MNTrails.org lists some classic nordic ski trails I'd like to try

I most like single track classic only trails in the woods. Recently I came across the mntrails.com listing — it had a few that I’d like to check out.

From their listing I picked out a few to visit, mostly classic or more scenic than average. See original page for links.

• Afton  Afton State Park 19km 
• A variety of groomed, classic loops with trail shelters overlooking the St.Croix River near Afton Alps Ski Resort. Heated Visitors center has parking and bathrooms. The park also has snowshoe trails and holds an annual candlelight ski. MN ski pass required.
• Burnsville  Terrace Oaks Park 10.9km 
• Beginner to expert. Groomed, classic ski trails along lakes and ponds through hills and woods. Chalet available.
• Eagan  Lebanon Hills Regional Park 20km 
• Beginner to advanced trails, groomed for classic and skate ski. Trails wind through the hilly, wooded countryside and around scenic lakes and ponds. Dakota County ski pass required.
• Hastings  St. Croix Bluffs Regional Park 10.5km  
• Beginner to intermediate, groomed, classic ski trails on the wild and scenic St. Croix River. 1.8km skate loop. MN ski pass required.
• Maple Grove Elm Creek Park Reserve 18km 
• Beginner to advanced, groomed, classic and skate trails. Some of the best ski trails in the metro area with fantastic night skiing on lighted trails and a 2.5 km loop with man-made snow. Elm Creek Chalet offers ski rentals, snack bar, and woodstove. Three Rivers Park District ski pass required.
• Maplewood  Battle Creek Regional Park - West 13km 
• Beginner to advanced, classic and skate ski trail. 4 km lit trail. MN ski pass required.
• Marine on St. Croix  William O'Brien State Park 19km 
• Multi-trail system, for all skill levels of classic and skate skiers with views of St. Croix River. Wetland Trail for beginners and Prairie Overlook for the more advanced. Heated trail center has a wood stove. Annual candlelight ski. MN ski pass required.
• Saint Paul  Fort Snelling State Park 19km 
• The park offers flat, classical trails. Most popular trail is the Pike Island Loop. It offers views of the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers. Visitor center open daily 8 am to 4 pm. MN ski pass required.
• Savage  Murphy-Hanrehan Park Reserve 15km 
• Some of the most exciting and challenging trails in the metro. Groomed, classic and skate trails. Snacks, rentals and wax available at trail head building. Three Rivers Park District ski pass required.
• Stillwater Brown's Creek Nature Preserve 4.5km 
• Beginner classic trails on moderate hills. MN ski pass required.
• Stillwater  Pine Point Regional Park 7km 
• Beginner to intermediate trails groomed for classic ski only. This small park near the end of the Gateway Trail has beautiful scenery with trails winding through large pine plantation, by small lakes and picturesque farms. MN ski pass required.
• Vadnais Heights  Vadnais/Sucker Lakes 7.3km 
• Beginner to advanced, classic-only trail on moderate hills through woods. MN ski pass required.
• Victoria  Carver Park Reserve 18km 
• Beginner to intermediate, groomed, classic and skate trails through hardwood forests and marshlands. Lowry Nature Center offers a warming place and has ski rentals on weekends. Three Rivers Park District ski pass required.
• White Bear Lake  Tamarack Nature Center 8km 
• Beginner to intermediate, classic-only trails through prairie, woodland, and marsh. Ski rentals available. 1 km practice loop. MN ski pass required.

Good snow is rare these days, but Feb 2019 is different.

William O'Brien State Park: Skijoring and family skiing

It's only documented in a sign posted on the park trail [2], but William O'Brien State Park (Google map - parking) has a skijoring trail.

That's not quite the only documentation in truth. If you phone the recording mentions a hiking/snowshoe trail that allows dogs. That's the trail we took on a cold January 1, and we had an excellent time.

The trail is mostly flat but there's an intermediate style descent down the broad closed-for-winter access road. Our daughter walked part of it, but she could have easily snow plowed it. Towards the bottom of the road is the hiking trail we followed, here it's shown on a part of the PDF map:

Starting from the lodge follow the trail to the winter-closed road, ski down it looking for the hiking trail sign. Take the trail as shown here; it returns to the road. If the kids are tired take a shortcut back from the Riverside Group Camp site.

