Chippewa Nature Center Trail Conditions

	Trail Conditions

Update – 7/13/10: All trails are passable, including the rustic (north) section of the Ridge Trail, although this section may be quite muddy. Update – 5/20/10: All trails are passable, except for the rustic (north) section of the Ridge Trail which is impassible due to flooding. Update – 5/14/10: Due to the heavy rains this week, some of the trails are very wet. Update – 4/20/10: All trails are passable, except for the rustic (north) section of the Ridge Trail which is impassible due to flooding. Update – 3/18/10: All trails are passable and free of snow (in places with big puddles and mud), except for the rustic (north) section of the Ridge Trail which is impassible due to flooding. Update – 2/23/10: Trails are snow covered with a thin base. Grooming is expected to happen in the next 24 hours! Update – 2/11/10: The trails are great today! We got about four inches of powder Tuesday night, with some deeper drifts in open places. The River Trail and Homestead Trail were groomed Wednesday the 10^th with classic track set. Our Chippewa Trail bike path was groomed Wednesday as well and is in excellent shape for skate skiing! The base is solid ice in sunny places, but there are no bare spots and the skiing is great! Come on out and give us some feed back on trail use! Email Curt at cholsinger@chippewanaturecenter.org Update – 2/3/10: There is no bare ground showing through on the trail, but there certainly are some VERY thin spots. The worst area is through the pines at the Homestead and on the Southern-most part of the River Trail. The base is very hard and icy underneath, too solid to set track into it, but our recent inch of snow freshened up the top. Using either your worst good skis or your best rock skis would be a good idea. The Wood Duck Trail is not flooded currently, but only because everything is locked in ice and snow right now! There will certainly be several spots along it this spring that will be impassable. The beavers that are living in the lodge right next to the trail have done a superb job of keeping the water backed up! Now is a great time to hike/ski that portion of trail before ice-out. There are no major limbs or trees down on the trails (just a few twigs). Update – 1/11/10: Trails were groomed and track set this afternoon. As of this morning (Monday), we had two inches of fresh snow. Conditions are perfect for some great skiing! Update – 1/5/10: Like all of the local skiers, we have been hoping for snow. Our grooming equipment is itching to get out and do its job! We have rolled and groomed the trails only once so far this winter. There just isn’t enough snow yet to do anything with. Considering what snow we’ve had, though; the base is good, and there are not many bare spots. Rock skis would still be a good idea, especially in areas like the Pines near our Homestead Farm. We will be grooming and setting track on the River Trail, the Homestead Cut-Across, and the Chippewa Trail Bike-Path (our normal routes). This gives almost seven miles of groomed trail, and leaves over eight miles of un-groomed trails. There is no admission and we are open year-round. Currently the trails are rolled, with no tracks set; however there have been a number of skiers out that have begun to set their own tracks. Come on out and make some tracks of your own!

Looking for a free place to ski or snowshoe? Come out to the Chippewa Nature Center and enjoy over 15 miles of trails; open to skiing, snowshoeing and hiking year-round! Come out this winter and ski over 7 miles of groomed ski trails. Of the trails groomed, 3.6 are track set for classic skiing following the river and wetlands and 3 miles of the Chippewa Trail are experimentally being groomed for both classic and ski skating! Bring the whole family: it’s free and open from dawn to dusk! We would love your input on your how you would like to use the trails; i.e.: snowshoe, classic skiing, ski skating, etc. Any feedback or ideas are welcome. Please contact us at cholsinger@chippewanturecenter.org or tlenon@chippewanaturecenter.org. Enjoy the trails!

