UPCOMING

SUN, DEC 21, 2025

FIRST DAY OF WINTER

Gitchi Gami Games (Cable JNQ/CCSA) - Classic Mass Start
American Birkebeiner Trailhead, Cable, WI

XC Ski HQ Ski: George Frye Live
Cross Country Ski Headquarters, 9435 N. Cut Rd., Roscommon, MI 48653 (800-832-2663)

THU, DEC 25, 2025

CHRISTMAS

SUN, DEC 28, 2025

XC Ski HQ Ski: JoeFrye Live
Cross Country Ski Headquarters, 9435 N. Cut Rd., Roscommon, MI 48653 (800-832-2663)

THU, JAN 1, 2026

NEW YEARS DAY

SAT, JAN 3, 2026

Winter Wolf Skiathlon
Hanson Hills Recreation Area, 7601 Old Lake Rd, Grayling, Michigan 49738 (989-348-9266)

Skate and Classic Ski Clinics with Jordyn Ross
Cross Country Ski Headquarters, 9435 N. Cut Rd., Roscommon, MI 48653 (800-832-2663)

SUN, JAN 4, 2026

Nordic Ski Junior Racers training session (Team NordicSkiRacer)
Huron Meadows Metropark, 8765 Hammel Rd, Brighton, MI 48116

Skate and Classic Ski Clinics with Jordyn Ross
Cross Country Ski Headquarters, 9435 N. Cut Rd., Roscommon, MI 48653 (800-832-2663)

US Cross-Country National Championships - 10 km Interval Start Classic
Mt Van Hoevenberg, 31 Van Hoevenberg Way, Lake Placid, NY 12946

Eric McDonald Live (2:30-4:30)
Cross Country Ski Headquarters, 9435 N. Cut Rd., Roscommon, MI 48653 (800-832-2663)

MON, JAN 5, 2026

Discover Michigan Cross Country Skiing Program
Cross Country Ski Headquarters, 9435 N. Cut Rd., Roscommon, MI 48653 (800-832-2663)

More events...

LATEST TRAIL CONDITIONS

SUN, DEC 21

Forbush Corner: Mark your calendar’s and make your plans. Here is our Holiday schedule. We will be closed Dec 23, 24 and 25th. Then open on Dec 26th through Jan 5th, weather permitting. Happy Holidays!

Forbush Corner: 17° and light wind, 1” snow overnight. I used my classic skis prepped and skied late yesterday afternoon. I skated 9 miles yesterday in great conditions, a combo of east and west side trails, as the whole system was freshly groomed. Noting while I skated that the classic track was rocket fast, Saturday late afternoon (34° F), I put a thin layer of Swix Blue klister on my Atomic ARCs and ironed it smooth. 1 mile test showed it was not quite grippy enough, so I added a layer of Rex liquid red klister. I skied 3.5 miles, including going up home run Hill in the track, after picking several Pineneedles out of the klister. Despite the temperature today being much colder, the skis worked perfectly! Less than a handful of leaf pieces adhered to the skis, no Pine needles at all, 11 miles, the loop, roller coaster, West side 8–11x2, A-D round trip. I chose blue klister yesterday because of the prediction that the temperature would be much colder today. More Rex red likely will be required tomorrow when temperatures come up to mid 30s. Given no significant snow in the near forecast, klister
or skins will be the best choice in these conditions.

Huron Meadows Metropark: Awesome skate and classic conditions! The skate lane was firm and fast but had enough softness on top to maintain control. I used my A racing skis.

The classic track was hard and deep - and definitely klister, skins, or fishscales required...or doublepole!

Hanson Hills: 
Lodge and Trails open 9am.
Trail System received about an inch of new snow since yesterdays grooming.
PB 100 was out at 5am, Yellow, Brown, Blue, All Trails, Green are combed and tracked. Easy Return and M-93 have a combing pass down them. Wilderness received fresh tracks yesterday. Get out and Ski!

Cross Country Ski Headquarters: Strong, blustery winds blew down upon the trails last night, leaving a bunch of branches and a few down trees. Trail clean-up operations are under way, but there will be no grooming until the trails are cleaned up and cleared of debris. Trails are open, but there are many sticks and pine needles, rock skis may be advised. There is snow in fore cast for tomorrow, so hopefully we can get back to grooming tomorrow evening or Tuesday!

Forbush Corner: Quick update. Per our Nordic pulse on our website, looks like Larry has hit the west side trails in addition to east side. Should be really good skiing over there today

Forbush Corner: Per the calendar, winter officially arrives today. The last few days have been pretty windy with some snow mixed in. Trails are in nice shape, the only issue being tree debris scattered about in the wooded areas. Waxless skis (skins/fishscales) were the best choice yesterday for classic skiers, skaters just needed to avoid bark and pine cones. Since the whole system was groomed yesterday, Larry is just going to re-groom the 240 loop and Ridge.

SAT, DEC 20

Huron Meadows Metropark: Buck’s Run
Trail is good condition with leaf debris mixed in starting at the woods. Please Please Please stop in the building and pay the super expensive $5 fee for the only trail available within a two hour drive of Southeast Michigan. Thanks to all the staff that makes this trail possible.