This is a multi-use trail with a lot of walkers, dogs and snowshoe use. In places it is quite packed down, but we really didn't have much trouble skiing it. There's usually softer snow and/or ski tracks at the trail margins. There's quite a bit of dog poop at the start (sigh! We carry our stuff out) but not further down.

The somewhat dull terrain is offset by lovely river views and pretty woods.

The park requires a DNR ski pass; we have two we bought online for the season. [1]

There are extensive groomed trails dogs can't go on, we hope to visit those soon. There are also fairly extensive hiking/snowshoe trails south of the park off Broadway avenue. We didn't visit those and don't know if they allow skijoring but I think they do. Call the park first to be sure. (See update below.)

 - fn -

[1]  The purchase process is awkward. I asked and was told they're going to try to get approval to store a PDF of the pass on smartphones to make it easier to carry.

[2] As of Jan 2014 this appears on the park map as well.

See also

• William O'Brien State Park: Minnesota DNR
• Skinnyski.com: Trail Reports - William O'Brien State Park

Update Jan 20, 2014

After another great skijoring outing on the short but fun hiking trail, we did some exploring of the mystery loop that shows on the William O'Brian map:

I was told by the Park ranger that this is a new acquisition that they haven't sorted out yet. As of Jan 2014 it's a hiking/snowshoe trail and we can skijor it. (Alas, that will probably change.)

It's hard to find. The "Broadway Ave" on the map is called "Maple" avenue where it meets 95 - directly east of the main entrance to Marine on St. Croix. (Maple is main street of Marine). Watch for signs for "Route 4", follow those through railway tunnel then look for parking on right. Today it was not plowed, only Subarus were parked. The lot is used for access to the Prairie Overlook Trail, but if you park there and walk a few meters west you can see a gate and a steep entrance to the hiking trails:

This isn't what most people want for skijoring, but it's awesome for us -- just what we love to ski. Looks like steep terrain, so be prepared to be good or to walk a bit. Trails are obviously well used and likely easy to navigate.

There's another entrance to the south off Broadway, but there's nowhere to park there.

If you go call ahead and ask if the lot is clear. If not you'll need a Subaru or equivalent -- or some shovels.

Update 2/17/14: We skied the Mystery trail today with Kateva, the skijor dog. It was horrible. Don't go there. Forget you ever heard about it. Bleak, dismal - it will drive you to drink. Just move along now...

Ok, I can't do it. I should, but I can't. It was the most fun we've had on a trail in years. Absolutely beautiful; though probably for intermediate skiers. My kids had no problems at all. Ungroomed of course, but on a snowy day just fabulous. We'll be back.

Cross-country skiing and skijoring: Minnesota DNR excels

There's something special about the Minnesota DNR. Wisconsin can't compare.

Three pages deserve particular attention

• Cross-country skiing: Minnesota DNR - classifies trails by use, nice event list.
• Snow Conditions/Snow Reports/Snow Depth: Minnesota DNR (good complement to skinnyski trail reports)
• Skijoring: Minnesota DNR (officially approved trails are pretty remote from MSP, but many parks have trails that can be used at some times of year - call ahead. Snowmobiling trails may be available, but of course they come with snowmobiles.)

See also:

• MSP Trails - Twin Cities Bike, Ski and Skate: Skijoring in Minnesota: Itasca, Nerstrand

Spring Lake Park Reserve and Schaar's Bluff - tiny cross-country trail system

I've never heard of this trail south of MSP, but from the summer trail map and winter trail map and a friends report it might be a nice family outing if there's snow (not too likely this epoch):

Spring Lake Park Reserve - Mississippi National River & Recreation Area 

Spring Lake Park Reserve offers over 3 miles of cross-country classic ski trails and almost 2 miles of cross-country skate-ski trails.

Spring Lake Park is a little known Dakota County/State park system a few miles from Hastings MN. The shoreline is still private; from the satellite map it looks like there's some kind of logging going on in part of it (!). I get the feeling the owners would not welcome tourists.

The Park area is associated with Schaar's Bluff Gathering Center, an attractive event place for weddings, meetings and the like. It has the look of a congressional earmark. I don't think it's available for use during routine ski days (too bad), but one year they had a Jan ski event there.

