Jeff Johnston has a ritual during Central Oregon’s winter months. Several times a week, he finds himself, along with Kundi, his Australian Shepherd, standing in the pre-dawn light at Wanoga Sno-Park. As he unlocks a shipping container that houses a utilitarian Ski-Doo Skandic snowmobile, Kundi tears around in the snow, marking his favorite spots. After firing up the sled, Johnston attaches a snow groomer. Each time, his dog yips with excitement.
“Kundi’s the crew chief,” said Johnston, who’s one of eight volunteer trail groomers for Dogpac, the canine-forward nonprofit. “He’s always trying to hunt the snowmobile.”
For the next few hours, as the sun arcs overhead, Johnston — and Kundi, bounding alongside — presses out a fresh groom along 10 kilometers of ski trails at the sno park 15 miles west of Bend, along Century Drive.
The result of an agreement with the U.S. Forest Service, Dogpac has groomed Wanoga trails since 2010. Here, dogs are allowed off leash, which means folks can Nordic skate ski (or classic ski) on the skate lane and Nordic track volunteers lay down Tuesday, Thursday and weekend mornings. Depending on snow levels, between Christmas and New Year’s, Dogpac will groom Wanoga every morning.
Unlike the smooth experience afforded by the Meissner Nordic ski club, which uses a PistenBully snowcat to groom its 47 kilometers of trails across the highway at Virginia Meissner Sno-Park, skiing the Dogpac trails is more of a “rustic experience,” Johnston says. Sometimes sections will be a bit punchy or uneven, just due to the nature of grooming with a snowmobile.
At Wanoga, each morning grooming session is distinct, owing to how much snow the gods let fly the night before. If it has dumped, Johnston loops the trails a few times with just the snowmobile, packing down the routes with the sled’s weight. Then he might attach a large roller (made from a repurposed plastic irrigation pipe) that will further condition the lanes. Lastly, Johnston attaches the Yellow Stone Track Systems Ginzugroomer, a heavy-duty trailer that carves a 60-inch-wide skate lane, in addition to setting a Nordic track. Johnston and other volunteers can spend anywhere from two to six hours massaging the trails. Once in a while, the snowmobile gets stuck on a particularly hilly section.
“Getting the sled stuck is a rite of passage for each groomer,” said Johnston, who grew up snowmobiling in Klamath Falls. An account executive for a Portland tech company, Johnston says he’s lucky that his company is cool with him devoting his early mornings to volunteerism.
“Trail grooming is very, very satisfying,” Johnston said. “It’s like mowing a really big lawn. You turn uneven terrain into a beautiful, immaculate surface to ski on.”
Unlike the Nordic ski trails maintained at nearby Meissner or Swampy Lakes sno parks, dogs are allowed to pal around off-leash in this Wanoga section that’s sandwiched between the fat bike trails (maintained by the Central Oregon Trail Alliance) and the Cascade Lakes Highway.
When Johnston finishes grooming, after brushing off remnant snow, he replaces the snowmobile in its shipping container. Then he snaps on his skate skis and takes a couple laps, Kundi leading the way. Other skiers have since arrived, their dogs leaping into the snow.
“Everybody’s super positive and thankful up there,” Johnston said. “I love to meet everybody’s dogs, although some are afraid of the snowmobile. I try to get them to accept the snowmobile as a friend by having them come over and get some pets from me.”
Chief groomer Jim Gauvreau, 70, got involved with Dogpac shortly after moving to Bend from Anchorage. A dog dad himself, Gauvreau also enjoys skate skiing with Porter, his labradoodle, once he’s finished grooming.
Dogpac maintains poop bins and baggie dispensers at eight park locations throughout Bend (not to mention at trailheads including Good Dog! Park, Tumalo Falls and Phil’s). Within the three Nordic ski loops at Wanoga, Dogpac services three bag dispensers and five poop bag bins, whose contents the nonprofit relocates for pick-up from the Forest Service.
Gauvreau knows that discarded poop is one of the public’s biggest gripes about dogs, off-leash or otherwise.
“Most dog owners are phenomenal. They take care of the poop, no problem,” Gauvreau said. “There’re bags out there and cans, so that’s our claim to fame.”
This article appears in the Source December 11, 2025.
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