WEATHER: Never froze last night, high today 39 and overcast. Sap ran all night and all day but not hard. BOILING STATUS: Not enough sap to boil today. Finally, finally, a day off. Today marks the end of Marathon Number One.

TOUR OF THE SUGARBUSH, continued: Starting back at the sugarhouse, we'll hike up the MORNINGSIDE Main Line. It crosses Falls Brook just above the falls. We'll cross the brook on a very narrow wooden bridge with hand rails, called the Japanese Bridge. It's a steep hike up to a broad gentle slope where the Morningside trees are. Five lesser main lines branch off and traverse the plateau: M1, M2, M3, M4, and M5. From M5 it's a short steep hike to Mt. Bend, a prominent nob on Morningside Ridge.

Another way to reach Morningside is to hike up Herbie's Highway, straight up from the sugarhouse, and cross Falls Brook where the old bridge used to be. Right now you can still cross the brook on snow bridges, but later when the brook open up it means acrobatic leaps or wet feet.

QUOTE OF THE DAY Sugaring: "C'est la maladie du printemps."

MACRO: Lagoons forming in the low, wet pockets of the woods.

MICRO: A mat of beech leaves on the bottom of a 3" deep lagoon, every vein magnified by the clear water.