Good to ugly depending on tree coverage. It was a short trip on ungroomed snow down the Purple trail. The sensation of ungroomed trail in dense wet snow was, at times, a bit like back country; the skis choose the
route. That was in the good snow. Skis would ice up anytime but come clean in good snow. Snow got thin
in the pines after the River loop. I walked out to the culvert due to the constant icing on the skis and skied out from there. No gravel. I had some stick buzzing on the fish scales. With less wind I probably would have skied more open country. More snow and wind is needed to set Willow up for grooming.

(Jeff Bolte)

Trail prep update: The Fecon brush machine has destroyed the understory in the pines on the Purple trail at the loop end. This is typical prep for a timber sale. The trees were marked years ago. No sale yet to my knowledge. Today I took the mower to the trail to clean up as much small slash as the mower would take. The main loop is going to ski lumpier than normal during the early season. The Blue trail has had some work done including widening of the big downhill S turn. The hill will still require solid intermediate skills for a clean run down. Crash, and you are in the rip rap. I would get off trail and walk the hill in my early years of skiing. More snowshoe trails have been added to give non skiers other options. The Bearcat snowmobile is still in the shop for major expensive repairs. Unknown when that comes back. We still have a four wheeler which we set up with tracks for grooming.

(Jeff Bolte)