Two skiers from Little Falls, Minnesota, Nicole and Mathew were the first to ski the entire Banadad this season. The pair started on January 6 from the west end trailhead and skied the 12 kilometers to the Bedew Lake Yurts. After spending two nights at the yurt camp they skied the 18 Kilometers to the east end trailhead.  After completing the trip they stated that the trail was in good shape and they a great time.

Twelve inches of snow now on the Ground after another three inches fell last night. The Gunflint’s Nordic trails are open. Along the Banadad Ski Trail System ten kilometers of trails are tracked on the eastern end. The BWCA longest tracked trail the Banadad has been packed and plans are to track the entire trail early this week  The snow is beautiful!

There is now 4-5 inches of snow on the Banadad.  Yesterday the east end of the trail was packed up to the Old Logging Camp – about 9 kilometers.  Previously the Lace Lake, Tall Pines and Seppala Trails were packed.  Packing will continue the remainder of this week and should have it completed by mid next week. Then it simply waiting until there is enough snow to track.

Anne Rykken. one of the founding Board members of the Trail Association and Minnnehaha Academy’s Nordic Ski Coach has an article  in the November issue of Cross County Skier magazine.  The article tells of trip with members of her ski team skiing the Banadad.  The article is not yet on the internet so you will have to go directly to the magazine to view the article.

The several members of the Minnehaha Ski Academy’s Ski Team and parents will be spending this coming weekend working on the Banadad.

There was about an inch of snow last night; still snowing lightly now. More snow is expect this week while Anne’s team is here.  The team should enjoy this!

Banadad Work Day-Volunteers Wanted

In the morning prior to the Banadad Trail Association’s Annual Meeting (BTA), you’re invited to help get the Banadad ready for winter. Weather permitting, we will be clearing the summer’s accumulation of brush and downed trees between the BWCA line on the west end of the Trail and the Dawkins Lake Bridge.

Meet for the Trail Work Day at 9:00 am, Saturday, October 22, at Poplar Creek Guesthouse B&B, 11 Poplar Creek Drive (just off the Lima Grand). Hand tools and lunches will be provided to all volunteers. The North Stars Ski Touring Club will be joining us this day.

After the workday plan to stay-on for the Association’s Annual Meeting and Potluck Get-to-Gather

Greetings from the Association’s President!

Despite the warm temperatures the past couple weeks, it is Fall, which means work crews are on the Banadad Trail preparing for the Winter ski season.  This past year has been an ambitious one—many trail improvements, including replacing the Banadad Bridge.

The Banadad Trail Association continues our work to preserve and maintain this wonderful trail so that skiers will continue to be able to experience the truly unique experience of skiing in the Boundary Water Canoe Area Wilderness!  If you have skied the Banadad, you know what a special experience it is—its single track goes deep into the BWCA. Some days you may not meet another soul while skiing—there are few places that provide that experience.  Whether you are going for a short ski, skiing the entire trail in a day, or breaking up a through ski with a stay in a yurt, the Banadad takes you deep into the woods where your privacy may only be disturbed by a lynx, grouse, or moose. I’ve been skiing the Banadad for nearly twenty years now, but have yet to find another ski experience that equals this trail!

We hope you’ll experience the Banadad this winter—and will love it as much as we do.  We also hope you’ll consider joining the Banadad Trail Association if you’re not already a member.  Volunteers like those of us in the BTA are essential to maintaining the trail and preserving it for future generations.  In addition to volunteering time to work on the trail, members of the BTA write grants and raise funds to support the trail, develop membership, and help educate the public on the Banadad.  We are always happy to have more people involved—please contact me if you’d like to join us and have an idea to suggest or want to join us for a working weekend in the woods.  We’d love to have you!

This has been a great year for the BTA and a special thanks to all our many members and friends who have supported us again this year!  Have a great ski season—see you at the annual meeting and on the trail!

Happy Skiing—Linda Bosma

BTA Applies for Grant to Solve West end Easement Problem

The Banadad Ski Trail was built by the United States Forest Service during the summers of 1981 and 1982 at the urging of the Gunflint Nordic Ski Resorts. This 31-kilometer trail serves to connect the Central and Upper Gunflint Nordic Trail Systems.

The Banadad’s western trailhead, since opening, has passed through private land on an old logging road. The previous owner had no interest in this land or where the trail was located on their land. Another party has now purchased this land. The new owner is willing to sell deeded easement to the Banadad Trail Association for the trail provided the trail is moved east of its present location. The new owners plan to build a home on this land and will be using the existing trail as an access road to this home.

