Classic skied the Hill and Lake trails today around 10 am despite no classic tracks. It had been groomed for skating and was rather soft. Very enjoyable and pretty out there.

(Karen Brown)

Gorgeous sunny day at Hyland! Super fun early season conditions. Skied Lake Trail, Hill Trail, Oak Knob, Nature Center Spur and whatever goes to the bottom of Boulder (which is not open yet). Also skied made trails Star and Willow. All super fun. The made trails are really hard and the natural trails are a little soft.

(Joe Dolan)

Backcountry XC skied from Richardson Nature Parking lot East to Scenic Foothills South to Lake Trail and back. Nature Spur was groomed skate. North Trail was skate groomed. Scenic Foothills, Frogtown ungroomed but fun with my BC setup. Lake and Star Loop were groomed skate.

Photos:

(Steve Tannen)

We skied Hyland with waxless. After looping around Star and Willow, but before we had succumbed to boredom, we noticed the Lake trail was packed. Looking for some adventure in our lives we proceeded to explore. We followed a shallow skied in track. We got a good kick in the new snow which made the adventure all the more enjoyable. If it was my "Skate day" I would not have hesitated on venturing off on my skating skis. The Lake, Hill, Oak Knob, North Loop up to the Nature Center Spur, and the Nature Center Spur were all in good shape and had full coverage. The track was shallow on the manufactured snow and very shallow on the natural snow trails. The deck on the manufactured snow trails seemed a bit icy, but without skating skis it is hard to pass judgment. Thank you TRP.

Photos:

(Craig Schulz)

Natural was better than the man made! Lake was well groomed and protected from the wind. Hill was a little softer but still great with nobody on it! Man made surface of Star and Willow were frozen pretty hard, so this was a nice surprise!

(Scott Kirkwood)

As of early this morning, it was still just the star and willow loops that were groomed for classic skiing. It looked like grooming has happened around the lake - but the drop down to the lake wasn't groomed up to the man made trail. Thanks Hyland crew for all your work.

(Scott Greymont)

what a wonderful morning for a ski. Great track. The only issue is the Willow hill - the tracks are a bit glazed - causing very little grip with the skins. Got my snow dance going hoping for some natural snow.

(Scott Greymont)

Day 2 of the beginning of the Winter XC Ski Season at Hyland. Trails are not busy! 1.8 k (Star and Willow) of the manufactured snow trails are packed, tracked and in good conditions. Online rentals begin today.

(Sonja Bercich, Three Rivers Park District)

Willow and Star were really fun. No bare ground. It was a sunny afternoon above freezing and my fishscale skis with quick wax did alright.

Photos:

(Cory Quirk)

Stop 2 of 4: Hit the trails around 10:30 am. Very good conditions with plenty of snow and nicely groomed surface (about half inch loose on top, firm but not hardpack). Nice classic track set as well. Temps were just pushing above freezing but the course was still skiing fast. Just the Star and Willow loops open today. The best conditions out of the trails I skied today, mostly because of timing with the temperatures. Surprisingly not busy, plenty of room at the visitor center parking lot.

Photos:

(Bruce Adelsman)