User s Guide to the Book
~A ski trail is an ephemeral thing.\" So says Paul Walker.
sculptor of the Goat Farm Trails. He s right. I ve skied lots of trails
thi~ winter and have been impressed at their fluidity and diver-
sity.
Selection criteria How did I decide what makes a trail one of
the \"best\"? I must admit my selection system was subjective. I
asked lots of people， including almost all the ski clubs in
Wisconsin (my skiing research uncovered a couple of clubs that
hadn t been on my mailing list). I also had my own favorite trails
after 19 years of skiing. With this as a starting point， from
December 10， 1993 to March 19， 1994， I skied 51 trails， including
every one of the 25 receiving \"best\" designation and all of the，
Quick Picks in this book.
In many ways there is no bad ski trail. Whether you make your
own track out the back door or only ski in immaculate machine-
groomed tracks， its mere existence makes it a good trail. But there
are some factors that help make a trail better. Some things I
considered in designating a trail \"best\" were shelter and other
trailhead amenities (like snackbar and bathrooms)， trail maps，
marking， grooming， and design. Aesthetic features were im-
portant too. Though I will not argue that a place like Governor
Dodge State Park is aesthetically more pleasing than Elver Park，
I didn t include the Governor Dodge Trail because it was grueling，
poorly designed and generally dull. Elver made it because it is a
good solid trail for both skating and diagonal， is well marked， well
designed and user friendly. If a trail didn t have a reasonably
good map available， I didn t use that trail. If the trail was terribly
confusing， or hadn t been groomed in a long time， or was groomed
very badly， I didn t use it. I also looked for trails that accom-
modated both techniques， skating and diagonal.
In the final measure， a trail that challenged me， thrilled me，
moved me and made me feel good was a winner. But even that
wasn t enough by itself. Hixon Forest Trail in LaCrosse provided
me with one of my most memorable and personally rewarding
skiing experiences because I tackled the climb and descent from
Look-Out Bluff. But the trail it~.~，lf just isn t in the same league
~lt[， t[，， 1，，..i
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