

As soon as the spiles were tapped in, the sap started to drip out.

After 381 trees, we stopped.

Collecting all those buckets of sap will start early next week.

Boiling it down to syrup will start shortly after the collecting.

The fishing shelter that had occupied the North end of the lake has moved on.

This week could be peak ice. To commemorate this, a hole was drilled and a measurement taken.

The ice is about 18.5 inches with the top 7 inches being the white, airy kind and the rest being dark and hard. This is a little less than expected for this time of year. There could be an early <a href='/iceout/IceOut2021.html' class ='defaultlink2' target='_blank'>ice-out</a>.

In addition to warmer, last week was also filled with a blue sky and sunshine. March ice-out? It could happen, but it's still unlikely, even with the relatively thinner early March ice that currently covers Lucerne. In addition to periodically checking the lake's ice, we'll be watching other lakes. Lake Lucerne usually goes out about 2 weeks after Lake Wabikon. <br><br><br>-Nemo is hiking the trails and thinking pancakes.

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