By James Dickhoff
Special to The SUN
The Pagosa Springs area has a number of groomed cross country ski trails for skate skiing and classic cross country skiing. Trails are groomed wide for skate skiing with set tracks for classic cross country skiing.
The Wolf Creek Ski Area provides 10k in Alberta Park, located at the base of the Alberta ski lift and accessed from the end of either the Tranquility or Alberta parking lots. Terrain varies, with 30 percent beginner, 40 percent intermediate and 20 percent advanced terrain. Wolf Creek Ski Area offers these trails at no cost.
The Pagosa Ranger District grooms 14k at Coyote Hill, located 6.5 miles north of Pagosa Springs on Piedra Road, just 1/2 mile after the North Pagosa Boulevard intersection. There are no trail use fees for this area. Terrain varies, with 25 percent beginner, 60 percent intermediate and 15 percent advanced terrain.
The Pagosa Nordic Club has groomed 10k at the West Fork, which is located 15 miles east of Pagosa Springs on U.S. 160. Look for the West Fork sign and be prepared to make a left-hand turn. If the road is not plowed, you should park along U.S. 160 on the north side of the road, but off of the pavement. Terrain varies, with 40 percent beginner, 40 percent intermediate and 20 percent advanced terrain. Trails are free to use, though the Nordic club does request donations to help cover expenses of grooming and trail maintenance.
Pagosa Nordic Club serves as the local advocate for groomed cross country ski trails and you can find out current trail grooming reports at PagosaNordic.com.
Also, the Wolf Creek Trailblazer Snowmobile Club grooms up to 100 miles of multi-use trails for all types of winter trail users. These trails are free to use, and you can find out more at www.snowmobilecolo.com. Go to the trial reports/maps and click on the second snowflake from the left at the bottom (Pagosa Springs). This will bring up a full list of trails and the date when they were last groomed.
The next Pagosa Nordic free Moonrise/Sunset family X-C Ski Social is on Jan. 10, and the next free X-C Ski clinic is on Saturday Jan. 11. Watch The SUN for more information and learn more and R.S.V.P. at PagosaNordic.com.
