Meadowland/Alborn/Floodwood MN area

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JimAndros

Member
Let me start by saying this isn't a tourist destination; The only rooms and gas are available in Floodwood. I'm not being negative, just pointing out a fact. If you are looking for a place to park & ride from, read below.

Some people start from the park & ride at Hwy 53 & 47 in Independence. Trail only goes east from there. If you want to ride the reservoir lakes north of Duluth, I guess this is the place to start.

Right in Alborn at the corner of HWY 47 & 7 is the Sno-Devils club house with plenty of parking. In my opinion, this is a much better place to park. You can take the trail north to Canyon/Cotton & Virginia area, the grade NW towards Meadowlands of west towards Floodwood. Parking is also available in Meadowlands at the town hall or in Floodwood.

I went to the Sno-Devils meeting last night. It is the 2nd Tuesday, 7PM at the clubhouse. They welcomed me & today I mailed my membership in. I did express my concern about the signage. The groomers will be told to be diligent about repairing missing/damaged signs. From a safety standpoint this is important. They did have 2 new sign boards made & new laminated maps to ready to install. So, things will get better.

Speaking of maps, the Alborn/Floodwood map seems quite accurate & it flows into the next club's territory. So they are user friendly maps.

Trails have plenty of snow and we had lots of wind blowing the snow into the trails yesterday. So the groomers will have some "fresh" snow to work with when they roll. Expect generally good conditions but certainly will vary between fair to very good.
 
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xcr440

Well-known member
Is the trail that goes west out of town (Floodwood) and then veers north open this year? It was not the last weekend of January last year.

Edit: Ok nevermind - I see it is not even on the map this year.
 
J

JimAndros

Member
If you are referring to the trail that goes out past the propane place along the north side of Hwy 2 then curves north along the power lines, it is very much there.

Got out today, -9 degree at 10:45.
Headed west from Meadowlands on the grade to the power lines south. Grade was Very Good. Powerlines south to Hwy 73 were Good. In my opinion, there was enough snow to groom deeper & make it smoother but that would bring up some of the submerged grass & grass absorbs sunlight, so leave it as is. From Hwy 73 south to Hwy 2, the powerlines were Very Good. Stopped in Floodwood to eat. Trail east thru town is pretty bare but gets Good as soon as you cross the St Louis River and stays Good after that. That being said, some driveways & small roads are poorly marked. Missing stop signs and such.
Once entering Alborn trails, things get Very Good and the section I call the enchanted forest to the west of the Brookston fork are pretty much Excellent. After that fork, back to Very Good. Took the cut off to the grade & back to Meadowlands.

Everything was fresh groomed & hard as a rock. I still stand by my opinion that trails are poorly marked.
 
O

old abe

Well-known member
JimAndros said:
If you are referring to the trail that goes out past the propane place along the north side of Hwy 2 then curves north along the power lines, it is very much there.

Got out today, -9 degree at 10:45.
Headed west from Meadowlands on the grade to the power lines south. Grade was Very Good. Powerlines south to Hwy 73 were Good. In my opinion, there was enough snow to groom deeper & make it smoother but that would bring up some of the submerged grass & grass absorbs sunlight, so leave it as is. From Hwy 73 south to Hwy 2, the powerlines were Very Good. Stopped in Floodwood to eat. Trail east thru town is pretty bare but gets Good as soon as you cross the St Louis River and stays Good after that. That being said, some driveways & small roads are poorly marked. Missing stop signs and such.
Once entering Alborn trails, things get Very Good and the section I call the enchanted forest to the west of the Brookston fork are pretty much Excellent. After that fork, back to Very Good. Took the cut off to the grade & back to Meadowlands.

Everything was fresh groomed & hard as a rock. I still stand by my opinion that trails are poorly marked.
Click to expand...

Thanks Jim. Keep the reports coming!
 
