Tait Lake Trails

By Kenneth Irons (2025)

The Tait Lake trails we now use were built from 2003 to 2011.  When Irv Hanson developed Tait Lake Pines addition in the early 2000's he was planning to put in a trail system in the green space in the development. Unfortunately, he developed Alzheimer’s before he could do this.  I then took over the design and development of the trail system.  I built the trails one at a time about 1 trail per year.

DESIGN

Working in the green space I tried to make them interesting following ridge lines, incorporating large wide pine and cedar, as well as erratic boulders.  When able I made them circuits starting and ending in the same place to enhance the ease of hiking. 

METHOD

I laid the trails out in the early spring where I could snowshoe on top of the crusted snow. Marked them with tape so I could work and follow the planned route. The brush and trees needing removal were cut with chain saw and large brush cutter. This was followed by clearing the trail with John Deere tractor and bucket.  This also required removing endless rocks. I then smoothed them with a rock rake attached to tractor.

SIGNAGE

When first developed people complained of getting lost on the trails.  My wife Diana helped me name the trails. I then routed the names and distances on cedar signs. They were installed on 4” tamarack posts which were held up with piled stones and cement since we were unable to dig any holes due to the rock. There were a total of 50 signs needed to mark all the trail beginnings and trail crossings.

MAINTENANCE

From 2011 to present work has consisted of trail maintenance.  This includes widening the trails to 10 feet allowing people to walk abreast on the trails. Rock continue to be an issue but are now better as more rocks are removed yearly.  The last several years I have also hauled approximately 30 yards of gravel onto the most rocky and rough areas which make hiking easier.  The trails are mowed each year about the beginning of August over about 20 hours of work making the trails enjoyable for the late summer and fall.

Maintaining the trails is a lot of work.  The hazelnut and moose maple grow a lot every year and encroach on the trails significantly every year. The spruce and balsam have grown a  lot over the past 20 years and the branches need to be trimmed that now grow over the trails.  Each summer and winter trees are blown down over the trails both small and often large aspen and hairy fir which require removal.  In the fall of 2024 after a storm I removed 57 trees that had fallen over the trails.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE TRAILS

• Maple Lane :  lots of mild hills with lots of maple which are beautiful in the fall

• Aspen Loop :  nice flat trail with few hills great for cross country skiing

• Diana’s Trails :  lots of mature white pine, very pretty trails

• The Cedars : many large cedar from 200 to 300 years old, grove with cedar benches for contemplating

• Old Caps Trail : nice hiking through birch and planted white and red pine along the old access road to the old lodge on Tait Lake

• Will’s Lake Trail :  Narrow old trail from South Caps to Wills Lake, very pretty

• Irons Roundabout : 11/2 mile trail circumventing around about 50 acres of north woods with about 200 feet of elevation change

FUTURE

I have spent about 3000 hours of volunteer time building and maintaining  the trails and look forward to a more robust volunteer group that will help maintain the trails

Kenneth Irons (kironstait@gmail.com)

We have a wonderful network of trails and forest roads in our Tait Lake environment.    As we move forward, we need to spread the load of trail maintenance (clearing deadfalls, trimming the encroaching moose maple, etc.) to a larger group of people - and will do that using an adopt-a-trail format.  Please connect with Michele Strangis if you are interested in becoming a Trail Boss by adopting one of these trails (michellestrangis@gmail.com, 612-710-8976).