I skiied a total of four times this winter, all in the tiny park by my house. Less than 10 miles total! I was afraid to ski on the lake and fall through. No BWCA trip. Not enough time off work to go out west. Didn't get to use my new sled. Good news is, water is open early for canoeing. I need a better plan B next year if we have a mild winter again.

you can still ski up the gunflint trail systems for a few days. 10-12 fresh inches of snow. no more grooming but you can make your own tracks!

New xc skis this fall from Midwest Mountaineering after 40 years of pine tarring the old hickory boards, and new snowshoes we laced at a class at the Ely Folk School last September.

Mea culpa.

Great skiing for me this year, many days and many miles. Skied in Montana, Idaho and Northern Minnesota. Was sad to melt the storage wax on the skis after yesterday's finale (working out of state for 4 weeks) on the lakes.

I skied a bunch this year. I classic skied for many years and just started skate skiing a year ago so had something that was still new to me. I put my boys in the Minnesota youth ski league, so skied with them two days per week also. I wasn't confident enough to ski the Birkie, but did ski the Korteloppet and hope to ski the Birkie next year.

It was a good year even though there wasn't much snow.

quote Mocha: "you can still ski up the gunflint trail systems for a few days. 10-12 fresh inches of snow. no more grooming but you can make your own tracks!"

Ok so now I'm thinking about it. Wondering if I could do an overnight with my skis and backpack on Saturday. Saturday night low is only supposed to be about 19. Saturday itself 30 and sunny. Can I do that on banadad trail? Can I park overnight on trailhead?

quote NotLight: "

quote Mocha: "you can still ski up the gunflint trail systems for a few days. 10-12 fresh inches of snow. no more grooming but you can make your own tracks!"

Ok so now I'm thinking about it. Wondering if I could do an overnight with my skis and backpack on Saturday. Saturday night low is only supposed to be about 19. Saturday itself 30 and sunny. Can I do that on banadad trail? Can I park overnight on trailhead?
"

It would be a fun ski and a quite and relaxing time.

Honestly those who do a late ski will never forget it.

Years ago we did a winter camping trip into Quetico the first week of April.

quote Pinetree: "

quote NotLight: "

quote Mocha: "you can still ski up the gunflint trail systems for a few days. 10-12 fresh inches of snow. no more grooming but you can make your own tracks!"

Ok so now I'm thinking about it. Wondering if I could do an overnight with my skis and backpack on Saturday. Saturday night low is only supposed to be about 19. Saturday itself 30 and sunny. Can I do that on banadad trail? Can I park overnight on trailhead?
"

It would be a fun ski and a quite and relaxing time.


Honestly those who do a late ski will never forget it.


Years ago we did a winter camping trip into Quetico the first week of April.
"

I tuned up my fattest skis last night and put them in the CRV. I think I have most of my overnight gear collected in a pile on the porch (tarp, xtherm, 15 degree bag, thermos, gorp, backpack, no sled). Inreach and other gadgets charging. I'm planning to leave about 2am tomorrow and head north. Not 100% sure of destination. I will avoid lakes. I am still wondering if I can park overnight at one of the Banadad trailheads and sleep off trail under my tarp. Might try something else too. Excited to try new 10-18mm wide angle lens.

quote NotLight: "

quote Pinetree: "

quote NotLight: "

quote Mocha: "you can still ski up the gunflint trail systems for a few days. 10-12 fresh inches of snow. no more grooming but you can make your own tracks!"

Ok so now I'm thinking about it. Wondering if I could do an overnight with my skis and backpack on Saturday. Saturday night low is only supposed to be about 19. Saturday itself 30 and sunny. Can I do that on banadad trail? Can I park overnight on trailhead?
"

It would be a fun ski and a quite and relaxing time.



Honestly those who do a late ski will never forget it.



Years ago we did a winter camping trip into Quetico the first week of April.
"

I tuned up my fattest skis last night and put them in the CRV. I think I have most of my overnight gear collected in a pile on the porch (tarp, xtherm, 15 degree bag, thermos, gorp, backpack, no sled). Inreach and other gadgets charging. I'm planning to leave about 2am tomorrow and head north. Not 100% sure of destination. I will avoid lakes. I am still wondering if I can park overnight at one of the Banadad trailheads and sleep off trail under my tarp. Might try something else too. Excited to try new 10-18mm wide angle lens.



