Keeping Busy During Mud Season
Our huts may be closed for mud season, but that doesn’t mean the work stops for us! During the month and a half between our winter and summer seasons, our staff has been tackling a list of chores and projects to ready our huts and trails for the summer, as well as projects to improve the overall experience of our guests and trail users.
The two biggest tasks are cleaning and trail clearing. We are giving the huts a full going over, before reopening for our summer season to ensure they are as clean as possible for our summer guests and visitors! Trail clearing is a constant project, especially after a winter as windy as we had this year. Our operations staff have been working to clear the blowdowns from across our ~50 mile trail network.
Flagstaff Lake Hut Caretaker, Ben, helps clear a fallen tree
A project that we have been working on this spring is collecting GPS data to update our trail map. Our map was last updated in 2018, and there have been many updates to our trail network since then. Staff are walking every mile of our trail system this spring to get accurate data. They are also taking the opportunity to take notes about what trail improvements can be made throughout our network of trails and they walk them.
One of our new reflective trail markers
A second ongoing project is updating our trail markers. We adopted a new logo in 2024, and we have begun the process of updating our diamond shaped trail markers with our new logo. These new markers are reflective, so they will be easier to spot at night. You can already spot the new markers on Newton’s Revenge and Crommett’s Overlook Trail near Stratton Brook Hut, and we will continue installing them across our trail system throughout the course of the summer.
Assistant Operations Manager, Eliza, fords a beaver flooded stream on the Esker Trail while collecting trail GPS data
Stratton Brook Hut and Flagstaff Lake Hut open one week from now (on May 15th) for our summer season, and we are excited to welcome our guests back! Learn more about our summer hut rentals here. If you don’t have a large group to book a full hut, consider attending one of our four overnight events this summer!
Trail Pup, Sampson, enjoys an ice cream break at Stratton Brook Hut. Stay tuned, you may also be able to stop by Stratton Brook Hut for an ice cream this summer!