S

snowchief

Member
We stayed at hi banks resort on fish lake reservoir near this area good location for getting out we had couples so we don't push it to hard and we rode 330 miles in 2.5 days you can go east and west to get to multiple trail loops with different scenry go east to hit nsst or Yukon the further north you go the terrain gets little more rugged, gonwest it's smooth more swampy terrain that doesn't seem to get the traffic the miles pile up fast that way also plenty of gas and stops
 
J

JimAndros

Member
We received anywhere from 4 to 8 inches of DRY snow last night, probably 5 to 6 in my yard.
Headed out just after noon, NW on the grade from Meadowlands to Pengilly. I was breaking trail all the way to Hwy 73, that's 23 miles. At one point just west of Hwy 5 snow was coming up and over the hood. This is a very straight & flat section of grade, really boring but perfectly smooth. West of 73, it gets a bit more interesting, 3 intersections and a few tracks on the trail. I arrive in Pengilly (everything west of 73 is new territory for me) and the grade ends at a sign board. Problem is the sign board still has ATV map on display & ATV maps in the map box. I find my way to the north & stop at a bar, sorry I can't remember the name but was told it's the only bar. The trail continues west from the back yard but now it's not on the grade. I have views of the Iron Range to the north and ride fresh groom for about 4 miles before I turn south at Calumet to take the Goodland Trail (trails have names, not numbers). I follow the trail to Goodland and finally see a handful of sleds passing thru the gas station. Continuing south, I get to Swan River & stop at the bar on the corner. Leaving Swan River I cross Hwy 2 and head SE towards Floodwood & Jacobson. This trail has seen some traffic but after the fork left towards Floodwood, it looks like just 3 sleds all day. A quick stop in Floodwood for a warm up & leave to the NW to catch the powerlines north. It's 6:30 and I am breaking trail again for 21 miles back to the grade; Like riding on a cloud. The last 10 miles back to Meadowlands had maybe 4 tracks on it. 122 miles overall, breaking trail for 44 miles Trails were good or better and most will be very good to excellent after a grooming.
 
bearrassler

bearrassler

Well-known member
Sounds like a great day, we also got some good fluffy snow a couple hundred miles west of you. Nothing better than breaking trail.
 
J

JimAndros

Member
Update 2-4-19

Too cold last week, finally got out today.
Left Meadowlands on the grade SE & dropped down onto the Whiteface River at the bridge. Rode north to the portage sign by the rapids & back south onto the grade. River is frozen solid, no slush or brown ice. Continued on the grade SE to the 1st right turn. Grade was good & I was the 1st to ride today (about 1/2 to 1 inch overnight, no tracks). The cutoff trail was good to very good. Forked right on 51 south, the trail was still good to very good & I was still the only one to ride. Left at the fork towards Brookston, took the short cut to the river (St Louis R), then east on the river about 2 miles to the trail to Country Corner. Not really well marked, just happened to notice the back side of the signs on the shore. It's a steep bank to a nice trail but it was getting near dusk & my old eyes had trouble seeing well. Turned west along Hwy 2 and the trail was drifted pretty bad in spots. Nothing one pass with the groomer wouldn't fix. Crossed Hwy 2 south into the woods, still on 51S. 1st intersection has no info signs, just 51S, 51N and the 3rd had no markings at all. Out came the map & I needed the 3rd trail to head towards Floodwood. As a matter of fact I will need to fork right at every intersection going forward, so the map went away. Finally passed 4 sleds going the other way at about mile 50. Trail had been good or better up till now, but the next 20 miles or so were good to sometimes only fair. Finally got to the last right fork (with the warming shelter east of Savanna Portage) and the other tracks are gone. I'm on fresh trails again & the trail gets better, now good to very good all the way to Floodwood. Trail NW from Floodwood to powerlines & north to the grade and then SE back to Meadowlands are all very good & I am the only rider all day up to 9:30 PM. About 120 miles with single digit temps.
 
W

Winter Warlock

Member
Hey Jim,

Nice report! With the snow thats coming now, may be time to mount up and get over by Conover and Lando.

Headin up to the cottage Thursday night, supposed to get anywhere from 12 to 18" in the next 3 days!!! Brett has off Friday, so we are heading for the Keewenaw Friday morning and coming back Sunday afternoon.
Things have been very "TAXING" around home, will be good to get in some snow..eh!

Trails in northern WI and da UP have been great the last 3 to 4 weeks, call me if you are headin over.
 
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