Minnesota snow

[firefighter1]

It has been tough to find any updates, the DNR board won’t update until Thursday. So where in Minnesota did this storm stay all snow and how much have you received so far? Looking to go to Brainerd area or even further northwest to places that received no rain.

 

[Snowbandit]

I too and looking for Mn updates and best places to ride and base out of . We have never been to that state abd are looking for help for a week trip next week .
Thinking Grand Rapids or Bemidji is what I’ve read for twisty woods riding .

 

[firefighter1]

I will say a few weeks back I went to Hinckley and rode north and trails were great. Also two days ago on Friday I drove up to Trego and rode towards Hayward, Cable and Drummond and trails were great as well, we did 170 miles and the only bad riding were plowed logging roads where they were actively logging. Pleasantly surprised with conditions since the 7 plus day melt down. Not sure how they have held up after the rain. I’m sure some people who live north will chime in as the day goes on.

 

[bearrassler]

For up to the hour snow depths you can check on the NWS web pages, it looks like the best snow now is in the Grand Rapids area but most of northern MN is good, go to and scroll down to the snow depth line, click on it and set it at shallow snow depth, we have gotten about 10 to 12 inches in my area so far and it is suppose to snow all day but they are calling for some mixed precip from Bemidji to the south. For snowbandit I would check out some places north of Grand Rapids like the Antler Lodge, Loon Point Resort, or the Timberwolf Inn

 

[oldguy]

No rain in Tower/Cook MN. We have received about 9 to 11 inches so far this week. Most of the trails have been groomed and looking good. There are few trails that have not been groomed yet because of some nasty beaver dams. We do have plenty of snow and we even did some off trail riding last week.

 

[Carbide]

Radar shows good things happening up north.

 

[SledTL]

I rode out of silver bay yesterday. Drove home to the cities in crappy roads. You will need to draw a line from Duluth north across the state. It was raining by the time we made it to moose lake. Good places to go would be either north shore or north of crosslake area like Grand Rapids or Bemidji. Trails held up to the warm days quite surprisingly. NSST was a little whooped out by the end of the day, but side trails were flat and fast.

 

[lukev]

I rode out of silver bay yesterday. Drove home to the cities in crappy roads. You will need to draw a line from Duluth north across the state. It was raining by the time we made it to moose lake. Good places to go would be either north shore or north of crosslake area like Grand Rapids or Bemidji. Trails held up to the warm days quite surprisingly. NSST was a little whooped out by the end of the day, but side trails were flat and fast.

What he said is spot on.
We rode powerlines and other off trail shenanigans. Snow was good, now it's great.

 

[ranger_dave]

Anybody have any report for the Hibbing-Chisholm area of MN?

 

[JimAndros]

Rode from Meadowlands SE on the grade to Alborn then N to Eveleth Monday. Plenty of snow, probably 18" off trail. But nothing was groomed. And best I can tell certain wet areas haven't been groomed at all simply because it's been too wet. Most notably, north of Alborn and east of Hwy 7 to the powerlines. Multiple water holes, too many to count.

 

[WorkHardPlayHrd]

Even though it is unlikely has any of Lake Vermilion been staked?

 

[cmharcou]

We rode from the 27th-31st out of Beaver bay. All trails north were good, the last night the State trail got a little bumpy. Deep snow around Finland, 3-4 feet off trail. I kept getting stuck anyway. We stayed at at airbnb in Beaver bay. You might want to check out the "shack on the hill" read by review. Right on the trail and gas station next door, garage to thaw out sleds and at $89 a night I thought it was more of a Castle on the hill for us snowmobilers. Check it out!

 

[xcr440]

Even though it is unlikely has any of Lake Vermilion been staked?

All of it.

 

[WorkHardPlayHrd]

All of it.

Thank you for that info. That area has great riding.

 

[transamgta57]

I came back yesterday from Baudette, MN yesterday. Plenty of snow in that area. Road to Warroad one day (roughly 120 miles round trip). Road south to Waskish, but only made it halfway. Trails weren't marked very good. While it was fun busting through 2 to 3 ft of snow, it was hard to tell were the trail went because they didn't groom as of this past Monday.

 

[GTL]

I came back yesterday from Baudette, MN yesterday. Plenty of snow in that area. Road to Warroad one day (roughly 120 miles round trip). Road south to Waskish, but only made it halfway. Trails weren't marked very good. While it was fun busting through 2 to 3 ft of snow, it was hard to tell were the trail went because they didn't groom as of this past Monday.

We ride that same area every year and have found the same issue. They do a great job of grooming but like you stated, if it has fresh snow it is easy to get confused/turned around/lost.

 

[SledTL]

Anyone been up around the crosslake/remer area? Going up that way next weekend but haven't seen much posted on here. Snow should be decent it sounds like.

 

[CrossfireLOW]

We ride that same area every year and have found the same issue. They do a great job of grooming but like you stated, if it has fresh snow it is easy to get confused/turned around/lost.

I came back yesterday from Baudette, MN yesterday. Plenty of snow in that area. Road to Warroad one day (roughly 120 miles round trip). Road south to Waskish, but only made it halfway. Trails weren't marked very good. While it was fun busting through 2 to 3 ft of snow, it was hard to tell were the trail went because they didn't groom as of this past Monday.

How far did you get towards Waskish before getting turned around/lost, just out of curiosity? Before the snow last Sunday-Monday there was only 3-4 inches of snow on the ground north of Waskish. All the previous storms seemed to cutoff right at the county line.

Here is the latest MN DNR snow depth map. Trail conditions may not directly relate to snow depth but this tells where the best snow conditions are likely.

 

[transamgta57]

I took a screenshot of the trail map, but can't upload it for some reason. We crossed highway 72 for the second time which dumps out along county road 1. Based on the map that I had and the polaris app I was using, we road west on county road 1 until it shows the trail crossing county road 1 and going south at a 45 degree angle. We found an access drive way and what looked like a tail that was cutout from the trees. Once we got down the access there was at least 3' deep of snow no signs, no tracks. The trail appeared to continue to west (along country road 1), but wasn't were that lead to. Based on my trip meter, the spot that we turned around at put us roughly at 20 miles from "7 mile" shelter south of Baudette.

 

[CrossfireLOW]

I took a screenshot of the trail map, but can't upload it for some reason. We crossed highway 72 for the second time which dumps out along county road 1. Based on the map that I had and the polaris app I was using, we road west on county road 1 until it shows the trail crossing county road 1 and going south at a 45 degree angle. We found an access drive way and what looked like a tail that was cutout from the trees. Once we got down the access there was at least 3' deep of snow no signs, no tracks. The trail appeared to continue to west (along country road 1), but wasn't were that lead to. Based on my trip meter, the spot that we turned around at put us roughly at 20 miles from "7 mile" shelter south of Baudette.

That is where I was thinking you would have gotten lost. I can believe the signage is pretty sparse there, I actually haven't been on that trail in a 3-4 years. That 45 degree angle section crosses co rd 1 and goes across a hay field up onto a north/south ditch bank going south before going back into the swampland heading toward Waskish. The trail continuing of co rd 1 loops through the "town" of Carp and catches back onto the trail that could take you back to 7 mile shelter.