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	April 14th through 20th, 2025

The last sap collecting is done. The last syrup has been bottled. The last spile and bucket has been pulled. All that remains of the 2025 tapping season involves dealing with the detritus and restocking ibuprofen reserves. Conversely, the open water season is starting to first emerge from under the ice that still covers much of Lucerne.

We did get a bit of snow early in the week. It produced more incredulous gasps than any actual accumulation. It was melted by the sun in less than 24 hours.

At the start of last week, the men dealt with the tapping detritus that littered the sugarbush.

Buckets, lids, and spiles were gathered up and ATVed back to Knott Lane for cleaning. It took three trips to empty the woods.

The pile of buckets was the most daunting feature of the move.

It took the crew 3 days to wash, dry, and stack 'em.

Around mid-week, a strip of open water on the north end grew wide enough to attract a flock of waterfowl.

On the south end, there was even more open water behind the islands.

Metonga showed some signs of ice-out, but not many.

Lakes Wabikon, and to a lesser extent Riley, were almost ice free.

As the weekend approached, it rained. The damp, still air and the ice made piles of fog on the lake. A short time later, a small breeze crashed the fog into the trees.

The sun eventually came out. Ice chunks broke off the main sheet and piled up on the north end.

On Sunday, a week after the taps were pulled, we hiked to the sugar bush to see if the maples had stopped. They hadn't.

We are not sure how much additional sap we would have gotten, but it was agreed we already had enough.

By Sunday, the ice looked out on Lake Wabikon.

Lake Riley also looked ice free.

Lake Metonga's ice had a darker look and great cracks were observed.

All that ice might have succumbed to the warmer weather, wind, or the quarter of an inch of rain that the weekend brought.

The lake level still looks a little lower than it was before ice-in, but the inflows are gushing with rain and melt water. Measuring the level can be tricky when the ice is piling up under the nail. This won't be a problem in that many of the men don't think the ice will make it to May. I'm not sure if the ice will make it to next weekend. If the ice does go out before the weekend, that'll give Lucerne almost 5 weeks to warm up before the first ski show. If that's the case, the first show skiers should have less of a bluish tint this year.<br><br><br>-Nemo doesn't voluntarily swim unless the water is at least at 62°F.

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