Got up this weekend for the final ride today. It snowed the whole time we were riding today and we ended up in Finland with 2-3", I'm sure more further up the shore. We rode the NSST out of Finland heading up the shore. Turned off on the Expressway trail near GM and ran up to Devils Track lake. Then onto the Gunflint Trail. up to the Mussquah (?), and over to the expressway and back down to the NSST and back to Finland. 145 miles, not bad for April 3rd. There were times I had to remind myself it was April, the conditions were so good. From the Sawbill Trail north it was pretty good riding, the expressway was very good. Forest road riding would still be excellent next weekend.
North Shore 4/3
- Thread starter elf
- Start date
It was a good year for sure. It's the latest I have rode trails in the last 5 yrs. The trails up past the Lutsen area looked like mid winter. Snow was 2' deep along the sides and they were in good shape. Could still be grooming up there easily. The forest roads have easily 2 weeks of riding on them.
Strange part about this year is we got snow early (mid Nov) that stuck around and a fair amount of snow throughout the year but there has been very little fresh snow (no big storms) since late Jan. What has helped is it has stayed cold this yr, no major warmups.
Canoepaddler
New member
Nice pics Elf. Thanks for posting. Glad the precipitation came in the form of snow instead of rain and that you were still able to get such good riding. Hard to believe how good those pics look, even after just being up there a week ago ourselves. It certainly doesn't get much better than that on April 3rd. Kind'a hard to park the sled though until you see some water, slop and mud. I sure picked the right year to upgrade my ride and to replace my 30 year old snow blower. Good winter all around!
Dave
Dave
Hey elf, we can still ride on the trails? They're just not groomed, right? I have a post on here about a bad ride on my 2011 Z1 LXR, and I'll have new shocks on it wed or thurs, and I want to go up there and test drive the new shocks. I don't want to wait 9 months before I can see if the new shocks solved my problem..
Also, I had back issues all winter, and wasn't able to ride till feb 22nd, and the Z1 has 1750 miles on it now thanks to the awesome conditions on the north shore and the arrowhead!! Put on 200 miles last tues (3-29-11) from Tofte-grand portage and back. couldn't believe the snow.. trails were great, a few bumps going to GP but for the most part, it looked like a nice day in january...
Also, I had back issues all winter, and wasn't able to ride till feb 22nd, and the Z1 has 1750 miles on it now thanks to the awesome conditions on the north shore and the arrowhead!! Put on 200 miles last tues (3-29-11) from Tofte-grand portage and back. couldn't believe the snow.. trails were great, a few bumps going to GP but for the most part, it looked like a nice day in january...
I'll be honest and say I'm not sure about the legality of riding the trails but there is sure enough snow to ride on them. Even if you can't get on the trails there is a ton of forest roads to ride in that area and they have a ton of snow on them.
Gunflint
We left our family cabin on Sag (end of the Gunflint) Tuesday morning. It began snowing most of the day Sunday thru the night. We woke to approx 4-6 inches of fresh snow blanketing everything...the side roads and trails looked awesome while we were driving home. As Elf stated - grooming is done, but there is plenty of snow up there! One word of caution - all resorts, except Windigo are currently closed. Devils Track is still open but they don't open until 5:00 pm.
Per the MN DNR - here is the info I found regarding trail riding - only grant-in-aid trails close April 1st. The North Shore State Trail does not close on April 1st. Riding graint-in-aid trails without the landowner's permission is trespassing, IF the trail crosses private land. The Expressway and the Gunflint Snowmobile Trail System or both graint-in aid trails, HOWEVER no longer use private property. So these trails including the Grand Portage trails, and the NSST would still be open.
Hope you are able to get out and enjoy!
We left our family cabin on Sag (end of the Gunflint) Tuesday morning. It began snowing most of the day Sunday thru the night. We woke to approx 4-6 inches of fresh snow blanketing everything...the side roads and trails looked awesome while we were driving home. As Elf stated - grooming is done, but there is plenty of snow up there! One word of caution - all resorts, except Windigo are currently closed. Devils Track is still open but they don't open until 5:00 pm.
Per the MN DNR - here is the info I found regarding trail riding - only grant-in-aid trails close April 1st. The North Shore State Trail does not close on April 1st. Riding graint-in-aid trails without the landowner's permission is trespassing, IF the trail crosses private land. The Expressway and the Gunflint Snowmobile Trail System or both graint-in aid trails, HOWEVER no longer use private property. So these trails including the Grand Portage trails, and the NSST would still be open.
Hope you are able to get out and enjoy!
