Park Rapids Area Biking

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Many of you simply enjoy relaxing on the lake during your vacation, but we also know there are quite a few that like to be active! Listed below are a couple places that you may want to check out, for both on and off-road biking.

Itasca State Park (aprox. 15 min by car) – If you don’t have bikes of your own, Itasca Sports is a bike shop located in the park and rents all types of bikes, along with Burly’s if you have kids too young to ride. They recently re-paved a new 6 mile bike trail that is beautiful, but a little hilly. There is an additional 10 miles of trail that shares a one way road with vehicles, and takes you on a loop around the park. This is a very unique route with a lot of beautiful scenery.

Heartland Trail (aprox. 20 min by car) – On the contrary to Itasca, this trail is very flat and straight. This was an abandoned railroad and goes from Park Rapids up to Cass Lake, which is approximately 50 miles. Not quite as scenic as Itasca, but a very nice paved trail and goes through several small towns along the way. It’s a perfect trail to stop and have lunch in Dorset or Nevis. There is also a bike shop that rents bikes in Park Rapids if you would rather not bring your own.

Maplelag Resort (aprox 40 min by car) This is a well-known cross country ski and mountain biking resort that has almost 40 miles of trail. Many of the cross country ski trails are opened up for mountain biking use during the summer, but there are also several single track mountain bike trails. The area is fairly hilly, and provides a challenge for those looking for more of a technical ride.

Minimum Maintenance roads/snowmobile trails – (within biking distance of the resort) – Although these aren’t official biking trails, there are quite a few small roads/trails that take you through some beautiful country right around the resort. Many are snowmobile trails in the winter, or old logging roads not being used anymore. They aren’t technical or very difficult to navigate but are fun to explore and very convenient for a quick trip right from the cabin. We have cruiser bikes that are available for our guests to use free of charge if you would like to take a spin and check out the area!

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Anyone recognize these two hotshots? This is going back quite a few years, but this is Nate and Michaela (my brother and sister) biking at Itasca State Park! This isn’t considered black mail is it?
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Remnants of Summer

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After the last week of temperatures well below zero, I thought everyone would enjoy a few photos to remind us that, despite our current frozen state, summer will come once again and be delightfully warm, and full of exciting adventures at the lake!

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Don’t worry mom, I’ve only had 6 bags of kettle corn…
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Hard at work on their walking stick

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Carpetball Tournament
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Feeding the fish is a favorite activity of the little resort go-ers

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No! You don’t say…They did what?
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2015’s Craft Activity – walking stick

P.S. – Thanks to Justin at Bees Knees Photography for the pictures! They are good friends of ours and we were honored to have them here this past summer to take some photographs for us. If you would like to check out some of their photos, feel free at www.bees-kneesphoto.com. For those of you who would like to see some pictures of our daughter Mabel when she was a wee tot, scroll down on the first page (of the above link) and you will find a photo of her taking a bite of avocado for the first time…quite humorous!

 

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Snowy Day

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Popi (what Mabel calls my dad) came to take Mabel for a walk yesterday in the fresh, fluffy snow.  It sounds like all she wanted to do was eat it.  It’s beautiful up here, and we thought you might enjoy seeing a couple pictures of the resort in the fresh laden snow!

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Companeros Returns to Dorset, MN

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Companeros is coming back! In September of 2014, a devastating fire destroyed the Dorset House and Companeros restaurants in the famous little small town of Dorset, MN. Many of our guests have long standing traditions of going to these places when here on vacation and it was very sad, especially when their future was unknown.

We were very surprised and excited when, ironically, one of the friends that Liz taught school with in the Twin Cities contacted her with the news that she and her family were going to re-build! Here is a picture of Levi, Beth, and the beautiful Durgin family who will be taking over. I have also included a couple photos Liz snapped today of the building progress. If you would like more info or would like to follow along in their new adventure, here is a link to their Facebook page.

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Firewood

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My brother Nate is home from college for winter break. This was our New Year’s day party, splitting wood for the kettle corn and s’more fires! We typically try to cut and split enough wood to stay two or three summers ahead, so it gives the wood ample time to dry. Almost all of the firewood we use comes from the resort property.

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Merry Christmas!

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Merry Christmas from Half Moon Trail! We are enjoying some time with Liz’ family in Plymouth, MN. We are thankful as we remember our Savior who came into this world over two thousand years ago. God Bless, and have a wonderful time with family and friends this season.

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Ice On Boot Lake…Again

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It’s amazing how much ice is made in one night with zero degree temps! With warm weather the last couple of weeks, the lake opened back up soon after our post on the 3rd, and has stayed open until last night. The steam rising off the newly formed ice, along with all the little tufts of frost made it for yet another beautiful morning by the lake!

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Half Moon Trail Newsletter

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Your Christmas newsletter will be arriving in short order! They were hot off the press yesterday and we were busy stamping, stuffing, and sticking until late last night in order to get them out today. Thankfully, Dad and Mom pitched in to speed things up in our not-so-automated system. Hope you enjoy!

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Ice On Boot Lake

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We have ice! Well, sort of…There is a very thin layer over much of the lake, but still enough open water that the swans haven’t left yet. This morning I saw a couple of swans out in front of the resort that seemed to be “sitting” on the newly formed ice about 15 feet from the open water. They had been sleeping all night with their heads tucked under their wing and had ice form around them. These birds are so large, they need to run along the ground or water as they take off for flight.  It would have  been difficult for them to take off from their spot, as the ice wasn’t thick enough to support their weight for their running takeoff.  I was curious how they would get to the open water because the ice was too thick for simply swimming through it. It was slow going, but they used their beak and broke the ice in front as far as they could reach, then swam forward and repeated the process. So, moral of the story? Look on the bright side today, at least you didn’t wake up with ice blocking your path to the coffee maker!

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Frosty Boot Lake

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As the sun slowly burned through the heavy steam rolling off the lake this morning, thirty to forty swans appeared on the east side. This time of year, they migrate through this area and we often see this many until the lake freezes over. Last night, the temps dropped down to about 10 degrees and made a little ice along the shore. It won’t be long and we’ll be making a rink and playing hockey!

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Snow!

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Snow! We had a light dusting on the ground this morning and by this evening there was 4-5 inches in many places. It is the second snow fall we have gotten here at the resort but the first only lasted overnight. It might be a little pre-mature for actual snow shoeing but we were anxious to start cross country skiing so I was out packing the trail today, and Liz actually made it out on skis just before dark. I included a few extra photos, taken from the lodge deck, during the morning snowfall.

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Taking Out the Docks

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Usually by this time in the fall, all of the docks have been in for quite some time.  We typically wait until right before the ground freezes to pull them in so the docks don’t sit on the lawn and kill the grass.  Dad and I were thankful for such a beautiful day yesterday to finally get this done. It’s not too often that we only have to wear a long sleeve t-shirt on November 10th!

Many of the docks we simply pull in using the skid-loader, but we have three longer docks that are a little more challenging.  Throughout the summer, their wheels/supports get driven down in the soft lake bottom and require some extra ingenuity to get them out. We use bottle jacks to lift the posts from mud, and then float the entire dock into shore using the swim raft.

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