 While the Dean Mackie Forest Trails at Forest View Middle School were recently expanded over this summer to accommodate the many Nordic skiers and summer hikers. Despite the expansion not quite ready for winter ski season, Clayton Castle tells us in this week's Northwood's adventure, what makes the trails unique? The snow is packed and the skis are on the ground as the Dean Mackie School Forest Trails are ready to take on a new winter season at Forest View Middle School in Baxter. The students who use the trails like the challenges that the hills provide. I think they're really fun. There's some really challenging hills that are really good to work on technique with and the coaches are really nice and they help us get our way on so it's really fun. The trails are pretty good. It's good for skate skiing and classic skiing because we got the classic tracks and the skate is nice too because it's a warm day. Compared to other courses in the area such as the Northland Arboretum, Laura Hanson says that this course is gentler than most but still poses some challenges. There are some technical downhills where you have to step around some corners but I would say as far as the difficulty for the hills it's probably if you've been on a ski trail before it's kind of blue or mid-medium. The student Nordic skiers agree that the uphills are what make the trails challenging but also really fun and it helps when the coaches push them to overcome those challenges. Some of the uphills and then the coaches like to take away our poles and then they say get up and then we just have to work our way up. The uphills are pretty hard sometimes because you have to sometimes they're pretty steep. The trails saw an expansion over the summer with new hiking and ski trails being installed. However at this time school officials want to make sure everyone is aware that the new expansion is not quite ready for Nordic skiing. But the trails are still pretty uneven. We would need a lot more snow in order to be able to ski on them this year. So there are some holes that need to be filled in. There are a few small trunks or stumps that are still sticking up. While fat tire bikers and people walking dogs have been seen on the trails this winter that will not be allowed next year when the new expansion sees its first skis. Reporting in Baxter for this week's Northwoods Adventure Clayton Castle, Lakeland News. If you enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Lakeland PBS.