Kara & Michael’s Blog

Today, Michael and I headed up to Cunningham Falls State Park to see the maple syrup exhibition. There was a suggested donation of two dollars for an adult, one dollar for a child. On the drive to the park, you pass through Catoctin National Forest, and a stream runs by the side of the road. There are a couple of switch-backs but the drive doesn’t take you up to a very high altitude (mountains in Maryland are pretty small once you’ve seen the Rockies).

The exhibition is right by the lake (all lakes in Maryland are man-made) in the park. They have a cauldron of maple sap over a fire (that’s obviously been going a couple hours based on the coals at the bottom). Michael and I got there a half hour before the first exhibition, we walked through the trees looking at the different taps and buckets or bags they had hooked up to the sugar maples in the park. Then we bought some Maryland maple syrup and maple sugar candy (yummy!).

We headed back to the hut just before the exhibition. It was an open hut with an elevated open top for the smoke to exit. A woman – either a volunteer or a park service employee began by taking us through various myths regarding the history of maple syrup and explaining the weather that is good for sugaring and why it is. Then she took us through the development of equipment – from wooden buckets, to metal ones, to plastic bags, which was the part I found most interesting. She showed us raw sap and discussed how they measured the changes over the course of creating syrup (a hydrometer which measures the amount of water left in the sap, a thermometer with the syrup temperature labeled for easy syrup-making, and the way the cooking sap drips from a ladle dipped into it).

She discussed their process of making syrup at the park (over an open fire) versus the process for the commercial product (evaporator) and the grades of maple syrup, even showing us brands of common maple syrup and showing us how much maple was actually in them (Log Cabin Country Kitchen – 0%!)

I thought this was a really well done presentation. The woman who led our exhibition said she was a language arts teacher, which may be why she was so engaging. She asked questions, explained the why behind the things that she discussed and was really thorough. I loved walking through the woods and looking at the different displays of equipment and seeing the sap running through tubes (I didn’t know it would be clear!). There were a few other volunteers chopping wood, tending to the fire and also crafting spiles, the plugs they stick in the tree. There was always something interesting going on in the exhibit.

After the presentation, Michael and I headed down to the breakfast area for pancakes with real Maryland maple syrup. This room was packed, and impossible to move in, although the actual business of buying and getting your breakfast was well-organized. They had a man playing music – with a guitar, a kazoo, and he was singing and getting kids to help him play the music. It was really neat, totally kid-friendly. There was also a heated children’s activity tent with coloring, a video and some crafts – but we didn’t go in. We ate our pancakes outside by the lake. The syrup was tasty.

Michael and I drove two-hours to Thurmont to see this – and I don’t feel ripped off. Of course, we also visited the Europe Market in downtown Frederick (crazy Polish and Russian candies), stopped by The Common Market in Frederick (gorgeous organic produce) and visited with my mother on our way back home, where we had pie and coffee and Michael managed to touch one of the anti-social kitties.

Tomorrow, March 16, is the last day for the maple syrup festival, so if you’re local, I recommend checking it out. You can also take a very easy 1/2 mile hike up to the falls for which Cunningham Falls State Park is named. There is a paved path all the way to the falls.