Trail Report as of 3/24/09: Chippewa Trail is pretty well clear and ready for hikers and bikers. Other trails may be pretty muddy in spots, and a few may be flooded and impassable, like the short connector between the River Trail and Sugar Bush Trail by Six Island Pond; in Oxbow Woods; some of the Ridge Area Trails; and the connector between Chippewa Trail and the Badour Road parking lot at the Wetlands Area. Of course, the Arbury and Meadow Mouse Trails continue to be inaccessible from the Visitor Center parking lot due to the preschool building construction. Trail Report as of 2/23/09: The 4" or 5" of snow that fell Saturday helped a lot to freshen things up! It's not enough to do any grooming, though. There have been a good number of skiers out already and they have set their own track, so we won't ruin it by rolling. There are no bare spots on the River Trail, but in the pines on the Homestead Trail it's quite close to bare. We recommend your rock skis just in case you find some "trail" under the snow. There are still ice sheets under the snow, so watch for those super slick spots, especially if on foot! The weather coming up doesn't look all that good for skiing, with Thursday and Friday calling for almost 40 degrees. Come out and enjoy it while you can! Trail Report as of 2/20/09: Trails are not so good for skiing now! The river has gone back down since our warm spell flooded the trails. There were sections of the River Trail that were under water, and some still are, but now there are ice sheets up on the trails – once again! The base is “base”ically all gone! There are quite a few bare patches scattered along the trail. The Chippewa Trail has lost almost all of its snow; just watch for ice patches! The Homestead Trail and Wood Duck Trail are mostly high and dry and the low areas are now passable. Get out and enjoy the “Spring-ish” weather and be looking for buckets to start appearing on the Maple trees soon!! The Sugarhouse will be open on weekends in March starting Sunday, March 1 from 1:30-4:30 pm. Trail Report as of 1/29/09: We groomed and set track on everything today. The trails are perfect for classic and skate skiing! The Chippewa Trail is hard packed all the way to the Tridge. It's a good thick base and your pole tips don't hit the asphalt underneath. We don't have any bare spots anywhere. Have a great day on the trails! Trail Report as of 1/23/09: As of last night, the Chippewa Trail was groomed and tracked. That completes all of our normal grooming. That still leaves 7.7 miles of un-groomed trails! The temperatures have been great and perfect for getting outside without freezing any exposed skin! We'll try to keep you updated and would appreciate you keeping us updated on how conditions are for you on the trails and how you're liking (or not liking) the grooming and trails that are groomed or not groomed. Email Curt at: cholsinger@chippewanaturecenter.org Trail Report as of 1/20/09: The trails are looking good. The River Trail and Homestead Cut-Across were groomed with track set today, and hopefully we will get to the Chippewa Trail tomorrow. Trail Report as of 1/16/09: All the trails have been groomed and track set! The Chippewa Trail Bike Path looks great (a few bare spots) but overall a good base. We set Classic Tracks on the one side and groomed wide enough to skate beside it! Come out and give us feedback on the skate skiing. Trail Report as of 1/13/09: The trails were all rolled today. We're still trying to build our base back up on top of the ice sheets that are on the trail in the flood plain areas. We got 3 inches of cold powder snow today, and are supposed to get some good drifting overnight. We plan on grooming and setting track tomorrow (Wednesday). Conditions look great! Trail Report as of 1/09/09: The trails are improving. We've had 4 or 5 inches of gradual accumulation over the last few days. On the Chippewa Trail, there are 2-3 inches of solid base, but in a few of the sunny spots there maybe less and potentially completely bare! Watch out for those spots. In most places, a good base is built back up on top of the ice, so it’s not as slippery. Most of the trails are fine, but down in the flood plain there are a few really slick spots. (In fact, we re-routed the trail near the Oxbow.) The re-route is obvious, and now includes a fun downhill curve! (Okay, it’s only 15’ of drop, but for Midland, it’s good!) All the trails were rolled yesterday and we plan on grooming and setting track today (Friday). Come out and enjoy the weekend, because… it’s a beautiful day for a beautiful day! Trail Report as of 12/19/08: Wooo-hooo!! SNOW!! What a great winter this has been so far! The trails are in great shape. No bare spots at all now. We’ve got 4’’ of fresh, beautiful snow as of 10:00 am, and it’s coming down hard still! The trails were rolled early this morning, and you can’t hardly tell it’s been done. Later this afternoon, we’ll roll again… then groom and set tracks! First tracks set for the season! Trail Report as of 12/17/08: The base is building! With that last warm spell, the base turned into mostly ice, and with last night's 3” dusting, it made the trail quite slippery in spots! The trails were rolled today and we plan on grooming Friday. Track will be set when we get a little thicker base. There are no bare spots, but the trail is either solid ice or powder. We are hoping to keep getting enough snow to groom the Chippewa Trail all the way to the Tridge! It’s about 3.5 miles, and aside from the few road crossings, it’s a great trail to ski! It should be wide enough to get some good skate-skiing on too!