The only other place to relocate the Trail’s western trailhead would be on Federal land to the west. However building a trail on this land would be quite challenging. Any trail built over this land would have to cross a large wetland, bridge a stream and then negotiate a very difficult hill.

The most feasible place to relocate the trail would be just to the east of the old trail on the privately owned land.

With this in mind, the Banadad Trail Association Board of Directors voted to work towards acquiring easement and relocating the west end trailhead. A grant application has been submitted to the Minnesota DNR for this project. If approved the grant is approved the Association will have to raise an additional $2000 as their local share of the grant.

Getting the Trail Ready for Skiing- It is a big job!

• Banadad Bridge Rebuilt-The Big News is the on October 17 and 18 eight volunteers rebuilt the Trail’s old dilapidated thirty-six foot bridge over the Banadad Creek between Banadad and Rush Lakes.  The bridge was in such bad shape that when the crew arrived at the bridge a portion of it collapse as Lowell Johnson was walking across it. The old bridge certainly would not have support the grooming equipment this coming winter. In addition to Lowell the crew consisted of Tom Rice, Steve Lenius, Lee Wenzel, Karla Miller, Len Voit, Pete Harris, and Ted Young. Funds to help support the project were provided through a grant from Arrowhead Electric Coop.   For more information concerning click on bridge.

• West end of the Trail Cleared – Again this year five members of the Minnesota Conservation Corps widened one and half miles of the trail’s west end and then walked the entire eight miles of the west end trail clearing down trees as then went.

• Half Mile of East end Widened, – BTA’s regular trail maintenance crewmember Jim Raml and his dog Blanca “ATVed” up to the BWCA line at the Meads Lake Portage from there he hiked-in three and one half miles, clearing downed trees as he went. Jim camped on the trail and spent four wet-buggy ten-hour days widening about three-quarters of a mile of the brush-blocked trail. Great job Jim!

• Lace Lake, Tall Pines and Knapp Trails – Located outside the BWCA where mechanical equipment is allowed, chainsaws were used to clear all the summers accumulation of down trees. Later this fall the center brush will be mowed with a-brush hog equipped track Bobcat on the trails outside the BWCA. “The swampier” sections of these trails we plan to clear by hand with a brushsaw.

Get Set For Winter – Join the Banadad Trail Association

Peter Spink, Membership Chairperson -Just like squirrels storing nuts for the winter, we have been feverishly working to get set for another ski season on the Banadad! Trail clearing has continued to widen overgrown sections, a bridge in the middle of the trail was totally rebuilt in September (see photos), and plans are continuing to improve and reroute the western end of the Banadad Trail where it connects to the Gunflint Trail. These efforts are funded both by DNR, federal grant funds, and a special grant from Arrowhead Electrical Coop for the bridge and by membership dues along with significant volunteer labor. To continue maintaining the Trail in excellent fashion requires more members, more donations and grants and more volunteers.

Just like squirrels storing nuts for the winter, we have been feverishly working to get set for another ski season on the Banadad! Trail clearing has continued to widen overgrown sections, a bridge in the middle of the trail was totally rebuilt in September (see photos), and plans are continuing to improve and reroute the western end of the Banadad Trail where it connects to the Gunflint Trail. These efforts are funded both by DNR, federal grant funds, and a special grant from Arrowhead Electrical Coop for the bridge and by membership dues along with significant volunteer labor. To continue maintaining the Trail in excellent fashion requires more members, more donations and grants and more volunteers.

Please join us in membership to support the Trail that you love. Membership categories range from $15 upwards for annual membership. Please see our website at http://www.banadad.org/ for more information and to sign up to become a member. We need your support, your muscle, and your pocketbook! The Banadad Trail Association is a 501 (c) (3) organization and your donations are tax deductible.

Support the Banadad Ski Trail by Joining the Banadad Trail Association!

Click on membership to join

The replacing of the Banadad Bridge on September 17 was noted in a recent article on Cook County’s own public radio’s website- click on BWCA Bridge to veiw.  An article on the project  also can be found on the Midwest’s  leading Nordic Ski websites - Skinny Ski.

