Not groomed, but surprisingly good snow conditions for this early and the first snow of the season. We were skiing on our waxable Norwegian wood skis with V-55 Swix kick wax. Plenty of snow. Some leaves and sticks. A few small patches of dirt, easily avoided. Great day to be out on skis! All of their ski trails were open.

Photos:

(Craig Wiklund)

Skied the ungroomed outer loop on my waxless Madshus backcountry skis. These skis are a blast. Some walkers and one skier before me. If you think you have to stick to groomed trails and manmade snow, you're missing out on a big part of the fun! This was a great, hard workout bustin trail. No crowds except for two hawks, an owl, a bald eagle and three whitetails. Forget about preserving your race ski bases sometime. You'll be ecstatic to get out and kick around old school. You could ski 10 k here in three combined loops.

Photos:

(Dale Vaillancourt)