Due to rain and warm weather, we are opening trails back up for hiking. We will groom again if we receive more snow this season!

(Natalie Windsor)

Good tracks. A fair amount of debris on the trail, but not too bad. Classic preferred here, because of the debris and the skate deck is a bit uneven and narrow.

Photos:

(Ryan Urban)

Traveled from Western WI and appreciated the great snow cover. I skate skied and the deck certainly tested my balance with unevenness and narrow deck. The classic tracks looked beautiful! Got some good hills on Wildcat loop! Warming hut open and clean. Pit toilets available.

(Amy Rantala)

The trails continue to improve with additional grooming. There is a great classic track. Some narrow parts of the Central trail are still a little uneven in the skate lane but there are plenty of wider skate lanes on other trails. Being out there alone at -10 degrees, I didn't go too far from the Smeaker shelter so I can't comment on the Wildcat trails but it sure looked like they would be about the same. Overall, great skiing.

(Steve Thon)

It is really nice to be skiing on "real" snow and lots of it. The good news is that many of the trails are groomed a very nice for classic. The bad news is that the skate lane is pretty rough in some places, with some Gator tracks and because of deep animal tracks in the snow. In some places they tore up the trail. (The wildlife people in our group decided they were elk tracks.) This is really the place to be if you are from the Eau Claire area.

(Steve Thon)

Very good for classic. Skate lanes on most trails except western half of Central and adjacent links pretty narrow for skating. Oak leaves starting to accumulate but 1 degree temps and hard kick wax made for very enjoyable classic. Downhill tracks great fun except I have lost my courage on the steepest descents on Wildcat, and snowplowed in skate lane to keep my speeds subsonic. If you are familiar with these trails and love when classic is good there it is a perfect place in these next cold days. South loop is not groomed otherwise everything groomed nicely. Warming hut open. Thanks for your previous report Natalie, that sealed it for Sandy and I to head there and enjoy our best ski of this season. 24k and no repeats!

(Paul Wagener)

Thanks to about a foot of fresh snow, the trails are in excellent condition. There is some fine debris such as leaves, needles and some small twigs, here and there but we have full coverage. Tracks set up very nicely. A few things to note: Norway Pine is packed only as there was some major drifting. A short segment on Central from the first link to the Beginner loop is ungroomed due to a down tree (plan is to clear it early next week), for now bypass using the Beginner loop and link. Enjoy!

(Natalie Windsor)