The Ides of March 2026 blizzard was a Goldilocks blizzard for us in the Twin Cities region: about a foot of snow, more or less. A good workout to clear, and enough to provide a nice base for skiing over formerly bare ground.

Over in the UP of Michigan they got up to 52"/132cm of snow! Yikes!

Yesterday we swung over to Willow River State Park in Wisconsin to enjoy it on our Hok (backcountry) skis. The SW trails in the park had been groomed (not the best for the Hoks) but the rest was untouched except by some hearty hikers.

We did the 6 mile loop around Little Falls Lake. Skiing was better than all of our recent Gunflint vacation except for that first day on the freshly groomed Banadad!

#Huskies #Skijoring #BackcountrySkiing #HokSkis

I finally splurged on a joring kit for Moxxi! It was tough to find a harness that was appropriate for a dog with such a long spine but thankfully there is a shop that specializes in dog sports not too far from home! They recommended this one from Non-Stop Dogwear.

As you can see, Moxxi already did a whole lot of nothing with it.

#DogsOfMastodon #Corgi #Skijoring #Dogs

Day #7, Last day of skijoring 😢

We started out hoping to do one last X-C ski on the groomed E end of the Banadad Trail, but the stick and twig situation was as bad as it had been at George Washington Pines the day before. We gave up after half a km.

Stopped at the cabin to pick up the Hok skis en route to the "Moose Trail" (as it's known in Gaia and other online map apps), or Forest road 1335 (according to the locals). This was a gamble because it's not groomed so could be a deep slog.

To get there, you first follow 1/2 mile of snowmobile trail. It had just been groomed that morning and we were the first on it! It's a little TOO flat for our short, wide backcountry skis, but we made quick work of this stretch...

#Huskies #Skijoring

Day #6, X-C Skiing George Washington Pines

This is the most dog-friendly and popular trail in the region groomed for skiing... but it's also multi-use, so there's a LOT of foot traffic. This shot is from the beginning of the 2 mile loop. Can you find the ski tracks?

The high winds a couple days before scattered twigs and needles all over the trail too! As well as some larger branches.

#Skijoring #Huskies

Day #2, Nordic/X-C skiing on the East end of the Banadad Trail.

This is a 27km groomed track through the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wildterness, running parallel to the Gunflint Trail.

To say it's "dog-friendly" would be generous: dogs are allowed, though locals aren't exactly happy about it. There are literally 100s of km of dog-free skiing trails in the state but skiers want to claim these 27km for their own too. 🙄

Anyhow...

The tracks were freshly groomed: we were the first on the trail, human or otherwise! We skied 4.3 mi / 7 km out, and then the same back. It was enough for today! Even the huskies were lagging on the downhills.

Now many photos taken, but this one has some nice lighting! Hopefully we'll get some fun videos up later.

#Huskies #Skijoring