Snow! Lots of snow! With one of the snowiest Februarys on record, and snow that has stayed on the ground since the beginning of December, this is a real Minnesota winter. The national forest provides lots of opportunities for enjoying the winter and reminding you that winter is more than just endless shoveling and blowing.
Now would be an excellent time to mix things up and try something new. We all get into habits, and if you’ve always skied Pincushion, maybe this is the week to try Bally Creek Ski Trails or Sugarbush. Or, forgo the skis and try snowshoeing, or dog sledding, or snowmobiling, or fat tire biking…it’s fun to try anything different than shoveling snow!
Be sure if you are skiing that you have appropriate passes. Many ski trail systems use state money to help with grooming and maintenance, and your Minnesota Ski Pass helps fund that. Some of the ski trails in our area are privately funded, and you will need a different local permit to use those trail.
And, if you are on a trail which enters the Boundary Waters, you will need a self-issued Boundary Waters Canoe Area permit. Snowmobiles, of course, require licensing and they are generally not allowed in the BWCAW. Similar to ski passes, snowmobile licenses contribute to maintaining the state Grant In Aid trails, so the money you pay in is well spent.
While we are talking permits, a permit is required if you plan to plow any road under Forest Service jurisdiction. Don’t just drop your plow down and go – stop at either the Tofte or Gunflint Ranger Station, pick up a permit, and let us know where you are plowing so we can keep track of which roads are open.
It is important to know where plowing is being done, so please help us by getting the required permit.
If you are out plowing, driving, skiing, or just walking, we’d like you to keep your eyes open for lynx. Lynx are our beautiful northern member of the cat family, adapted for our winters with thick fur and large feet for traveling over snow. They are closely related to the more common bobcat and the two can be hard to tell apart.
Lynx feet have so much fur that their tracks look like circles, and the lynx itself has a white bottom on its tail where a bobcat’s tail has rings completely around it. Sizes can overlap, but lynx usually appear to have very long legs for their size.
Report your find and its location to the biologist at either Tofte or Gunflint. Take a picture if you can on a phone, which marks the GPS coordinates, and when photographing tracks, put something like a coin or pencil in the photo to show scale.
As always, when driving, keep your eyes open for deer, moose, and logging trucks. We can’t tell you where the deer and moose will be, but we can tell you that logging operations will have trucks using the Greenwood Road on the Gunflint District, along with the Firebox Road and the Blueberry Road.
The latter two are dual use with Gunflint to Grand Portage Snowmobile Trail, so snowmobiles will have to use caution. On the Tofte District, trucks will be using the Wanless Road, Lake County 7, Lake County 8, and Cook County 1.
Whatever you plan to do, make sure you take a break from shoveling and get out and enjoy the snow on your National Forest!
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