Here's the Google Map view, and here's a good looking bicycle or skate option to ice cream in Hastings.

View Larger Map

See also:

• Schaar's Bluff Trailhead - Dakota County Minnesota
• Vermillion Falls Park and related trail (A cycling gem in Hastings) - Hastings trail map

Minnesota wildlife refuge nordic trails - many MSP region

The US Fish and Wildlife service has a web page listing national wildlife refuge ski trails across the US - but most are MN/WI! I wonder if some of the mixed-use trails might informally allow skijoring  (emphases mine) ...

Best Little-Known Spots for Cross-Country Skiing 

... Some refuges loan out ski equipment free or rent it at low cost... 

Seney National Wildlife Refuge, MI Ski through a mature stand of sugar maple, beech and yellow birch trees. Admire hardwood forests, marshes and the frozen Manistique River.
Trails: The Northern Hardwoods Cross Country Ski Area includes more than 9 miles of trails groomed for classic cross-country skiing. Trails are rated “easiest” to “most difficult.” Trails usually are groomed weekly. Get a map here.

Rydell National Wildlife Refuge, MN Ski a rolling terrain along savannah, wetlands and maple basswood forest.
Trails: 7 miles of wide groomed trails, shared by skiers, hikers and snowshoers. A trail guide is available at the refuge. 

Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge, MN Use an extensive ski trail network in the Minnesota River flood plain to explore parts of the refuge that are inaccessible most of the year. Flat trails lead past forest, prairie and marsh. Borrow snowshoes free with an ID at the Rapids Lake and Bloomington visitor centers.
Trails: About 100 miles of trails include refuge trails that link with those on adjacent state and municipal land. Refuge trails are ungroomed. Some state trails are groomed.

Trempeleau National Wildlife Refuge, WI Ski along wooded edges of prairies and wetlands. Some backcountry trails are shared by hikers. The refuge offers some guided snowshoe tours and cross-country ski tours. See the website for schedule. Snowshoes are available free for use on site.
Trails: Ungroomed trails cover about 4 miles. Pick up a trail guide at the refuge or download it from the website.

Tamarac National Wildlife Refuge, MN Ski along scenic lakes through Northern woodlands
Trails: About 8 miles of occasionally groomed trails. The Pine Lake Ski Trail consists of two loops: a relatively flat 2.2 mile loop and a hillier and more challenging 5.7 mile loop. Call for date of last grooming. Pick up a trail map at the refuge visitor center or information kiosk.

Lebanon Hills Regional Park

Lebanon Hills is a complex park, and the names and web site descriptions are misleading.

There are park divides into 3 regions divided vertically from west to east by John Cake Ridge Road and Pilot Knob Road:

The East Park is a large and wet region east of Pilot Knob and South of Cliff Road. This section has canoe and hiking trails in the summer, and ski trails in the winter. The Carriage Hills entrance is north of Jensen Lake. (Fall 2011 Trail Map). There are other entrances at Holland Schulze Lake.

The West Park would be better named the West and Middle Park. The middle section between Johny Cake and Pilot Knob is primarily equestrian with some hiking trails. in the winter there is cross country skiing there.

The "West" "West" Park is west of Johny Cake. This is mountain biking and hiking in summer, cross-country skiing in winter.

Alternatively, think of it this way:

• Mountain biking: strictly the far West section. Enter off Johny Cake Road at the northern tip of the far west section.
• Equestrian: the middle section
• Canoe: the East park, probably enter at Jensen Lake for the portages.
• Hiking: All three, but the East looks best. I think the Jensen Lake entrance is a de facto local dog park.
• Nordic Skiing: East park, especially around Schulze, Portage and Marsh Lakes. Main trail access is at the Schulze Lake visitor center (though as of Fall 2011 that is under construction) but I bet Jensen Lake is nice too. From Jensen Lake you can ski across (under Pilot Knob Road) to the equestrian section, they'd be wide trails in winter with some nice runs. I wonder if people (illegally) skijor there. The far West section looks to have the most exciting nordic skiing and has skating trails.
• Fishing: Holland Lake off Lexington and Cliff Road has a dock.

See also:

• Lebanon Hills Regional Park - Dakota County Minnesota
• Lebanon Hills RP Winter Trail Map.pdf