Anyone visited the big producers on the golden rd?

[MainelyMaple]

Has anyone taken a ride up to see the big producers on the golden rd? i was talking to someone from Maine maple products today and he was telling me about their 75,000 tap operation, and it sounds pretty impressive to say the least. i was thinking about taking a ride up next week.

I understand almost all of these guys are from quebec, so if we were to stop in would we be able to communicate with them at all?

also any other info about where a few of them are located would be great thanks.

[little league]

I visited about 8 years ago. We went all the way into Canada. Most of them are located within about 10 miles from the Canadian Gate. Dole Pond Maple products is up there. Jean Claude and his family had something like 60,000 taps then. Quiet impressive to say the least. Yes they can speak English. There are many more in that area that we didn't have time to visit.

[MainelyMaple]

do most of these people welcome visitors or would i be just getting in the way?

[TapME]

St Pierre is in Weld Maine and has a bunch of taps. He taps Mt. Blue state park. He lives in So. Paris and is a pleasant person. Don't know if he is still making syrup, But I could find out if you wanted to go that way.
Revi would know a few up theree too.

[Revi]

I know the LaRiviere's from Maine Maple Products. I went up to visit them a couple of years ago.

They are probably up there boiling now.

Stop by the Maine Maple Products store in Madison and talk to Eric Ellis, he works for them. He'll tell you if they are at their sugar camp. The number is in the book, or try the toll free number on the web page:

https://www.mainemapleproductsinc.com/productcart/pc/about.asp

Go to Jackman, and cross the border. Turn right to Ste. Zacharie and continue along the other side of the border to Ste Aurelie gate. They are only a few miles from the border on the Maine side. They have a lot of taps. They have two huge evaporators to boil the product of 75 thousand taps.

They speak English pretty well. One of the brothers visited our little sugar camp a couple of years ago.

There's a maple supply place right near the border on the Canadian side you might want to check out too. It's the size of a supermarket. I think it's a CDL store.

You want to go during the week, because you can get stuck and have to drive out through Millinocket which is a lot further than going through Ste. Zacherie.

[MainelyMaple]

do you need a birth certificate to cross into canada now?

[TapME]

I think it is 2 pieces of paper birth and license. A pass port makes it real easy.

[jdj]

To get back into the US you need your drivers license and your birth certificate. Starting June 01, 2009 you will need a passport or passport card. An enhanced drivers license will also work too as long as your home state issues them.

[MainelyMaple]

Well we are gonna make the trip on wed. hopefully we will find a few places to check out and ill post some pictures. once i cross into canada from jackman does anyone know how far lapierres sugarbush is?

[MainelyMaple]

I was bored and decided to check out northern maine on google earth. on some maps you can clearly see huge patches of what i think is sugar maple. here is an image i saved that almost looks like they cleared paths for some of the tubing. or am i mistaken and is this just wood loggers have cut? if you browse around most of the hardwood has these paths in them (some really resemble spiderwebs like you would set up tubing) but there are also huge patches with nothing. looks like potential to me. well here is the pic of what im talking about, am i just crazy?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v214/SMorin119/sugarbush.jpg

[Flat47]

I believe those are skid trail from logging operations.

I think you probably want to look for areas that don't have skid trails, as most of the sugarbushes haven't been cut in this fashion for a long time.

[Revi]

No, I think there are hundreds of thousands of acres of maples up there, all tapped, so they have tubing lines between the trees. I'll bet you are looking at a maple syruping operation there. The trees sure look like they are turning, so they are probably maples.

You will be amazed at how many huge operations there are up there. The Lapierres are only one of the operations near the Ste. Aurelie gate. There are many more. Bob Smith had one, but I think he sold it.

I think they are about a half hour from when you pass through the border north of Jackman.

[Revi]

I looked at the pic again, and I think that Flat 47 is right. They cut a lot of the maples up there after Enron owned it. They sold it to make bowling alley flooring. They told me that any piece that they could get they would cut. No danger of that now, since prices have tanked again for lumber.

[Flat47]

Enron never owned woodlands in Maine. Inexcon did (before they sold the old Great Northern piece by piece and then went bankrupt), but not far up the Golden Road. Up there you're talking about 7 Islands, Prentiss and Carlisle, and Wagner (among others). The ones I named are management companies, meaning they don't own the land, just run the operations for the various investors and families that actually own the land. I think Irving has land up there, though. They're notorious for big cuts followed by replanting with spruce.

[WF MASON]

I talked to a friend who had mad the trip up to visit the four big places in a row up there, he said they are having a great season , one camp said they had run the RO's five days straight 24 hours, stopping them long enough to change the filters only. They were looking for another good 7-10 days up there he said.
Another customer had been up to Lapieere to see them boil, he said when we got rain , they got 8" of snow and are making syrup big time, he said it looks like Canada is having a great season.

[Homestead Maple]

Will bulk prices end up under $2 a pound by the time season totals are all in? I have heard that prices at Maple Grove have dropped $0.30 across the board.

[Revi]

It looks like they will have another really good week. I checked the temps north of Jackman and they will have prime sugaring weather all this week.

It's running today in Vermont, and probably here...

http://users.gmavt.net/perkins/pressure.jpg