April Riding MN

SledTL

SledTL

Active member
Was having trouble accessing the site like many others, but two weeks ago was still riding the Northshore of MN. 3+ feet of snow from Finland to Grand Marais. Stopped at a few rest points and realized we were parked on top of picnic tables, in April! Little to no traffic, thankful for 24 hr gas at the Trestle because everywhere else was closed for the season or unaccessible. Heck of a way to end the season. North Shore April.jpeg
 

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warner

Active member
Over the weekend we were in Greenland with the wheelers for some snow riding..we could have taken the sleds from Greenland up trail 3 to twin lakes and beyond. Instead we played on a few logging roads with the wheelers and got stuck ALOT :). Old man winter is hangin for sure.
 
pclark

pclark

Well-known member
SledTL said:
Was having trouble accessing the site like many others, but two weeks ago was still riding the Northshore of MN. 3+ feet of snow from Finland to Grand Marais. Stopped at a few rest points and realized we were parked on top of picnic tables, in April! Little to no traffic, thankful for 24 hr gas at the Trestle because everywhere else was closed for the season or unaccessible. Heck of a way to end the season. View attachment 67224
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Nice pic!, we are pretty much done with the snow except in places with no sun, lake still has 2ft of ice on it but took a beating this past weekend which as we move toward the 1st of May is fine with me. It was a good season here in the northwoods of Wisconsin.
 
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Hoosier

Well-known member
That's great. I saw some pictures from riding northern MN even last week.

We made it up to the area you are talking about in early March and really liked it, especially the Grand Portage area. Only complaint is that once you get up there way Northeast, you can't go West from there and make a loop, because of the restrictions in the boundary waters. So to head West, we had to backtrack quite a bit south and then head northwest. Still really enjoyed the area and the wilderness feel of it. Farthest West we went to Ely - wondering what it's like if you go further northwest from there, towards Crane lake. Kind of seems like the terrain flattens out that way compared to the northeast?
 
SledTL

SledTL

Active member
Hoosier said:
That's great. I saw some pictures from riding northern MN even last week.

We made it up to the area you are talking about in early March and really liked it, especially the Grand Portage area. Only complaint is that once you get up there way Northeast, you can't go West from there and make a loop, because of the restrictions in the boundary waters. So to head West, we had to backtrack quite a bit south and then head northwest. Still really enjoyed the area and the wilderness feel of it. Farthest West we went to Ely - wondering what it's like if you go further northwest from there, towards Crane lake. Kind of seems like the terrain flattens out that way compared to the northeast?
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Yes the Boundary waters kinda cut off the area, limiting to a few routes. It is the closest thing to untouched wilderness in the Midwest, and most people don't know about it. The mountain range runs diagnonally along the shore, and flattens out as your head NW. Crane lake is a very popular destination for people that live around here, but most base out of it and ride into Voyageurs towards international falls. Lots of wide forest trails up that direction.
 
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Hoosier

Well-known member
SledTL said:
Yes the Boundary waters kinda cut off the area, limiting to a few routes. It is the closest thing to untouched wilderness in the Midwest, and most people don't know about it. The mountain range runs diagnonally along the shore, and flattens out as your head NW. Crane lake is a very popular destination for people that live around here, but most base out of it and ride into Voyageurs towards international falls. Lots of wide forest trails up that direction.
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That's interesting. Hopefully people don't learn about the grand portage area either. That was really cool. Doesn't look like a lot of riding on the map are there are a ton of small winding trails and forest roads up there. Someone mentioned the polaris app just picked up those trails this year - would be better to keep it a secret!
 
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matti

Active member
Pretty amazing pics. I saw that the Lutsen ski resort was open until last Sunday (May 1). I seem to recall a story from John (?) about riding in the Keweenaw in June. Am I remembering that correctly???
 
SledTL

SledTL

Active member
Thats awesome. Where did you drop? Guessing thats the NSST? I saw the Lutsen XC ski trails said there was still over 15" in the woods. Coming up that way memorial day weekend and wondering if we will encounter snow hiking.
 
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xcr440

Well-known member
Lutsen opened up for last Saturday 5/7 one more time! Latest they were ever open.

And yes, dropped on the NSST behind the ski hill. There was still 2' in the woods when I took those pics. Put 150 miles on in 24 hours!

Its been pretty warm with a lot of rain lately, I doubt you'll find much on Memorial weekend.

As a side note, Gooseberry Falls was absolutely RAGING as were all the rivers coming down the hill! There was a lot more to see than just snowmobiling!
 
mezz

mezz

Well-known member
matti said:
Pretty amazing pics. I saw that the Lutsen ski resort was open until last Sunday (May 1). I seem to recall a story from John (?) about riding in the Keweenaw in June. Am I remembering that correctly???
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Mothers Day a long time ago, not into June though, at least not that I can recall.
 
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