In my quest for easier cross country ski trails to practice hills and turns on, I heard about the Hartland Winter Trails.  It’s a network of 12 miles of ski trails through the town of Hartland, all on private land thanks to the generosity of local landowners.  Laura rented some skis and we drove down to check it out.

We parked at the main trailhead near the Three Corners fire station and got on the easy Sand Pit Trail which was mostly flat, through the woods and past an open field.

From there we got onto the intermediate Jess’s Trail, which climbed gradually through the woods for a mile and a half to the Powerline Trail.  The snow was a little sticky so I had to stop and wax my skis, but luckily I just picked up some wax this morning.

We started out on the easy Powerline Trail, but it was too exposed to the sun and the snow was very sticky so we turned around without going too far into it.  After descending Jess’s Trail a little bit, we hopped over onto Bunny’s Trail, another intermediate one that took us out into a large, open field.

Bunny’s Trail looped for another mile and a half around the field and back to Jess’s Trail.  Some of the trail had disappeared in drifting snow, which was also a little deep for turning easily in.  Once back in the woods, we had an easier time of it and made it back down the hills the way we’d come.  Towards the trailhead, the trail was so packed that it was a little more slippery and I did fall once towards the end, but overall I’m starting to get better at turning on downhills.

It was a beautiful day for about an 8- or 9-mile ski.  We barely saw any people too, which was really nice.  I love that this is a town-led, free trail system.