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Some trails at Devil’s Lake State Park are clearly dangerous or impassible due to ice and water buildup on stone stairways. We recommend avoiding some trails until weather conditions stabilize.
South-facing stairways such as Balanced Rock, Potholes & the CCC trails are currently unsafe in our opinion. Sections of the Potholes Trail and Devil’s Doorway trail are impassible due to large ice floes covering sections of the stairways. We do not recommend using these trails over the next few days.
We spoke with a few hikers on the east bluff trail today who came up the Balanced Rock Trail. Of the 6 people we spoke with, 4 were afraid to take it back down. With CCC sketchy & Potholes impassible, the only option was to walk back to the north shore via the East Bluff Trail, then take a flat trail back.
You will also find icy sections on the East & West Bluff Trails as well as the Tumbled Rocks trails. Hikers without ice cleats may want to avoid these trails as well.
Steinke Basin, Roznos Meadow, Uplands, Johnson Moraine, Grottos & Sauk Point trails also have slippery sections but are mostly a mix of thick wet snow and water. We recommend good boots and ice cleats on these trails.
Keep in mind that the park staff does not maintain the trails, so unless the ice melts over the next few days, these icy conditions may remain for some time.
Trees Down
There are still many trees down around the park from the last storm. There are at least 5 trees/branches crossing the Steinke Basin rescue road as of today. These can be hard to get around, especially in skis or snowshoes.
Snowshoeing
Snowshoes are not intended for hiking trails. Snowshoes are designed for deep snow. That said, in current warming conditions, the snow will likely stick to your snowshoes and build up under your feet. So you may not find snowshoeing to be very enjoyable over the next few days either.
Weather
Our Weather forecast over the next few days calls for alternating cold nites and warm days. This will lead to more ice on the trails with melting during the day and freezing overnight. Click here for one local forecast.
Updates?
We will be updating our trail report once again next week. Between now and then you can follow us on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram for more regular updates.
Be careful out there!
For nearly 2 decades the Skillet Creek blog has focused on 3 main goals; To inspire you to visit and explore the Devil’s Lake region, to help you get the most your visit by sharing tips, events, and other helpful information. Lastly to advocate for our environment & wildlife and talk about how we can keep our natural areas amazing now and into the future! That last goal can sometimes cause controversy, but it’s the only way we can accomplish the first two. – Derrick Mayoleth, Owner.
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