Banadad Ski Trail receive Trail Improvement Grant

Banadad Ski Trail was awarded $8000 from the Cook County Parks and Recreation fund by the County Board at their June 21st meeting.

According to Ted Young, Banadad trail administrator, "this $8000 along with another $8000 of cash and in-kind contribution from Boundary Country Trekking and the USFS will enable us to remove years of accumulated brush from up to eight remote interior miles of the trail. Click on Grant Application to see full application.

The Banadad Ski is a nineteen mile long public ski trail. The Trail begins near the eastern end of Poplar and ending near the Loon Lake Public Landing. Since most of the Trail is within the BWCA all maintenance must be done with hand tools and travel by maintenance crews must be by foot. According to Young, "Because of this, the Banadad's remote interior is difficult if not impossible to reach much less clear with our volunteer trail crews." For trail click on Banadad Map

According to the Grant Application the money will be used to hire a crew of three to four people that would canoe and pack back into the remote interior of the trail, camping near the areas to cleared and work from there. The plan calls for widening the trail to a width of up to eight feet. It anticipates that the project will be spaced over two years with four miles cleared each year.

The Banadad Trail grant application was sponsored by the Gunflint Trail Association.