Minnesota Trails

      Imagine, children playing soccer on cross-country skies, rocking back and forth on a wide teeter-totter with those skies and trying to negotiate a hill on one ski.

            These are just a few of the activities young people ages seven to 13 participate in during the Loppet Adventure Winter Camp held each year at Theodore Wirth Park in Minneapolis during winter break.

Classic Ski Weekend at Flathorn Gegoka

By Rudi Hargesheimer, Outdoor Writer/Photographer

I thought I had graduated to the perfection of the North Shore’s best cross-country ski trails long time ago.

Beautiful ski trails are everywhere in the Arrowhead’s big snow belt with twelve feet wide, skate lane on the left, classic track on the right. Guaranteed grooming creates a fast and firm deck for super fun skiing.

An abrupt stop to that awaited our group of ten on a trip to the Flathorn Gegoka Ski Area. We re-discovered old style classic single-track skiing, tight woods yet nicely groomed trails. Our group shared two simple cabins, at a rustic but very nice resort. I felt we stepped back in time.

    Full moons can be alluring, enlightening and romantic.       Full moons can also be dangerous. A full moon brings to mind images of Normal Rockwell’s painting of a young couple kissing silhouetted against warm, enchanting moon. Another image of the full moon has black cats, witches and tombstones silhouetted against a menacing moon. The moon in my tale was the most alluring of moons with a two-feet of bright white snow sparkling with the reflections of a million ice crystals. You could have read a book in this light.

We have known this for a long time and now it is official.

         Last weeks wonderful little snow storm and a few dustings have officially started the 2010-2011 Nordic ski season.

 Much of the eastern park of the state from Winona to the Gunflint Trail has enough snow to ski.

           Ever feel torn between cross-country skiing and walking your dog?

Dr. Tom Stoa: Always Looking for Parks and Trails Opportunities

By Linda Picone

Tom Stoa’s interest in parks and trails first developed when he was elected to the Minnesota Legislature in 1976. “When I was elected, I sought assignment to Willard Munger’s Environment Committee,” he says. “He made me chair of the Parks and Open Spaces Subcommittee, which was responsible for parks and trails.”

Most of us can’t even remember being three years old. For families who want to invest in a youngster’s lifelong appreciation of the outdoors in the winter, however, it’s a prime time to introduce mere toddlers to cross-country skiing. Needing only snow boots and strap-on skis, the very young outdoors person can enjoy this popular winter sport with the entire family. Without even the need to use ski poles, aspiring youngsters can concentrate on having fun on short and easy ski outings – all the while building up an enduring, life-long kinship with the great white outdoors.

Northwest Ski Region Offers Variety

From the edge of Lake of the Woods to the Headwaters of the Mississippi, from the hardwood forests of Maplewood State Park to the prison grounds of St. Cloud Prison, Northwestern Minnesota offers the widest variety of cross country ski trails in the state. There are several winter ski resorts as well as resorts and lodging outlets that have ski packages that include meals and a hot sauna.

Even though Bjorn Lasserud was born in Norway he didn’t begin cross country skiing until he lived in Minnesota.

            He did ski jump and drank a bit more than was healthy. When Lasserud and his wife came to America, he felt he needed to do something to avoid drinking too much.

            He was running one day when a man asked him what sport was he training for. The next think he knew, he was training with Twin Cities nordic ski activist, Norm Oakvik.