We received about a foot of very light, dry snow, so trails have coverage but will not be groomed due to other staff obligations this late in the season. No ski rental, but skiers with their own gear are welcome to blaze a trail!

(Maria Anderson)

Trails are not skiable. Snow is nearly gone, and the trails are either grass, mud, puddles, or ice.

(Larry Dolphin)

Skied the south trails and found tracks in the woods to be in good shape, just a little debris in the pines and one icy area on the lower trails. Trails in the open were soft. Culvert bridges and covered bridge are bare. Skied the West Prairie trail and found many bare spots. The main trail out to the tower was still in good shape except for one bare section near the tower. The trail behind the tower is closed. Due to trail conditions and warming temperatures, the Nature Center will no longer be renting skis.

(Maria Anderson)

Most of the trail system has been packed and tracked. (The Wet Woods Trail and Big Bluestem Loop were too wet to groom.) Skied most of the north trails, and tracks were in good condition except in areas where the snow was thin - tracks in the prairie trails just south of the pines and north of the pond were down to the grass. Icy/wet areas south and north of the Tower. High-traffic areas had many footprints.

(Maria Anderson)

Trails received several inches of heavy, sticky snow overnight, with snow continuing today. Staff will begin grooming Saturday morning, so most trails will at least be packed by the end of the day. Grooming will likely continue on Monday. Ski rental will be open over the weekend, beginning at 9:00 a.m. Saturday.

(Maria Anderson)

The trails are in very poor condition and we are not renting skis until we get more snow and trail conditions improve.

(Julie Champlin)

Some trails are still icy and hard in places. Others, with the warmer conditions today, have snow melting a little and parts are sticky. The melting snow is exposing quite a bit of debris in the trails.

(Savanna Dahl)

Where they've had a lot of traffic, trails are hard and tracks are icy. Trails that go down into the woods are icy on the bridges. Our groomer attempted to break up the surface and set new tracks where he could; trails are in good condition along the main route out toward the tower, right behind the pond, and through the middle of the prairie behind the pond.

(Maria Anderson)

Warm temperatures have caused tracks to melt and re-freeze into ice in some areas, especially along the pines north of the pond (snow cover is very thin there too). Most tracks felt icy and fast, but snow felt sticky outside of the tracks. Stepping stone bridges are not open - either bare cement or have water flowing over them. Covered bridge is icy.

(Maria Anderson)

From someone who lives in northwestern Wisconsin where we tend to have the cream of the crop for ski trails, this trail network is a gem. I was visiting my parents near Owatonna so this was a short, half hour drive. Most of the trails are tracked, some are not and the prairie loops do have some drifting, but the tracks were in great shape and the trails that were not tracked had plenty of snow to stride on. There are minimal icy spots (5% at the most). I don't know how skating would be on this trail system. Most trails are a little narrow for that. Open areas had a lot of deer tracks and some people tracks. Extensive trail system with sections along the river, streams in the woods and nice loops on open prairie.

(Michelle Stone)