North Arm trails had enough snow to ski last week on my days off, but could not cross lakes because it was below zero and windy. Last two days have been great conditions. Skied this route Lots of breaking yesterday, today only across Silica and Coxey where wind drift and fresh snow had erased track.

Wonderful trails. To get an idea why the trails are so much fun to ski click on the last paragraph to the left of the map on the linked paged- headed by the phrase "North Arm Four (end)", if you scroll down the window that pops up there is a graph showing the elevation changes on the route.

Wee.

cool.

I skied Battlecreek on my way home from work-- lighted loop. It is all up and all down and really fun, and nice way to end the workday.

cool.

I skied Battlecreek on my way home from work-- lighted loop. It is all up and all down and really fun, and nice way to end the workday.

Skied French Rapids trails east of Brainerd on the Mississippi River today. Fanstastic! Grooming was great and this is really a nice system. Lots of big hills, all trails expert rated. Going to ski Washburn Solitude area near Outing on Monday.

Skiied at Spidahl Ski Gaard yesterday and today. Perfect conditions. Monday might get a bit rough in this neck of the woods, with 40 mph NW winds accompanying a bit of mixed precip...

Minneapolis city lakes (Isles, Brownie, Cedar) are being groomed regularly and are in good shape. I know, boring...you're right, but I can't chance the uphill stuff right now...very weak backside muscle that isn't responding well to therapy. Fun to see all the people out on the lakes, walking, kite flying, biking with those big wheel bikes, dog walking, jogging, skating on the oval.

Skied Louisville Swamp today. Conditions very good. LSwamp is an area in the Minnesota River Bottoms. The main access is off of Hy 169, about 2 miles south of Hy 41 to Chaska. It's at the end of the road that you take to get to the main parking lot for the Renaissance Festival. The trail is not groomed, but the snowshoers have beaten it down nicely. There is a very nice 6 or 7 mile loop thru mainly oak savanna, but there are ridges over 25' high, and you have a good view of Sand Creek and the lake it forms. Good chance to see deer, and many tracks. Over the years I have seen many deer, several fox, eagles and hawks, many smaller bids, pheasants, and one warmer March day, bear tracks.

quote Kevlar: "Skied Louisville Swamp today. Conditions very good. LSwamp is an area in the Minnesota River Bottoms. The main access is off of Hy 169, about 2 miles south of Hy 41 to Chaska. It's at the end of the road that you take to get to the main parking lot for the Renaissance Festival. The trail is not groomed, but the snowshoers have beaten it down nicely. There is a very nice 6 or 7 mile loop thru mainly oak savanna, but there are ridges over 25' high, and you have a good view of Sand Creek and the lake it forms. Good chance to see deer, and many tracks. Over the years I have seen many deer, several fox, eagles and hawks, many smaller bids, pheasants, and one warmer March day, bear tracks. "

i love louisville swamp, an amazingly wild place just minutes from the metro. have they replaced the bridge over sand creek yet? thanks

on another ski note my son placed 63rd in todays birkebeiner. he is my sometimes bowman, he can really make a canoe fly.

Congratulate your son... many very good skiers in that race. Both mens and womens' races decided by less than one second! In a race lasting over 2 hours!

Yes, the bridge was replaced about 3 or 4 years ago. They also cut out a lot of the buckbrush and some of the trees, trying to let the area go back into an oak savanna, so it looks a little sparse on the upper level. And they took the wood burning stove out of the "warming house" at the old historic farmstead. But they didn't move the big erratic rock!

quote jwartman59: "

quote Kevlar: "Skied Louisville Swamp today. Conditions very good. LSwamp is an area in the Minnesota River Bottoms. The main access is off of Hy 169, about 2 miles south of Hy 41 to Chaska. It's at the end of the road that you take to get to the main parking lot for the Renaissance Festival. The trail is not groomed, but the snowshoers have beaten it down nicely. There is a very nice 6 or 7 mile loop thru mainly oak savanna, but there are ridges over 25' high, and you have a good view of Sand Creek and the lake it forms. Good chance to see deer, and many tracks. Over the years I have seen many deer, several fox, eagles and hawks, many smaller bids, pheasants, and one warmer March day, bear tracks. "

i love louisville swamp, an amazingly wild place just minutes from the metro. have they replaced the bridge over sand creek yet? thanks


on another ski note my son placed 63rd in todays birkebeiner. he is my sometimes bowman, he can really make a canoe fly. "

63rd in the Birke is damned commendable. Congratulations to him! (and you, as I imagine you planted that seed for him)

Lousy picture, but does show how incredibly awesome the moonlight ski was last night at Spidahl's. Did a couple of trails with the lights or luminaries they had set up, but this one was done with only the moonlight to guide us. Perfectly calm, sometimes a little foggy, great temps for a Blue Extra wax.

Just got back from a beautiful moonlight ski out at William O'Brien. Trails were good, and at my midway point (at one of the trail shelters) I discovered there were just barely enough coals left from someone else's fire earlier in the day to rekindle it and have a nice break. Doesn't get much better than that!

Skied Louisville Swamp again this past Friday. Had the whole place to myself. The melt and freeze cycle made the downhills scary cause I couldn't snowplow at all, so I walked any that were tricky. I was out before the crust softened, using non-wax skis, and had a decent grip. Came across the lake on the way back and felt like I was flying. Only saw birds and tracks. Even mostly overcast, a great few hours out on the skis.

Schweady- cool photo. I like how you captured the sparkle of the moon on the snow. We're getting up to a foot overnight here in central MN and here I sit with my leg in a brace :(

Thanks. I had some better compositions, but too shaky. Always forget to use a tip I heard once: use a pole for a monopod. Live and not learn...