BOU AVENUE
Bigfork Community Nordic Ski Trails
On 3 January 2025, Zosia Zgolak and I paid a visit to Bigfork Community Nordic Ski Trails near Kalispell, Montana.  This was a travel day for us, and we just wanted to go for a quick ski to break up our drive.  The trails here are maintained in the winter months by North Shore Nordic Club who amazingly provide daily updates of ski conditions.  There are two separate trailheads for accessing the trail network, and we parked our car at the more southerly one (48.13623, -114.00700).  Admittedly, I had low expectations coming here since the online trail map did not look particularly exciting to me.  However, the skiing actually turned out to be a lot of fun.  From the southwest corner of the trail network, we did a big counter-clockwise loop by skiing all the trails along the outer perimeter.  While the western half of the trail network is pretty flat, the eastern half is more hilly, and a few of the downhill runs here were surprisingly exhilarating.  The trails flattened out quite a bit as we circled the northwestern quadrant, but it still felt like we were gliding downhill for most of this section.  We finished our loop in two hours flat which, I think, is about the right amount of time to spend here.
Looks like a pretty boring start! Zosia bypasses a gate at the southwest entrance to Bigfork Community Nordic Ski Trails.
Thank you, North Shore Nordic Club! This ski trail network is regularly groomed and maintained during winter months by the North Shore Nordic Club.
 

Might be difficult to access in winter without a snowmobile...

An unnamed ridge in the distance looks enticing to ski.

 

Tempting to do a short cut here! Zosia approaches a hairpin turn near the eastern boundary of the trail network.
Now the fun begins! After passing the high point (1032 metres) of the trail network, Zosia begins a nice and long downhill run.
Blissful gliding! This straight section near the northern boundary of the trail network appears to be flat but is actually slightly downhill going westward.
A surprisingly enjoyable ski loop! Total Distance:  8.5 kilometres
Round-Trip Time:  2 hours
Cumulative Elevation Gain:  94 metres

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