ABR Ski Touring Center Skiing Trails

ABR Trails, formerly known as Active Backwoods Retreat, offers the most miles of groomed cross-country ski trails (45.3) in a single location in the state. They are contained within an 1,100-acre tract featuring a variety of landscapes along the Montreal River in Ironwood.

ABR was named one of the nation’s 11 best cross-country ski areas by Men’s Journal magazine and featured in recent a midwestweekends.com article.

We have a nice mix of trails for everyone. The Montreal River valley makes for some gentle and scenic terrain. When mixed in with the bluffs the terrain becomes more interesting for the intermediate skier. For those looking for true training hills the ridges on Peltonen Pass and also the “Dog Trails” (new this year have some flowing hills, Rascals Revenge). The hills are 100-130 foot elevation gains but never more than a 1/2 km in length so more bumpy than mountainous leaving time for a rest to catch your breath at 600 ft elevation

Skate/Classic Combo Trails

A combination skate/striding trails, you now have 5 options to choose:

For the true beginner or warming up/cooling down you have Cherry Dairy and the oval training loop.(1.5 km) or new for this year you have Blueberry Return which is totally flat and has many shortcut options 1-2 km

For the casual beginner skier you can head out on the River Trail, River Trail, Popple Flats, Memory Lane, River Trail with the hill bypass which is now to the left for skaters or to the right on Tamarack 2 track for classic skiers, Sulo’s Loop, and return on the River Trail (8 km).

For intermediate/advanced skiers take Blueberry Bluffs, Bards Bump to Hautanen Highlands, Coyote Canyon, and Meadow Ridge, (13.5 km) A cut off for the advanced Blueberry Bluff downhill is available.

For the advanced skier looking for hills head out on Peltonen Pass (and hang on!) (5.5 km)

For intermediate advanced skiers, snowshoers, walkers, and well trained dogs, walk or drive across the road to the overflow parking lot where you can try Rascals Revenge and Spanky’s Spill and Rudy’s Shoot (6 km) for casual skiers check out Darlas Diversion, ( 2.1 km) dog friendly.

Classic Only Trails

For skiing the classic only (striding) trails, you now have 2 options to choose:

For the casual beginner skier, start on the Hemlock Trail to Jack Pine and then White Pine, return on the Hemlock Trail. This is one of the most scenic trails taking you along the River and through a thick forest of conifers and returns along the icefalls. This route takes about 2 hours (8.4 km).

For intermediate skiers take the Sunset Trail a favorite classic only 3.3 km. This is a favorite among the skiers that like the old time narrow, wooded, curvy and mildly hilly trails. A favorite is the Tamarack 2 Track. A 10 foot wide double tracked trail groomed with the small Pisten Bully. It can be as short as 5 km or if you take the entire trail to Jason Park and back it is 12 km. You can also ad on Otter slide and Wolf Tracks to make the classic route 18.2 km. This route takes about 3 hours and leads a skier quite a ways away from the trailhead. Make sure you have adequate clothing, food and drink, and energy. Jason Park has a warming cabin that is about 1/2 way.

Snowshoe Trails


Dedicated snowshoe trails

We offer over 13km of dedicated snowshoe trails winding around and over the scenic ABR terrain. The snowshoe trails are not groomed but they are packed by other snowshoers ( unless you are the first snowshoer after a snow storm) . The trail is marked with ribbons tied on the trees, the ribbon color corresponds to the trail. Make sure to ask for a specific snowshoe trail map before heading out. We do require you to stay on the marked snowshoe trails and not on the ski trails…except we also allow snowshoeing on the 4 km of dog trails (Spanky’s, Rascal’s and Rudy’s) across the road on the skate lanes of the groomed ski trail. We do not allow bushwacking for safety.