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Nordic skiing goes ungroomed near Spokane

Skier helps make trails that get even closer to nature

The Columbian
Published: March 8, 2014, 4:00pm
2 Photos
Art Bookstrom, 75, breaks trail on a cross-country skiing route he marked with orange triangles for the enjoyment of skiers who want an old-fashioned nordic skiing experience off the wide, groomed trails at Mount Spokane State Park.
Art Bookstrom, 75, breaks trail on a cross-country skiing route he marked with orange triangles for the enjoyment of skiers who want an old-fashioned nordic skiing experience off the wide, groomed trails at Mount Spokane State Park. Photo Gallery

SPOKANE — It’s the skinny skier’s version of venturing off-trail at Mount Spokane’s Cross-Country Ski Park.

Unannounced by signs, a discrete series of orange diamonds leads into the forest off the groomed Nordic trails. A mountain man’s eye is required to spot the first marker on the downhill side of the teaching area beyond Selkirk Lodge.

Special nails fix it to a tree near the start of the groomed trail called Brian’s Hill.

The route instantly departs from the wide, road-like packed swath and perfect parallel grooves set by a snowcat. Tracks along the forest route, informally known as Art’s Boogie, are made by squirrels, grouse, snowshoe hares and skiers breaking trail through the trees.

“This makes me giggle,” Art Bookstrom said with a laugh, unleashing child-like joy as his touring skis skimmed through the snow, dropped down and immediately sprang up from a small depression.

“All of these little fun spots in the terrain are smoothed out of the groomed trails.”

A recent Tuesday was the perfect opportunity to follow the orange markers back into the early days of cross-country skiing. The main trails in Mount Spokane State Park’s Nordic system are not groomed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and the alpine skiing concession is closed. With four inches of new snow from an overnight storm, just a few dozen skiers had the trails to themselves.

“Every once in a while somebody else finds this trail and takes off on it wondering where it leads,” Bookstrom said.

Other than the green dotted line added to the big map in Selkirk Lodge, skiers learn about Art’s Boogie by word of mouth.

“This trail doesn’t just remind me of what cross-country skiing was like when I was little; it makes me feel like a kid again,” Bookstrom said.

That’s no small feat for an inconspicuous 3-kilometer route — the semi-retired Spokane geologist is 75 years old.

Last year, a skier asked him if there were any old-fashioned trails through the woods at Mount Spokane.

“I just go skiing in the woods when I get the urge, but I understood what he was looking for,” Bookstrom said. The hiking trails are often too steep. Having a marked trail that contours the mountain slopes would be ideal.

He started scoping out routes and found an eager partner in Leonard Seville, who has grandkids in the Nordic Kids program.

“We got permission from the park rangers and flagged a route,” Bookstrom said. “The idea was to make a trail that required no trees to be cut or blowdowns to be cleared. There’s been a lot of experimentation, changing the lines, but we have it down pretty well now. We trimmed off branches and cleared a little brush here and there, but the route is mostly natural.”

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