The trail south of County Rd. E and F was ungroomed, skier tracked and in poor condition. After the turn at the top of the hill after crossing the bridge over the channel from Sucker Lake, a large sapling had fallen completely across the trail. You can ski around it with difficulty as I did on my return but taking off your skis and walking around is advisable as I did on my outbound leg. A number of other trees were bent over the trail requiring you to skirt low hanging braches particularly on the segment west of the intersention of McMenemy St. and Koehler Rd. Upon my return much of the trail from the parking lot to the bridge has been completely obliterated by walkers. With limited exceptions, walkers generally stayed out of the track on the rest of the trail. The more wind-exposed portions of the trail where there were a limited number of trees on the lake side had shallower snow cover and a more stable, faster track. On the less wind-exposed portion of the trail with higher snow depths, the track would frequently compress or sink under my skis slowing me considerably. There were several spots where the asphalt showed through but the "holes" were small enough to allow you to ski over without damaging your skis. Not exacly a great ski.

(Keith Carlson)

Based on previous trail report, I skied from the Edgerton Street entrance. Nice out and back to county F turned around before the bridge. Maybe 2-3" of snow. Packed snow, but no set tracks. Skied in track along most of the route. A couple small patches of ground this morning. Good for recreational skiers! Just get out before it warms up and the conditions change. I included a couple of pictures showing the best parts of the trail.

Photos:

(Amy Kay Kerber)

I skied the trail through the woods on the east side of Vadnais Lake today around 1:30 pm. There fairly good snow coverage (about 2-3 inches, but hard packed and frozen solid, so skis will not sink down to hit the ground below), but the first part of the trail from the parking lot off county rd E/F is covered with a lot of debris from the trees (leaves and sticks etc). There were a few short sections where the debris coverage is quite bad where I basically just walked over it in my skis to try to reduce chance of sticks scratching skis. I definitely would not use your best skis in this section. However, the trail conditions are quite nice after you cross the bridge over the creek. The trail is pretty hard-packed, but I can't tell if it was ever actually groomed or not. The skier made classic track is decently good after you cross the bridge and take that hard right at the intersection near Primrose path. From this point forward, you should be okay on B skis (only a couple leaves or twigs on the tracks here or there, but not many). I did not ski the entire trail, but it looked like it should be pretty consistent from that point all the way along the lake. The conditions in the section were decently good other than some issues with foot prints on the trails. Foot traffic making the trail bumpy was much less of an issue here than Grass Lake. The trail conditions at Sucker/Vadnais/Grass Lake are all better suited right now for more recreational style classic skiing than for serious skiers looking to get a good workout in on skinny race skis. I passed three other recreational skiers during my 20 min ski today.

(Megan Evans)

The trail north of County Rd. E and F was in poor condtion despite having been groomed. ( The trail south of County Rd. E and F did not appear to have been groomed.) There wasn't enough snow for a machine-set track. The skier-laid track frequently washed out helped by extensive foot traffic. Best I can say about it was the fairly frequent snert was easily avoidable and the track alongside the plowed asphalt pathway was pretty fast being in the best shape. South of County Rd. E and F the trail was in good to fair conditions. The skier-laid track was much more consistent. Don't let the conditions of the first section from the hilltop above the parking let to the downhill to the channel deceive you; it's significantly better after that. Foot traffic was still somewhat problematic with at least one person going out of the way to walk in it when the track was neary in the brush on the far edge of the trail. I went 33% faster with the consistent track that was more uniformly packed. Another nice sunset diverted my attention from the cold wind sweeping across the lake. It was around 10 degrees at my 4:00 start falling to 8 or 7 degrees when I concluded at 6:00.

(Keith Carlson)

Skied Sucker Lake loop on Sunday afternoon. Good snow coverage throughout. Groomer rolled the trail since Friday's snowfall but did not set classic tracks. Some skier made tracks but mostly flat.

(Steve Jorissen)

Groomer passed me this morning at the Vadnais end - they rolled the trails from F to Edgerton and back. Doesn't appear to be enough snow for setting tracks. There is still a skier set track on the lake side for most of the way, except the north end near the creek. Looks like they also rolled some trail across County F at Sucker Lake. Please note: these trails are classic only - not skating.

(Linda Johnson)

Two to three skied in tracks. No groom. Bring your old poles. Tips shot through to blacktop. But the pavement for skiing is covered. Just not very thick.

Photos:

(Amy Kay Kerber)

The trail south of County E & F was in fair to good condition Skier-laid double track except for parking lot to bridge where it was single track. It was right around 20 degrees. I used Swix green extra. Not great kick or glide - I only averaged 4 mph - but it was okay. Can't believe I have not done any classic since 2022/23 season but that 's exactly the case. I thankfully had just enough wax remover to get off the red klister left over from 2 years ago. Ironed in some base binder, corked in the green extra and grabbed my ancient combi boots and thankfully found just enough snow to ski. My skis caught gravel or asphalt 3 times but it was okay other than that. It was a nice sunset.

(Keith Carlson)

The trails around Vadnais and Sucker lakes have been skied in nicely. Not groomed yet, but there are multiple classic tracks in most places. Take care over the asphalt path, where the snow is particularly thin. Beautiful place for an easy cruise through the woods.

(Alec Steward)