Lower Ironwood Trail
- 0.5 mi
- round trip
- 59 ft
- climb
- 997 ft
- high point
- Out and back
- route
- Apr–Oct
- best months
Lower Ironwood Trail is a short cross-country ski route on Regional Agency Land within the Cleary Lake area of western Minnesota. The trail is an out-and-back of about 0.9 miles, with a low point of 963 feet and a high of 997 feet. The climb is minimal, totaling 59 feet of gain and 59 feet of loss, and the route is rated hard. Winter is the natural season for this trail. Typical averages from a nearby weather station in Farmington show January highs around 23°F and lows near 8°F, with February the next coldest month. By contrast, July highs reach about 82°F. The trail sits close to several other cross-country ski routes. Lakeside Trail and Ironwood Trail are both about 0.3 miles away, and Poplar Creek Trail is about 0.8 miles off. For a change of pace, the Big Woods Regional Trail offers hiking roughly 5 miles away.
Best time to go · Apr–Oct
Best time to visit Lower Ironwood Trail
Best months: April–October. Best months have typical highs of 55–85 °F, lows of 30 °F or warmer (32 °F where the station doesn't record snow), at most one snowy day and no more than 12 wet days.
Jan
23° / 8°
6 wet
Feb
28° / 12°
5 wet
Mar
41° / 24°
7 wet
Apr
56° / 36°
8 wet
May
69° / 48°
11 wet
Jun
78° / 58°
11 wet
Jul
82° / 63°
10 wet
Aug
79° / 60°
9 wet
Sep
72° / 52°
8 wet
Oct
58° / 39°
7 wet
Nov
42° / 26°
6 wet
Dec
28° / 14°
6 wet
Typical high / low (°F) and days with rain or snow, 1991–2020. Measured at Farmington 3 Nw, MN, 11.3 mi away at 980 ft. This station doesn't record snowfall. Source: NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020.
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Photo: Baseball Bugs, CC BY-SA 4.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)Buck Hill
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Map and trail data © OpenStreetMap contributors
