Seward Ranger District 2/7/2019

This week we’ve experienced many trail condition improvements on Seward Ranger District with the addition of minimal amounts of snow on Sunday/Monday.  2-5” of new snow has improved skiing at lower elevations. Here is a link to the Seward Nordic Ski club page with updates and links to other ski areas, please book mark this and use for future reference.

https://www.sewardnordicskiclub.org/trails

Lost Lake in the first ½ mile remains icy, side roads are drivable until the next rain or round the clock above freezing temperatures.

The winter trail to Barber Cabin has been packed and is in pretty good condition.

The last area of open water on Crescent Lake began to freeze January 2, yesterday the ice measured 15”. Our drill bit is 16” long, after that we’re not too worried with how thick the ice is as we know thicknesses 16+” is good enough for our sno-go or skis. Upper and Lower Trail Lakes, Cooper Lake, Lower Russian, and Tern Lake have 16+” of ice. But please remember the many challenges that may await the unsuspecting person who travels over frozen bodies of water as thicknesses may vary drastically on each body of water depending on past and present weather, location, inlets, outlets and springs, etc.… just because I give ice thickness reports on frozen bodies of water does not mean ice travel is safe, it’s just information on ice thickness. There are many factors in determining where, how, when, and if you should travel on ice, refer back to the link I sent earlier this winter on ice safety.

Have a Great Weekend venturing and enjoy the pleasant conditions.

Irene Lindquist 
Forest Technician

Forest Service

Chugach National Forest, Seward Ranger District

p: 907-288-7748 
irene.lindquist@usda.gov

33599 Ranger Station Spur
Seward, AK 99664
www.fs.fed.us 

Caring for the land and serving people