The Red Cedar Trail was rolled Tuesday morning from Menomonie to Downsville. There continues to be a good base and the new rolled snow has created a good surface. No classic tracks were set.

(David Gorman)

The Red Cedar Trail was groomed for skating and classic tracks set from Menomonie to Downsville this morning. Classic track set up well. The ice wall looked great this morning.

(David Gorman)

Groomed and tracked trail from Menomonie to Downsville. Tracked looked great and skate lane looked very good.

(Bill Kryshak)

The Red Cedar Trail was groomed last Thursday evening from Menomonie to Downsville. This included skating lane and new classic tracks. Classic track in great shape and skate lane good as well. There is plenty of snow and no open spots. New snow was placed under the bridge at Irvington.

(David Gorman)

New snow groomed and tracked Monday morning start of trail to Downsville . Excellent conditions, including skating lane and classic tracks.

(David Gorman)

Always a fun trail to ski unless you enjoy hills and undulation (which following the beautiful Red Cedar River trail really doesn't have). There is a large ice/slush patch towards the beginning of the trail (if you started at the Menomonie Depot trailhead headed towards Irvington) that I removed my skis and walked for about 35-45 yards. Other than that, there are a few other spots that are a bit icy (as shown in Keith Carlson's pictures in his Jan 14th post) and soft. Most is not that way, but may worsen with expected 40 degree temps. Tracks are debris-filled in parts, but most of the skate deck is good.

(Gary Simon)

Skied the Red Cedar Trail Wednesday night from Irvington to Downsville. The trail was in great shape for both classical and skate. There were only two very short sections with ice. Note: you can ski under the bridges and do not have to take off your skis thanks Jim T. I did not ski from the Menomonie Depot to Irvington (the more common section skied). Apparently there is more ice on the trail in this section. It can be skied, just use caution when going over these spots.

(Brant Wesolek)

Very good except for the few stretches of ice. Surprisingly, the frequently ungroomed stretch from Irvington to Downsville was in better shape, the skate deck being wider and smoother with only one classic track. The skate deck from Menomonie to Irvington with classic tracks on both sides was nice corduroy on the east side of the skate deck but the west side the of the skate deck was a little chewed up (by the snowmobile of the groomer? or walkers? (I only saw a few footprints)). Things slowed on my return as as more snow fell. I used previously waxed skis with FastWax Teal LF that I rebrushed with brass, white nylon and horsehair brushes in hopes of getting some glide. Either that and/or the higher temps did in fact improve relative to my Friday ski on softer Eagle Point trail at Lake ELmo.
Finally, got a warm enough window to ski without freezing my fingers. At approximately 7 degrees it was slow but not terrible. While the ice curtain was the reason for the major stretch of ice, it's still gorgeous scenery.

Photos:

(Keith Carlson)

Rolled the Red Cedar from Menomonie to about 9 mile mark. Groomed and set track from Menomonie to Downsville. Skate lane looked very good and track varies. We have a lot of ice on the trail this year especially from the ice wall to Irvington but it is passible.

(Bill Kryshak)