Saturday, September 17^th - the Banadad Bridge remotely located in the BWCA, midway along the Banadad ski trail, was rebuilt over the weekend by a volunteer crew organized by the Banadad Trail Association (BTA) in conjunction with several North Star Ski Touring Club (NSSTC) members. Grant funds from Arrowhead Electric Cooperative aided the project. The construction crew included Ted Young (Boundary Country Trekking on the Gunflint) & Steve Lenius (Woodbury), both who had been involved with the trail’s last bridge construction in 1996 as well as Tom Rice (Shoreview), Lee Wenzel (Eden Prairie), Lowell Johnson (Lake Elmo), Len Voit (Gunflint Trail), Pete Harris (Croftville) and Karla Miller (Duluth).

The scheduled project was given special permission by the US Forest Service to enter the BWCA since the Pagami Creek Fire east of Ely had forced the closure of most of the B WCA entry points west of the Gunflint Trail including One Island Lake where the crew launched. While the fire had encompassed over 98,000 acres, recent cooler weather & slight moisture allowed for the the crew to proceed.

The group portaged into One Island Lake from the Moose Trail, two miles west of Poplar Lake, to reach Rush Lake canoing to the far west  end where the bridge is located and they set up camp. The projected involved removing the 3′x6′x8′ rough cut cedar decking and replacing the rotting 24′ log support stringers and abuttments. The total bridge is 40′ long that is made up of a 24′ center span and an 8′ approach on each end supported by cedar timbers. The cedar decking reinstalled on the replacement stringers that were put in place with a series of rollers, levers, pickaroons, a timber jack, cant hook and manual lifting.

The bridge was completed by late afternoon Saturday so the crew cleared about 3 km of trail. They returned from the Boundary Waters Sunday morning. Ted Young expressed relief in completion of the repair project noting, “The bridge previously installed in 1996 was solid until the last few years when the aging support beams rotted out and it became treacherous crossing, especially with the weight of the groomer.”

Front left to right- Pete Harris, Len Voit, Lee Wenzel, Tom Rice, and Steve Lenius. Back- Ted Young and Karla Miller

The BTA (banadad.org) is a non-profit organization formed to maintain and enhance the Banadad Ski Trail system, preserve the history of the forest and trail as well as promote appreciation and care of the BWCA. The Banadad trail is a 28.8 km linear ski trail of which 22 km is within the BWCA.

NSSTC (north-stars.org), founded in 1967, supports non-motorized outdoor recreation and social events with an emphasis on cross-country skiing and the maintenance of trails.

Yesterday’s heavy winds brought down a power line igniting another fire along the South Seagull Road. With extremely dry conditions in the forest around Seagull the fire spread quickly. The Gunflint Fire Department was dispatched and by 7:00pm the USFS planes were making water drops.

According to, Banadad Trail ski groomer and Seagull Lake resident, Jim Raml, the fire began down the road from his land and the fire has now spread to his land. While the water drops helped  knocked the fire down last night, they did not extinguish it. With heavy winds again this morning the fire is picking up momentum.

The South Seagull Road including Raml’s property previously burned during the Ham Lake Fire. Needless to say Jim is not a “happy camper.” and he asked with the extremely dry conditions in the forest did the Forest Service  allow the  Pagami Creek Fire at first continue to burn on its own and not extinguish it. Now it is out of control.

Author Ted Young notes -according to the USFS’ Pat Johnson, “the Van Lake fire, which started Sept.6, is about 3 acres and is being monitored.” Monitored! Why are they not putting this fire out also.

Grand Marais- Members of the BTA presented this year’s Trail Plan to the Grand Marais District, USFS on June 7. Representing the Association was John and Barbara Bottger, Pete Harris and Ted Young. Steve Schug and John Benson accepted the Plan for the USFS.

Left to Right- John Bottger, Pete Harris, Barbara Bottger, Jon Benson, Ted Young

The Plan requested that (1) the USFS request the service of  a MCC crew for up to eight days later this summer or early fall to clear the west end of the Banadad widening approximately 1  1/2 miles of the trail as they go, and (2) that the USFS provide a “fire crew” to clear the down trees on the Trail’s  east end that have fallen into the trail as result of last year’s Mead’s Lake Prescribed Burn.

Steve and Jon, representing the USFS agreed that they will work on fullfiling these two requests. For minutes of meeting go Meeting Minutes.

For a complete text of the click on Trail Plan.

This fall we are looking for a crew to assist in rebuilding the Banadad Bridge. The bridge is located eleven miles out on the east end of the Banadad Ski Trail. To get to the bridge the crew will canoe into Rush Lake early Saturday, September 17 then spend that  day working on the bridge, camp on Rush, finish the bridge the next day Sunday return.  Tools, canoes and camp food furnish. If interested call  218-388-4487.