With at least 2" of new snow and fresh grooming, the trail when I started skating about 9:30 was the best looking I've seen it in years. Neither the LF 12-28 waxed skis nor the LF 18-28 waxed skis glided very well, but 98% of the leaves and such had gone back into hibernation, and the tracks looked mostly clean. Lower Ironwood was open, and I didn't have to walk the 10 meter stretch I had to walk yesterday, but there was dirt to avoid, so check back after a few warm days. Otherwise, our local Winter Wonderland should be good stuff for a while.

(Richard Swenson)

Technically, all trails were open--I skied Lower Ironwood for the first time this season, the barrier was down, but I had to take the skis off for the 10+ meter stretch totally devoid of snow (well after the steep downhill). Otherwise skated the outer 6.2 km loop, noting how nice the deck was except for various patches of significant leaf/twig cover, and one fairly icy stretch just after the medium loop joins back up with the outer loop. The Swix 25-39 LF was quite fast until it hit 38 degrees and the deck started getting soft and noisy. Used my best skis... but I did run over more than a few leaves, and such. All in all, a good outing on a pleasant trail system, well suited to ones third day in a row of skiing.

(Richard Swenson)

Technically, all trails were open--I skied Lower Ironwood for the first time this season, the barrier was down, but I had to take the skis off for the 10+ meter stretch totally devoid of snow (well after the steep downhill). Otherwise skated the outer 6.2 km loop, noting how nice the deck was except for various patches of significant leaf/twig cover, and one fairly icy stretch just after the medium loop joins back up with the outer loop. The Swix 25-39 LF was quite fast until it hit 38 degrees and the deck started getting soft and noisy. Used my best skis... but I did run over more than a few leaves, and such. All in all, a good outing on a pleasant trail system, well suited to ones third day in a row of skiing.

(Richard Swenson)

The entire perimeter trails were in excellent condition except for Upper Ironwood, which was in fair condition because of bare spots after the marsh and cattails sticking up thru the snow on the portion of the trail in the marsh. It was 17 degrees with strong SW wind. I used FastWax Blue LF. There was practically nobody there, parking lot was nearly empty when I started at 4:15. One individual was coming off the trail and I passed only two on the trail. The snow was very dry with course particles of snow on Poplar Creek and Lakeside. It transitioned to finer snow on Ironwood. Surprisingly, I picked up at least 6 mph in my pace for every mile I skied. So while my pace was 5.3 mph for mile 1. I was skiing at a 7.4 mph pace on mile 4.

(Keith Carlson)

Good base. The wooded trails keep you out of the wind. Lots of tree trash.

Photos:

(Amelia Damlo)

Skied skate at Cleary today. Trails groomed and very good for skate with some trail debris (leaves, twigs, etc). Classic tracks looked in poor condition with lots of debris clogging them. All trails open but be aware that if you go down to the lower iron wood trail, don’t take the path with the steep hill unless you want to walk across a large patch of weeds and dirt. Easily avoidable though by taking the cutoff.

(Doug Swenson)

Trails were rolled and tracked. A little soft in places but overall a great afternoon for skiing. We skied all of the trails. It's a good time to get on your skis.

(Sandy Beach)

Trails overall were pretty good. It was fairly icy and most of the tracks were too shallow to use well. It probably would have been better skating, but the trails were pretty slick. In some areas there was also a fair about of debris in the tracks, but overall were pretty clean. There were just 2 segments which were closed. Once it got dark, the trails lights came on and it was lit very well. Overall a good spot for a light evening ski!

(Elizabeth Axberg)

Checked out Cleary this morning and found that it wasn't groomed. Looked like there was an attempt but wasn't completed. With that said there was snow to find an edge and get a ski in. There are some very icy spots but we were able to get around those spots. The tracks are ice but a friend was using power grip and was getting good kick. Double poling was the way to go.

(Bill Stuber)

Hardpacked and fairly icy as you would expect, even in the skating lane. Minor leaf litter. No recent grooming. Conditions were a little better further away from the Visitor's Center. Use waxless skis if you're doing classic. Good double poling though and the sun was out.

(Dave Gardner)