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.

Nordic skiing: Explore Minnesota and DNR

A recent strib article reminded me of the Explore Minnesota snow sports and DNR ski trail sites.

The Explore MN site would be more interesting if I were looking at an area I didn't know. A search around my St Paul home simply provided an unremarkable list in a peculiar sort order. Not useful.

The DNR site provides online purchase of the multi-season nordic ski pass ($55 for 3 years, need ages 16 and up) and some very useful information including ...

• snow depth measure: with very topical reports throughout the state. This looks really well done. In early Dec two trails in SE MN have coverage.
• ski pass trails map: lots and lots of trails
• Sortable table of trails: click header to sort by region, length or name. Why can't anyone else do this? Some of the entries link to Skinny Ski reports.

The DNR site feels like a labor of love. The biggest missing piece is ski trail maps. For example, the Harmony-Preston Valley Ski trail page suggests emailing the DNR information center for a map!

Nothing about skijoring I could find. Email them to ask for that addition!

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

Elm Creek Park Reserve mountain biking

Three Rivers Park District : Elm Creek Park Reserve

Gina KJ says: "12 miles of beautiful, winding, hard-packed dirt. And the best part is this singletrack is for mortals! Fewer difficult technical challenges than 1/4 mile of Theodore Wirth."

Skijoring in Minnesota: Itasca, Nerstrand

I really should figure out a way to update my ancient skijoring page.

In the meantime, some recent discoveries:

• A ranger tells me people are skijoring on Nerstrand Big Woods snowmobiling trails. I'm not sure how official this is, but they have a framed picture of a dog pulled kicksled at the main station. Skijoring to the east side requires crossing private land and is perhaps tolerated but even less official. I don't know how risky this is, though it's not hard to hear a snowmobile coming. Snowshoeing is permitted everywhere but groomed trails.
• Bunker Hills has an official skijoring trail
• Itasca State Park has skijoring on a designated trail *
• State park trails that are occasionally groomed may be considered. 
• Upper Sioux Agency State Park permits skijoring on 14 miles of snowmobile trail during the week.
• Fort Snelling State Park has been used for skijoring, but nothing is mentioned on the site currently.
• Midwest skijors has a 2004 document with some suggestion.

I suspect/hope that there's an unofficial decision to tolerate skijoring on less used state park snowmobile trails -- at least during the week where trail use is low.

* This park is seriously remote, as befits the headwaters of the Mississippi. There's lodging at the Youth Hostel, but they don't take pets. Feel free to visit their Facebook page and politely indicate interest in a change in policy.

Ramsey County bike and trail maps

Ramsey county has several bicycle and trail maps online, but they're poorly organized and hard to find. These links may not persist, but they are a start:

Ramsey County ALRC: Active Living Ramsey Communities

Ramsey County Bike facilities and Gaps map (PDF)

• Overview map (pdf)
• Map 1
• Map 2
• Map 3
• Map 4
• Map 5
• Map 6
• Map 7
• Map 8
• Map 9

They have some Google maps "rambletown tours -- not terribly useful, but nice to see ...

Now you can visit Ramsey County's Gateway, Bruce Vento, and Indian Mounds trails from your computer. These maps are created from a web application that automatically generates trail maps from pictures on a web album that have been geocoded.

Other sites list more maps

Pedestrian Trails Map (5 mb PDF file)

Hiking and Biking Trail Information (pdf)

Mountain Bike Trails & Rules Brochure (pdf)

Mountain Bike Trail Map

then there are regional trails

• Birch Lake

• Bruce Vento

• Highway 96

• Rice Creek North

• Rice Creek West

• Trout Brook

• Rice Creek Water Trail

Lastsly, there's a Hiking and Biking brochure.

Battle Creek Regional Park - East Trail

Battle Creek Regional Park East (Google Maps) is our current favorite MSP XC ski trail. It's two track classic only, with multiple possible loops and shortcuts. There's a nice set of easy and intermediate trails with varying terrain, mostly short rolling hills.

• Trail Map (pdf) - There's also a parking area at Upper Afton east of McKnight that doesn't appear on the map. The northeast loop is open area, not wooded.
• Two areas to park and enter trails
  • North of the trails on south side of Upper Afton Rd and east of McKnight road.
  • South of the trails, on north side of Lower Afton Rd and east of McKnight road. This is also the entrance to the Battle Creek dog park.
• Adelsman's Skinny Ski - Battle Creek Regional Park East: Details with trail report
• MORC Wiki: includes a overlaid satellite map - this is for the summer mountain biking

Alternate map: