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Silenced Spring Ice-Out

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April 24th through 30th, 2023

Last week held several events. Some were much anticipated. Some more dreaded. Through it all, there was blow average temperatures, flowing creeks, and slowly melting lake ice. The start of the week marked the end of tapping season. Unlike previous years, the end of sap collecting was not due to a lack of sap. This year's season ended for other reasons. One was the drop in sugar. The sap went from 3% to under 1%. To the sugarmen, that's a 35 to 1 ratio of sap to syrup vs 80 or more to 1. The other reason was budding. Budding maples produce syrup with what's described as an "off taste". Despite these very valid grounds, it still felt wrong dumping gallons of crystal clear sap on the forest floor. The last of the sap collected before the sugar slide and budding was syrup last Monday. The press filter was assembled for the last time. Late season syrup is darker than the early season stuff. This year's sweetness was no exception. During the entire process, the lake inched closer and closer to open. After the final bottling came field disassembly. It took a few hours to dump and pull the buckets. The footing was a little mossy and muddy, but not snowy at all. All the buckets were washed shortly afterward. Bucket lids, too. During the washing, the lake ice grew thinner. On Friday morning, it was obvious that the lake ice would not survive the weekend. On Friday evening, it was even more clear that ice-out was nigh. To those manning the desk at the Ice-Out command center, reports coming in made it look like Lucerne would be open by Saturday evening. Most locals were sure of a Saturday ice-out. Others, when polled, just rubbed their tiny paws together and professed their allegiance to fuzziness, bird food, and evil. A constant rain on Saturday grounded drones. The north end of Lucerne was ice free, but there was some question about the south end. The College of Loons sent a team out to check. The boat landing was found to be ice free. On a side note, the repairs to Lake Lucerne Drive seem to be holding up nicely. Just before ice-out was going to be called, a large patch of ice was reported (thanks, Marc!) on Saturday evening just south of Waters Edge. On Sunday morning, the lake area was hit by the 4th Horseman of the Snowpocalypse: Silenced Spring. The arrivial of Silenced Spring did not seem to halt the deterioration of the ice. A few small patches were floating around in the morning. They were gone by evening. First, we'd like to congratulate the winners of this year's ice-out contest. Rarely, never as far as we can remember, does the lake get ice-out and a slap from a Horseman of the Snowpocalypse on the same day. This strange confluence of events, both the anticipated (Ice-Out!) and the abhorrent (Snowpocalypse!), has left many whipsawed between planning tee times and calling to see if Ski Brule is still open. Then there's the whole being buried under wet, heavy snow at the kick off of May thing. Boo! The less said about last Thursday morning's low of 18°F the better (April! You need to do better!). Still, there is reason for hope. The ice is off the lake, the days are getting longer, and the golf course is open (bring a shovel). Huzzah?<br><br><br>-Nemo's not swimming today.

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