Dear Enchanted Forest friends,
We have some difficult news to share with you.
After 40 years, Enchanted Forest Cross Country Ski Area will not open for the 2026-27 winter season.
This was not an easy decision. Enchanted Forest has never been just a business to us. It has been part of our family for four decades, and we know it has become part of many of your families, too.
My parents, John and Judy Miller, started Enchanted Forest in the winter of 1985-86 after falling in love with groomed cross-country skiing and realizing that the rolling terrain on Bobcat Pass was perfect for it. Geoff and I bought the business from them in 2010 and have done our best to carry that dream forward.
Through the years, thousands of you have learned to ski here, brought your children and grandchildren here, stayed in the yurts, snowshoed through the forest, skied by candlelight during the Luminaria Tour, eaten far too many calories at Just Desserts and returned winter after winter.
That is what makes this so hard.
The last several winters have been increasingly difficult, and 2025-26 was the worst winter in Enchanted Forest's history. We weren't able to open for groomed cross-country skiing at all. We managed to offer some guided snowshoe trips and yurt stays, but that wasn't enough to sustain the business.
We had hoped a sale of Enchanted Forest would give the ski area a new beginning, but that sale recently fell through. Continuing even limited operations this winter would require us to take on the considerable cost of liability insurance and other expenses before knowing whether we will have enough snow to operate.
After last winter, we simply can't take that financial risk again.
So, unlike last winter, we will not offer skiing, guided snowshoe trips, overnight yurt stays or other operations during the 2026-27 season.
But we don't necessarily believe this is the end of Enchanted Forest.
The ski area remains for sale. Enchanted Forest encompasses approximately 640 acres of Forest Service land on Bobcat Pass, with its established trail network, day lodge and yurts. We believe someone with the resources, energy and imagination to expand its year-round possibilities could write a wonderful next chapter here.
We very much hope someone does.
Most of all, we want to say thank you.
Thank you to everyone who has bought a trail pass, rented skis, stayed in a yurt, brought a friend, introduced a child to cross-country skiing, joined us for Luminaria, volunteered after the 2021 windstorm or simply stopped at the lodge to say hello.
Thank you to the employees and volunteers who have given so much of themselves to this place through good winters and bad. And special thanks to Mike Ritterhouse, Bob Blair, Shane Clawson, Harry and Martha Frank, Larry McConnell and Anna McConnell.
You helped make Enchanted Forest what it is.
The trails are still here. The yurts are still here. The forest, history and community are still here. We hope this announcement reaches the person who looks at all of that and sees a future we no longer have the resources to pursue.
If you know someone who might be that person, please share this email with them. Serious prospective buyers or others interested in discussing the future of Enchanted Forest can reach us at [email protected].
Thank you for being part of Enchanted Forest for all these years. It has truly been a labor of love.
Ellen & Geoff
Enchanted Forest Cross Country Ski Area
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