We missed the Goldilocks time today. After meeting the too hard and icy bear this morning I tried again and encountered the too soft and sticky bear this afternoon. I carried my skis on the mostly bare paved trail from the visitors center and started skiing on the north side of the road to ski the Birch Hill loop. At a very sunny area by the fifth falls I had to portage my skis over 5 meters of wet ground. The remainder of the trail is covered with mostly intact and usable tracks. Although not perfect conditions, it was a very fun, and probably my last ski of the season, on a beautiful day. No April fools!

(Brad Anderson)

Really well groomed and set tracks. Mostly good conditions but the typical areas near the trailhead and along the river were soft and walked on. We only skied the west side of the river and encountered just two other skiers.

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(Karla Anderson)

We stopped by Gooseberry today and the ski trails are a mix of grass, snow and ice. The snow and ice are not connected at all so if you wanted to attempt it you would need those special "grass" skis.

(Eve Graves)

Spring ski conditions. Very little exposed areas. Far NE section is packed only, but all trails Sw of creek but NE of Gooseberry River are compacted and tracked. Sticky snow but little ice this morning. Friend skated SW section, it is also covered but felt slow.

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(Thomas Eckstein)

Amazing day with freshly groomed trails all to myself! I saw three people all afternoon. Plenty of deep tracks. The only part that was shady was under the highway 61 bridge. So lovely! It was my first time here and I'll definitely be back. I always thought this could be a rough course with the terrain but all the blue trails were quite easy.

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(Jonathan Wolfe)

Skiing the Campground loop was very fun! It's in pretty good condition besides a few spots with rocks and animal scat directly in the track that can be easily avoided. Part of the campground parking lot isn't plowed for the sake of grooming the snow for ski tracks, and I watched a truck drive right through it, right through the classic tracks, which is a bummer.

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(Hallie Simon)

I skied the entire easy lake loop and 98% of the classic easy loop is in great condition! Just a few minor spots with some small rocks, but otherwise in awesome shape!

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(Abbie Bowman)

The trails are fully covered with set tracks. The snow cover is thin under the bridge and there is one bare pavement road crossing. There are fewer than normal footprints on the shared use trail near the main park building, probably due to the cold weather and fewer people in the park. The trail nearest the lake had been rerouted through the campground due to thinner snow near the lake.

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(Brad Anderson)

Skiing was very good. We skied 7.4 miles and all of the trails we skied on were groomed and had tracks set. We could also see that the trails we did not ski head tracks set. Tracks were generally deep and pretty well defined. There were a few spots where they were a bit shallow or intermittent. There were a few spots with dirt, exposed or frozen slush. But these were generally easily seen and avoided. In terms of scenery and interesting terrain and good snow and good grooming, it was our best ski of the season yet in Minnesota. We were using our skin skis, and they performed perfectly. Temperature was about 0° F and windchill was about -20° F by the lake, but not much wind in the woods. Saw some very interesting round pancakes of ice floating around in a circle in the current in the open part of the river at the Fifth Falls. Looking down at them from the foot bridge, they looked like some kind of mobile artwork. The warming building is open 24 hours per day, seven days per week, since it is also a highway rest stop.

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(Craig Wiklund, North Star Ski Touring Club)

Skied most of the classic trails this afternoon. Everything was groomed - classic trails and skate trails. Classic trails were ok. Most sections were pretty good with a few areas with stubble sticking through or the very occasional bit of dirt sticking up. As one might expect with the first groom of the year on virtually bare ground, there is a decent amount of waviness and a few sections with very shallow tracks, which will improve with even a bit more snow. But overall well worth the ski and a lot of fun. I used my good skis and with some attention and hopping out of the tracks here and there, I thought that was fine. Kudos to the groomers for getting it done - fun and beautiful place to ski on the North Shore.

(Jim Carlen)