"

There are lot of side roads in the area you should be able to pull over for the night? Go for it-yes the lakes may be a question mark I would avoid them unless you have more info.
There is a lot of old unplowed logging roads etc.-explore.

Otherwise you should be able to get some good lodging rates,but enjoy have a good breakfast at one of the local stops.

quote NotLight: "

quote Mocha: "you can still ski up the gunflint trail systems for a few days. 10-12 fresh inches of snow. no more grooming but you can make your own tracks!"

Ok so now I'm thinking about it. Wondering if I could do an overnight with my skis and backpack on Saturday. Saturday night low is only supposed to be about 19. Saturday itself 30 and sunny. Can I do that on banadad trail? Can I park overnight on trailhead?
"

you should be able to park at the trail head near loon lake, so the western end of the trail. we've gotten about 12 inches of snow this past week and it's been snowing all night and day today so far. saturday morning the sun should shine and then back at the snow again.

if all else fails, come to Gunflint Outfitters and park you car and i'll give you a ride to the trail head.

quote Mocha: "

quote NotLight: "

quote Mocha: "you can still ski up the gunflint trail systems for a few days. 10-12 fresh inches of snow. no more grooming but you can make your own tracks!"

Ok so now I'm thinking about it. Wondering if I could do an overnight with my skis and backpack on Saturday. Saturday night low is only supposed to be about 19. Saturday itself 30 and sunny. Can I do that on banadad trail? Can I park overnight on trailhead?
"

you should be able to park at the trail head near loon lake, so the western end of the trail. we've gotten about 12 inches of snow this past week and it's been snowing all night and day today so far. saturday morning the sun should shine and then back at the snow again.


if all else fails, come to Gunflint Outfitters and park you car and i'll give you a ride to the trail head."

Great! I just got my McKenzie #4 map with the trail on it. I'll plan on parking at the loon lake trailhead. If the snow is too deep for the CRV I'll head over.

dress warm! it's -7 this morning, clear starry sky

I see by Mid week many areas will be 50 to almost 70 degrees.

That should be excellent skiing today and I see it should be in the mid 20's. Just right for February.

Early April you never know what your going to get.

As they say the Suns got power this time of year. If sunny it should warm up fast.

Late start. Glorious day! I have only gotten as far as Gooseberry as of 10:45am.

I waxed warm, but brought more clothes than last time. I am hoping for 15-20 overnight low, hopefully, but can go lower if I bundle up! It's 25 and sunny at Gooseberry right now. Not much snow at all so far.

if you're planning to winter camp overnight it is supposed to warm up into the 20's and possibly snow!

well......??? how was it? did ya get stuck? :)

quote Mocha: "well......??? how was it? did ya get stuck? :)"

Ha yeah, you can see my tracks! So then I drove down to see if the other entrance was plowed, and it was down this long narrow muddy road and I was worried I'd get stuck again if it snowed. And something underneath the car was rattling. And then I saw a wolf! Run away! It was about 3:30 by then too. I retreated to Grand Marais and walked around a while, and then I camped at Cascade river and went on a hike. I thought about driving up to try again but it was 33 and sunny when I woke up so I decided to tourist my way back down the north shore.

I know Minnesotans never retreat, we just reload. But it seemed prudent. I'll try avain next season, and probably stay at a lodge or get a real truck!

I'll post a couple pictures when I get home. A beautiful weekend. I couldn't get the camera up fast enough to get a picture of the wolf though :(

Pics, but no ski pics :( I took these all with my new Canon 10-18mm wide angle lens. I bought the wide angle just to get nice close in shots in the woods when doing things like skiing - which I didn't do because I chickened out of that. I'm happy with the pictures, but for landscapes it's actually hard to find something that really fills a frame at 10mm.

Gooseberry


















Cascade







Gunflint from the car - about 10" of snow still?






Grand Marais





Grand Marais random







"Jesus Sky" $5






Duluth is supposed to be in the background





More Duluth






Coffee store, then home!

Love the waterfalls. Your trip looks like a success.