John Minix Trail

The John Minix Trail is a short cross-country ski trail in Blue Mound State Park in Wisconsin, on land managed by the State Department of Natural Resources. No nearest town is given, so the park itself is the best reference point. The trail is rated easy and runs 0.18 miles one way, about 0.36 miles as an out-and-back. It is essentially flat. The listed one-way elevation gain is zero, and the whole round trip adds only about 17 feet of climbing. Elevations stay between roughly 1,520 and 1,525 feet. The steepest pitch is a gentle 2 percent grade, about 0.09 miles in. That makes it a quick, low-effort ski or a simple connector rather than a destination on its own. For skiing, the cold months are the season. Typical January highs are around 28°F with lows near 7°F, based on averages from a nearby weather station in Mazomanie. That station sits about 760 feet lower than the trail, so temperatures on the trail run cooler. The trail is easy to link with others close by. Pleasure Valley Trail and Willow Spring Trail are each about 0.2 miles away, and the Flint Rock Nature Trail is about 0.3 miles off. For paddling, the East Branch Pecatonica River is roughly 5 miles away.