Conditions: Amazing! Really enjoyed trails, 20, 19, 14, 21, 23, 24 to 11! Love skiing there!
There are a few places that snow coverage isn't the best. 15 Was a bit bumpy.

(Michelle Wall)

Conditions: Good to Great! All trails groomed.
National Forest Lodge wins again for best classic trails in my book. They have snow, plenty of it. Get a cabin and ski your heart out.

(Holly Bayer)

Conditions: Solid base. Fresh 2" snow over the weekend. All trails groomed and tracked Sunday morning.
Excellent to good conditions depending on the trail. Some of the more rugged narrow trails where snow accumulates less due to adjacent tree cover are still a bit uneven and bumpy. Please be especially careful on these trails, especially if skiing solo. Never a guarantee someone will be by any time soon to assist. Verizon cell coverage is fairly good over most of the area.

(Andy Fisher)

37 Rovers spent the 3-day MLK weekend at National Forest Lodge and found a foot of snow piled on logs along these classic-only trails. Skiing through snow falling Saturday and Sunday felt like being inside a snow globe that's been shook up, and also made our skis fast. Andy groomed and tracked most of the 30k of trails on Friday and again on Sunday. Some of us braved the polar plunge after heating up in the sauna. A pack of wolves wandered onto the ski trails Sunday night and we marveled at their tracks Monday morning.

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(David Byrne, Minnesota Rovers Outdoors Club)

Conditions: Good snow cover; almost all trails machine-tracked, some shorter connecting sections skier-tracked.
It was a great day to introduce a friend to the Flathorn-Gegoka trails: snow fell gently, temps were comfortable, trails were in good shape. 23 to 19 and 24 to 19 had some (soft) vegetation sticking through snow but it did not impede skiing. I saw one exposed rock on 15 to 5. Andy was out grooming during our ski.

(Anne Flueckiger)

Conditions: Very good ski conditions; I'd estimate there are 10-12 inches of snow on the ground with powder on top. Trails were freshly groomed - most are narrow (classic only) with lots of twists and dips; one trail is groomed for skating. I started at Flathorn Lake - the forest service keeps the access road (off of Hwy 1) and parking lot plowed.
Access to trails is also possible from a plowed public boat landing on Lake Gegoka that ice fishermen use.

(Bill Leslie)

Conditions: Good given the recent snowfall.
We skied Friday and Saturday on snow covered groomed trails. Saturday was perfect conditions with at least 4 inches of new snow.

(Mike O'Neil)

Conditions: Good conditions. 3-5" base. 8-10" in woods. 50% of trails tracked. Some narrow trails still lumpy and uneven side to side. Need more snow to fill in the dips there.
Trail groomer, Andy, and his wife, Lura, take a quick first ski for 2015. Enjoying fruits of labor.

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(Andy Fisher)

Conditions: Very good, safe for my best skis.
Christmas weekend at National Forest Lodge. We were worried when we went thru Duluth, but pleased to find very good skiing an hour north of the lake. Blue sky, tall pines, sparkling snow, good food and friends!

(Mark Mellstrom)

Conditions: Better than expected given how little snow had fallen.
I skied on the good gear out of the National Forest Lodge. For map readers, I went from the Lodge across the lake and up the hill at marker #3 to #17. From there it was an out and back directly between #12 and #1. All this adds up to around 13 k with a couple of side trips. The double tracked area was the best section of the trail I skied. I saw wolf tracks, possibly coyote tracks, deer tracks, and sunshine in wild country. There was no wind. Other than skiers, the silence was profound. The gradients were gentle. I had to switch tracks or ski out of track to bypass washouts since the trail is highly crowned in low snow. Kick wax was Toko green binder alone. Glide wax was Fast Wax HF Tan. Fresh snow kept the trail speed about normal for the wax set up. Do not ski down the hill to the lake on either side, walk. Its just one little blind left turn from the Lodge side so I went for it on fast skis without looking. Around the turn was the sauna, boilerplate hard snow, a dock, and frozen slush among other objects. Ski, eat healthy and well, socialize, repeat all weekend. I'm looking forward to seeing this trail system in full snow cover and exploring the single tracks.

(Jeff Bolte)