Trails packed, but not groomed. Progress today: now the entire central "spine" of the system - known as Jensen Trail - is repacked and cleared of downed trees (1-18-17-16-15-14-13-12-11-10); the eastern trails (east of Jensen Trail) are all repacked and cleared of downed trees now including the 8 and 6-7-9-10 and 15-5-13, as well as the trail circling Flathorn. We are now turning our trail clearing attention to the trails west of Jensen Trail. Until we groom, skiers will find as close to wilderness skiing it gets outside the Boundary Waters - guaranteed it will be just you and the moose, wolves, snowshoe hares, otters and other boreal critters.

Photos:

(Mary Shedd, Friends of Flathorn Gegoka Trails)

Trails are packed, but not groomed. Even though we have over 36" of good cold snow, last weekend's blizzard has prevented us from grooming due to tree falls. In spite of this, the trails are skiable under these conditions: All segments were packed before the blizzard and have a solid base with 3-4" of fluffy snow on top. Though there are no tracks, at least now you won't break through the deep snow. There is a lot of debris from the high winds (twigs, needles, lichens, etc) so that will add to the slower going of untracked skiing. Lots of small trees have come down too. Currently the only segments fully cleared are from Flathorn Picnic Area Trailhead all the way around the lake (past 8-7) and 18-1-2-3-17-16. On all other segments you may occasionally come across down trees or branches. Our crews are working to get the trails cleared and we hope to groom at least the eastern trails within the next week.

Photos:

(Mary Shedd, Friends of Flathorn Gegoka Trails)

After 30+ inches of snow fell last Thursday trail grooming has become a slow and difficult process due to all the down trees from so much snow. Sunday the trails were packed but not tracked from 1 to 10, 1 >2 >3>17>15>5>6>7>Flathorn Trailhead. Skiing on the packed trail is worth it, it is magical in the forest right now with all the snow on the trees.

Photos:

(Nancy Schultz)

An estimated 8 to 12 inches of snow has fallen in our area. All trails have been packed and easily skiable if you don't mind not having a track to follow. We skied 3>17>16>19>18>1>2. Thanks to Gary and Bert for packing and clearing trees that recently fell on the trails.

Photos:

(Nancy Schultz)

There are about 8 to 11 inches of snow that have covered the trails making it look like a perfect situation to set a good-packed track. Except for one rather serious problem: the trail the snow machine uses to access all of the trails is on the edge of Lake Gegoka and the lake refuses to freeze up. Gary Olson and I spent 4 hours snowshoeing on the trails today in an attempt to pack it by foot. The first 30 minutes were spent pulling ourselves out of the water as we broke through the thin ice and thick snow cover. The snow has done a fine job of insulating the higher-than-normal water levels. We did make it to intersection 2 but not without going in up to our knees. So yes, if you stay away from the water's edge near Lake Gegoka, back-country skiing would be extremely fun with the snow conditions the way they currently exist. We hope to have trails open soon, but we need a few more days of cold temps before access to the trails with the tracker is possible. Gary and I were thankful we went out in snowshoes and not on the snowmachine today because we wouldn't have had a snowmachine for the remainder of the season as it would have sunk in the wetland with no way out. See pink highlighted areas where we ran into water problems.

Photos:

(Nancy Schultz)

Ungroomed, but the trail around the lake has been skied in enough to make it a fairly pleasant outing. No idea why it isn't groomed, as there is plenty of snow.

(Josh Miner)

Heads up Nordic skier enthusiasts, as you can see from the attached photos winter has arrived in our area and has draped about 13 inches of the lighter but not fluffy snow in our overall area. However, the trails are more like 2 to 7 inches due to the trees intercepting the snow and vehicle traffic on Jensen Trail Road due to deer season access.
The trail grooming folks met today to lay out a plan for this season's grooming approach as well as make decisions about whether to start grooming or not. It was determined that we need substantial cold weather to be able to make the trails groomable. We have had a nice few cold days, but next weeks temps are going to be nicer again. We are feeling like it could be weeks before we can groom the wetland trails, the snow is insulting the wetlands from freezing. But we may be able to do the uplands if we get more snow. Bringing out your rock skis and setting your own trail as you ski is certainly a possibility and likely there will be folks that will try this in the coming days.

Photos:

(Nancy Schultz)