Stokely Creek: Otters! Two fat otters bobbing in the rapids on Sayer Creek and meeping at me. Skiing also good as usual.

Hanson Hills: Put your worries about the warm up on the trails aside. Hanson was perfect today. 28 degrees windy only in the open areas. Could use good skis as no dirt or leaves on the skate deck. Firm and fast, my favorite conditions. Tracks looked great for classic as well. Looked like Team from Hanson hills out in full force!

Michaywe: Did a full groom and track set on the entire trail system. Open areas on both golf course loops and the lake loop have some wind blown areas. There is tree debris in some areas as well. The best snow conditions are on herringbone and the river trail. Full-service bar & dining located on the ski trail at Michaywe. "Inn the Woods" Restaurant is open Tuesday - Saturday. Visit www.michaywe.com for hours & menu.

Cross Country Ski Headquarters: After cold temps and a bit of snow yesterday and last night, the trails are looking much better. The groomer is out snowcombing and chewing up the crust to make for great skate lanes, and we will cut some tracks as well. Should be a great day for skiing!

Hanson Hills: Trails are looking great! Groomer Dan is out this morning Combing skate lanes and resetting tracks on the main trail system with the PB 100. Lodge and Trails Open 9am.
Downhill and Tubing Operations will begin today as well! Stop in and grab a bite to eat and a warm hot cocoa after your ski!! Or stay and make a few runs down the Tubing Hill!

Forbush Corner: The Corner survived the rain and warmup, and it actually made our good trail base even better. An additional 4 inches of snow during the day yesterday didn’t hurt either. Albeit very windy and snowy weather, skiers were out and reporting that conditions were really good and not icy.
Full system groom today, including Pines Loop down into Hartwick Pines. Looks to be windy and a little snowy today, temperatures reaching the low 30’s. Open 9 to 5.

FRI, DEC 19

Dunes Golf Club: Thanks Ken,
The dunes has always been an amazing place the way it repairs itself after a weather event that we just had. The topography sets it up as as snow catcher in a gorgeous setting.
Plowed parking at entrance.
4mi east of Empire on m-72
No charge no park pass

Dunes Golf Club: Fresh snow on top of good base. Great Evo conditions, setting track for Karen skiing behind me. She sad a good equalizer. Nice base everywhere on golf course. Looks like we didn't receive much rain which was great to keep what we had. Skied 18 holes under par.
Kenny Slower Skier

Huron Meadows Metropark: There was a tree down blocking most of the trail at around 3:30. Marv, Vasili and I cleared most of it. Otherwise, the trail in the woods was great, pretty fast. No connector. Had to walk across the golf course

Huron Meadows Metropark: Bucks is open. No connector. It is pretty much how you’d expect. Fast and a bit icy in a couple spots, but mostly controllable for skating. There are tracks which looked solid but some parts looked quite icy. Only one small dirt spot near the top of the “big hill. There is however quite a bit of small debris blown on to it.

Hanson Hills: 12/19/2025
Trail Closure Update
Trails are OPEN! As of 1:30pm we have combed Red, Yellow, Blue, M-93 Hills. Tracks have been set on All Trails out to Blue, Blue to Sue's Return.

Huron Meadows Metropark: Posting from Huron Meadows Metropark website: "Bucks Run will be groomed for skate and classic skiing today, but please know that there is no connector trail available. Without the connector available you will have to walk to the start of the trail. For your safety and the safety of our staff please adhere to Bucks Run hours. Bucks Run is open Monday – Friday 12 pm – 7:45 pm and Saturday – Sunday 9 am – 7:45 pm, weather and conditions permitting.
Due to the weather conditions yesterday no other trails are available at this time."

Hanson Hills: Operations Update
Trails will remain closed today.

The rain has moved on, and now we’re in patient mode—waiting for that moisture in our snow base to lock back up so we can safely fire up the grooming equipment. Cold temps, do your thing.

Forbush Corner: Larry is grooming east side trails. Current temp is 19. Moist new snow over skate deck. Same for tracks.

Hiawatha Highlands: Happy Friday! It is snowing up here (great job keeping your dancing shoes on)! However, the conditions this morning are icy on top with slush underneath due to the amount of rain we got yesterday and into the evening.

The groomers rolled all the systems yesterday in preparation for the dropping temperatures. Tracks were not set. They will be waiting until we get more snow to get back out on the trails.

Reminder: Jackrabbit program runs tomorrow from 10 a.m. to 12 noon.

We hope everyone has a great Friday!

Cross Country Ski Headquarters: Although the temps have gotten back below freezing, we still need to let the trails firm back up from the warm wet weather yesterday. The trials will be closed today in order to make sure we can have good skiing for the weekend. Luckily, we still have a good base, and, it is snowing right now and we should see a little accumulation today. We plan to head out either sometime later today or tomorrow morning to scrape up the crusty top coat and blend it with the new snow to get some great skiing for tomorrow and through the weekend. We'll be skiing again in no time!

Forbush Corner: Winter has returned overnight. Flash freeze, lake effect and windy conditions will contribute to taking longer today to determine a grooming plan, so consider delaying coming out right away.

More trail reports...