Awesome Cross-Country Skiing

     I knew I was lucky to live on the Gunflint Trail but I guess I never knew just how lucky I was in regards to cross-country skiing.  The Gunflint Trail has over 200 kilometers of groomed trails and 70 of them are within ten miles of Voyageur Canoe Outfitters.

     This past weekend while I was in Hoyt Lakes, Minnesota I wanted to go cross-country skiing.  There was a 5k area close to the hotel we were staying at so I went to check it out.   The trail hadn’t been groomed so there was a good four inches of heavy snow on the trail making it very slow.  It was a pretty area with all sorts of trees and a view of the lake but the highway was nearby and the trail weaved across the snowmobile trail in a couple of spots. 

     I guess I’m spoiled for life when it comes to cross-country ski trails.  Ours on the Upper Gunflint Trail system are amost always impeccably groomed.  It’s rare to hear any vehicle traffic or snowmobile traffic.  Most of the time I don’t see another person while I’m out skiing and it’s absolutely beautiful out there.

     This weekend is the Volksski 400 where the entire county is banding together to attempt to have all 400 kilometers of the ski systems in the county skied on the same day.  All of the lodges and many of the residents are participating by signing up to ski a portion of a trail in the effort accomplish this feat.  Unfortunately I will be out of town this weekend so I can’t contribute to this event.

     I do want to be a part of history in the making and I’m inviting a cross-country skiing group to come and stay at Voyageur Canoe Outfitters this weekend.  I’m willing to give away the lodging if your group signs up and skis 100 kilometers of unique trails on February 12th.  That’s 25 unique kilometers per each person in a party of four.  If that sounds like too much skiing for you then I’ll take the total unique kilometers your group skis and use it as a percentage that we will take off of the regular rate of the lodge unit.  So, if you have two people and each person signs up for 10 unique kilometers then you would get 20 percent off of our rate.  There’s a two night minimum on weekends but you could have up to 4 people in the unit for $159/night and each additional person is $20/night.  

     The lodge units have all linens and towels supplied as well as all the cooking gear you’ll need.  There’s a whirlpool bathtub for relaxing in at the end of the day and a gas fireplace to warm up by after your ski.  We have a snowshoe trail to a BWCA lake and there are other activities happening during this year’s Winter Track’s Festival. 

     We hope you will help us be part of the Volks Ski Challenge on February 12, 2011.  Give us a call today, we’d love to have you stay with us. 1-888-CANOEIT