Trail to the Falls has been heavily traveled by walkers. Skate tracks and self-cut classic trail barely visible. Not worth skiing yet.

(Kris Miller)

I went for a run on the Purple main stem after the snow stopped this afternoon. Not much snow fell, maybe 3/4 inch in open areas, less in the woods. Talk among the grooming team is to do nothing until we see inches of new snow. The majority of visitors presentley are hikers. Even a rolling would be sending the wrong message now. Closing trails to hiking now would put the park staff in a difficult situation. Rolling and not closing just postpones the headaches. Been there, dealt with it. Skiable areas for classic exist in the park. Regarding the 100 camp: Think turf without gravel and you probably find skiable areas on trails. You might have to walk in. Ski trail brushing work has ended for the season. The combined efforts of volunteers and park staff over two seasons have added a needed four to eight feet of trail width in a lot of the system. It may take the grooming team longer to prep this wider tread when we finally get the word to go. I hope its worth all the work, and now, the wait.

(Jeff Bolte)

Skied on the 100 upper campground loop. No footprints from walkers. There was a classic track in place. Not bad. Snow is a bit thin under one or two trees, but enjoyable enough. This would be an excellent skating loop with more snow.

Photos:

(Ginny Ballantine)

I ran the Purple Trail main stem Saturday afternoon. There was some classic track skied in along the edges. There has been no chatter among the groomers about doing anything soon to set up ski trails. I am one of the groomers. Buckthorn work for Tuesday morning is in the 300 campground with vehicles driving in. That will probably be the last work for the season with vehicles driven on trails that are used for skiing. Do that snow dance for action later this week!

(Jeff Bolte)

Just back from marking trees for tomorrow's Buckthorn Brigade work in the 300 camp. Yes, we are driving vehicles in with our cutting gear tomorrow. There was probably two inches of wet snowman snow down and evenly spread in the campground. It packed down well underfoot. There is ice under the snow in places; the two did not bond. On the asphalt campground road, the new snow might support classic skis but take your rollerski poles. Best guess would be the mowed picnic area from the dam to the beach for another possible break your own track trip. I think skate style would be risky and very hard work. Remember, a lot of Willow's trails are gravel. The howling, screaming wind came up about 3:00pm. Hunting season runs till Dec. 15. No grooming till after then and decent snowfall.

(Jeff Bolte)

The mowed grass picnic area from the dam to the beach did not hold enough snow for skiing. That is one of my pre grooming secrets exposed. Trails are no better but at least they are frozen. Ice could be an issue under the first grooming run. Trail work will continue until there is a real chance for inches of snow.

(Jeff Bolte)

Hunting seasons open Wednesday, Nov. 15 for small game and archery hunting for deer. Hunting ends December 15th. This also applies to Kinnickinnic SP. Only selected areas of both parks are open for hunting. The nine day gun hunt for deer opens on Saturday. Signage is posted with a map of open and closed areas. The translation for skiers is that there will not be any kind of ski trail grooming until after hunting ends. This is not something new. In the groomers meeting, we agreed that grooming trails while the hunt was on would be sending a mixed message about hiking on groomed trails, thus, no grooming during the hunt. The grooming team may just have to send some hours pulling the drags around on Dec. 16th. Yesterday (and Sunday) I took the mower out to do some finish work since the winter rough cut was done. I wanted to get through the hunting areas of the Red and Orange trails. The mower could not handle cutting a thick mat of rough cut prairie grass on parts of the the Red Prairie loop. Where there was a previous cut for a fire break, it was mixed results on the mower. I ran the mower around the Red and Orange to cut and blow leaves off the trail. Again, it was mixed results with some leaves frozen down. The real test will be how the groomers see it in snow, and how it skis. Today a minor tree pruning job led to 4.5 volunteer hours of it on various trails. The Red Prairie loop now has a short view into a ravine. Its going to be rather rough along that edge this season since the trail cut was made this autumn. The ravine, I guess you just have to go see for yourself what is there. If you hike, it is in an open hunting area. Trail work will continue on various weekdays only and well removed from open hunting areas.

(Jeff Bolte)

Ski trail brushing occurs Tuesday mornings on a weekly basis. Brushing by a small crew may go any day of the week. Expect varying volumes of noise if you are out hiking. The brushing work is targeting the most overgrown areas of buckthorn. Work will vary from a one season fix to something much more long term. Winter trail widening has been in progress with the Bobcat. What do you as a skier get from this? Hope is to have a 9' wide skate deck, adequate room for one or two way classic, and no brush in your face under most circumstances. We are not going to get everything that droops in heavy snow on every trail. There are places where high value trees must stay, thus constricting the trail. Where we have done the long term fix, I really like the results. Tests are planned on these. Work will continue until the roller hits the trails.

(Jeff Bolte)