Blizzard Of Tapping

Last week started with, hopefully, the last sub-zero (°F) morning of the season. The 14 day forecast has a few teen (°F) lows, but nothing colder. The highs at the start of the week soared into the 40s°F. The warmer, mild nature of the days would quickly change.

The snow forts in the northeastern corner of the lake took a beating during the start of the week.

Parts of the forest floor and lawns started to emerge from the retreating snow on Monday.

The change started with a little rain.

Before any of the predicted snow came, we tapped maples. Going from tree to tree without waist deep snow motivated us to get as many trees as possible bucketed before the storm.

The trees ran a little before the snow.

The storm hit Tuesday night and lasted through sunset on Wednesday.

It hit us with about a foot of wet, heavy snow and winds of better than 25 mph.

We had hoped to avoid putting the feet on, but there was no way a wheeled vehicle could make it through the woods.

Snowshoes became more than just a strange fashion statement for a day or two. Cold nights, warmer days, and a shallow base eventually made tramping from tree to tree possible without strapping them on.

A mostly clear sky during the day also helped turn back the white that blanketed the area.

By Sunday, heavy drifts became deep lawn puddles.

As the woods melted, Goudzwaard's Creek overflowed onto West Shore Drive in the northwestern corner of the lakeshore.

On Sunday, Knott Lane was many things. None of them was close to clear and dry.

The maples ran a little harder on Sunday, but the consensus among the men was that there was not enough in the buckets to make it worth collecting.

While there was no sap collected last week, the funnels, collecting buckets, and jugs were made ready.

We finished tapping the last few maples on Sunday. The sugarbush on the northwest shore has 333 trees and not one of them a basswood. In theory this should make the ibuprofen burn rate about 1800 mg a day (3x600mg) per man. Supplies are high enough to make it through the next several weeks without breaking into ancient acetaminophen or naproxen supplies. In between tapping and being buried, the Annual Knottlane Lake Lucerne Ice-Out Contest was posted. There are still plenty of good dates ripe for the picking. Get yours today!

-Nemo's heading out to collect

Blizzard Of Tapping

March 3rd through 9th, 2025