What a beautiful snow day! We got way more snow last night than was forecast—about 6 to 9 inches! We got out early this morning and groomed about half the system: Big Pine, Little Pine, Overlook, Highlands, Ham Lake, North Star, and Upper West End. Everything was groomed with a skate deck and a classic track. The snow conditions are prime now. Grooming plans: We will be back out tomorrow morning to finish the other half of the system and will also be working on getting the skate trails opened up again on the lake tomorrow.

Photos:

(John Fredrikson)

Over the last 2 days I have classic skied all the trails except lower west end. There is about an inch of fresh snow on a firm groomed surface. No issues for dirt or rocks on the majority of trails. I did see a rock on upper west end and North Star trails. I used good skis and did not hit anything. Biggest risk of hitting a rock would be snowplowing on a downhill. I would rate all the trails as very good to excellent except for upper west end and amperage in the low areas and the section of North Star on the east side of the gunflint trail. These sections had more uneven surfaces and brush coming through in the trail.

Photos:

(Bill Callas)

We groomed about 10k of trails on the lake today with the Ginzu groomer. There is a loop between Gunflint Lodge and Gunflint Pines, across the lake by the narrows and into the west end bays of the lake. All 20k are groomed with skate deck and classic tracks. We are looking forward to building the base on the forest trails!

Photos:

(John Fredrikson)

We got out to touch up some trails after the weekend traffic. All of the trails are holding up well and have a good solid base. Today we groomed Big Pine, Little Pine, Lonely Lake and Amperage trails. They were all groomed with a skate lane and a classic track. We look forward to seeing you up here to explore the XC trails!

Photos:

(John Fredrikson)

Skied nearly all groomed trails Friday morning with a fresh inch or so of snow on top of a firm base. Amperage Run was the only trail not worth skiing, as it needs more snow to cover the marshy vegetation. Lonely Lake and parts of West End had some sticks poking through as well, but still skiable. All the other trails were in great shape minus a bit of debris here and there. Groomer was out as we were finishing up, so the trails should be even better now!

(Eric Patterson)

We got another dusting of snow last night and got out to touch some of the trails this afternoon. We groomed Big Pine, Little Pine, Overlook, Highlands and Ham Lake. All of the trails are groomed with a classic track and a skate lane. Each of these little snow events are building a good base that is providing a good firm surface. We hope you can come up to explore the trails soon!

Photos:

(John Fredrikson)

Skied Overlook, West End, Powerline, Rabbit Run. All groomed (classic and skate) and set up from the last snow two nights ago. Groomers from Gunflint Lodge did a nice job clearing overhang limbs. With adequate snow, Upper Gunflint never disappoints. So remote, so quiet and peaceful. Just an amazing trail network.

Photos:

(Eric Rhame)

We woke up Tuesday with a couple of inches of fresh snow. We were out to groom half the system and plan to do the rest Wednesday. We groomed Big Pine, Little Pine, Overlook, Highlands, Ham, Upper West End and Northstar. Everything was groomed with a skate deck and a classic track and is setting up well. There are still some stretches with brush weighted down from the freezing rain last week on Northstar and Upper West End. We are still working on clearing those stretches.

Photos:

(John Fredrikson)

We were back out grooming early this morning for the weekend visitors. The whole system has been groomed in the last two days. Everything has been groomed with a classic track and a skate deck. The snow is setting up really well and we have good coverage. Amperage, Lonely Lake and Northstar trails need a little more work so you might want to avoid them. We hope you can come up over the Holidays to explore out trails!

Photos:

(John Fredrikson)

It's hard to tell how much snow we got from this last event with the wind, but the closest guess is about 4" to 6". It was a great addition to the base that we had and the trails are shaping up really nice for the weekend. The trails we groomed today are: Big Pine Little Pine Overlook Lower West End Power Line Short Cut River Run Cut Across Warren's Road Rabbit Run. All of the trails were groomed with a classic track and a skate lane. The deck should firm up well. Grooming plans: The plan is to get out early tomorrow morning to hit the rest of the system.

Photos:

(John Fredrikson)