Anybody know how much snow/ice is still on the BRT. I'm wanting to do an early season trip on it and willing to deal with a little snow/ice, but still would be nice to know how deep the snow still is. I know the snow maps last week were still showing up to 8 inches, but was hoping things were starting to thaw out.

Thanks for any first hand information you can share.

Check out
http://www.shta.org/Conditions.php
Since the north end of the SHT joins the east of the BRT, might be a decent source.

quote ECpizza: "Check out
http://www.shta.org/Conditions.php
Since the north end of the SHT joins the east of the BRT, might be a decent source."

Thank you for the link. Unfortunately they refer to the MN DNR's page for snow depth and it looks like they stopped reporting on the 21st of this month. Good source to keep an eye on though.

Thanks again for the idea!

Well, not able to glean a great deal of information on the internet about current trail conditions, so going to head over tomorrow for a trip. I think it will be ok . I'lll provide a brief report on trail conditions when I get back.

Well, I am back. Trip did not go exactly as planned. Got sick second day out and was unable to keep food down for the next three days, so bailed out at the South Gunflint Road crossing. Still walked about 54 miles over the 4 days I was out and had a better time than you'd think under the circumstances. I actually did not feel to bad, just could not keep food down, so thought it would not be prudent to continue on the the Kek.

I had hoped to start at Swamp River, but Otter Lake Road was closed to traffic, so I started at McFarland Lake. As always the trail was incredibly beautiful, but hiking was challenging due to a lot of snowdown. Lots of small trees/brush bent over from snow this past winter blocking the trail. There were also a fair number of new tree falls and a lot of broken white pine branches blocking the trail. None of this was unexpected, due to the wet snows we had this last winter.

The eastern portion of the trail also still had a surprising amount of snow on the trail, but thankfully no ice, as I left my hiking crampons in the car. I spent the first night on Pine Lake. Nice campsite and the lake was still covered in ice that was breaking up. The wind came up during the night an in the morning the lake was ice free. Pretty nice to experience that!

The next two days found conditions that were very much the same as the first day ... quite a bit of snowdown, but fewer trees down the further west I went. By my fourth and last day I was into the burn and ski trail areas. Hiking there was fast and easy. Lots and lots of ticks in the burn area though. Glad I had treated my clothing with Permitherin before the trip! When I was spraying my clothing before the trip, I thought I was wasting my time given the time of year, but turned out to be a very good precaution to take.

Overall, a fun trip, though I am sorry to have missed the first 13 miles of trail do to Otter Lake Road being closed and missing the Kek do to illness. Again, what a spectacular trail. Great fun and I want to get back again soon!

Sorry for being so long winded. I hope this brief trail report helps someone. I will mention that since getting back it looks like Otter Lake Road is now open to the trailhead.

Wow HappyHuskies what a trip! Glad you made it ok....I would have bailed right away but you are a grinder!

quote Android: "Wow HappyHuskies what a trip! Glad you made it ok....I would have bailed right away but you are a grinder! "

Thanks for the reply Android. It really wasn't "that" bad, but I was concerned my inability to keep food down would get worse and I did not want to commit to the Kek for that reason.

I've hiked the Kek before, but this was the first time I'd been on the Border Route and I was really impressed. Other than this past winter's damage the trail was in very good shape. The winter did not do it any favors, but it's obvious the trail crews have been busy here in the past. Easy to navigate and incredibly beautiful. I really like hiking in the Boundary Waters and this trail is definitely getting put on my "must do again" list!

HappyHuskies,

Thank you for the report. It's very helpful as we're headed there in a week or so. Any spots with tricky navigation due to the winter related conditions?

Paddle Family,

Nothing really special in terms of navigation to mention. The tread was generally very easy to follow and many of the turnoffs for campsites were marked. Oddly the most confusing section to navigate was the ski trail area. The trails are all named and marked with signs, but my map did not show those names. Anyway, this was not a difficult section, but I did have to pay more attention to my map than I did in the more remote sections of the trail, which I found odd.

All of the snow should be gone by now and I believe the Border Route Trail Club has several trail clearing trips scheduled for May, so the snowdown should be much less of an issue.

The timing of your trip should be nearly perfect. Enjoy!

quote HappyHuskies: "Paddle Family,


Nothing really special in terms of navigation to mention. The tread was generally very easy to follow and many of the turnoffs for campsites were marked. Oddly the most confusing section to navigate was the ski trail area. The trails are all named and marked with signs, but my map did not show those names. Anyway, this was not a difficult section, but I did have to pay more attention to my map than I did in the more remote sections of the trail, which I found odd.


All of the snow should be gone by now and I believe the Border Route Trail Club has several trail clearing trips scheduled for May, so the snowdown should be much less of an issue.


The timing of your trip should be nearly perfect. Enjoy!"

Thanks Happy Huskies.... Yes, looking over my maps I suspected that the ski area would be the most tricky with all the loops. I had downloaded a ski map so that I could compare it if we had questions when we got there. Appreciate your help.