MN North Shore

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JGrant

New member
1. you can park the truck and trailer at the resort and access the trail from there
2. there is gas at Devil Track Lake(just before you reach Grand Marais) and the owner is a great guy and will answer any questions you may have. it's not marked the best but if you stop at Skyport Lodge it's just down the road and they'll get you there. worse case you can drop down along Superior for gas, all the spur trails are marked pretty good indicating gas, food and lodging options. if you have the Polaris app you'll be just fine. my suggestion would be to avoid the spur trails unless they get more snow.
-Skyport Lodge at Devil's Track is a great stop for food and beverage. Trestle Inn has great burgers(gas). Hungry Jack Lodge is an excellent stop as well if you get up the Gunflint Trail, they have gas also.
3. answered above, don't worry about gas! get out ride and enjoy yourself. there are plenty of gas options in the area. if riding newer sleds you should be able to get 150 miles on a tank riding groomed trails. if you ever decide to venture to Grand Portage then you'll want to have planned gas stops.

ride north, Finland to Lutsen is good. Lutsen to Grand Marais is very good overall. a few rocks here and there but overall the trails have been nice the couple times I've been up there in the last two weeks. if you don't feel like venturing into Grand Marais I'd recommend at least riding down the hill toward town and check out the view of the lake.

Good Luck!
 
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xcr440

Well-known member
I like staying at Superior Ridge - Trestle is 14 miles by state trail, here’s a secret, when you get to the State Trail from Superior Ridge, go straight across it (they started grooming it this year) and you come out on the forest road, take a left - this way is only 11 miles to the Trestle.

Have a full tank when you start out - I prefer to get gas in Grand Marais - more frequent fills there. And you can ride to the actual end of the NSST - gas is 2-3 blocks from there.

Then you can run the 33 miles up the Gunflint if you so choose.

That’s a busy weekend so have your expectations somewhat middle of the road with traffic. If, and it’s a big if, they groomed the Lutsen trails, the Caribou is a fun trail, and you can come out at the ski hill.
 
W

WorkHardPlayHrd

Active member
Xcr440 is right about the forest road. It's listed as 166 or 600 road. Straight and smooth. The devil track store is open till around 9 p.m. after that you won't be able to get fuel there. I'll agree the guy running the place is great and full of information. Hungry jack Lodge is about 24 miles north of devil's track lake and has 24 your pay at pump with a card.
The crooked lake resort behind the Trestle Inn also is 24 hour pay at the pump. I just wanted you to know the ones that had 24 hour in case something happens; which sometimes can. I hope you have a great trip.
 
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R

robgoggins

New member
Great, thanks everyone. I see there is no snow predicted for the next 10 days up there. But it looks like the temps will be cold enough to hold any snow on the ground that's still up there. Fingers crossed.
 
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xcr440

Well-known member
WorkHardPlayHrd said:
Xcr440 is right about the forest road. It's listed as 166 or 600 road. Straight and smooth. The devil track store is open till around 9 p.m. after that you won't be able to get fuel there. I'll agree the guy running the place is great and full of information. Hungry Jack Lodge is about 24 miles north of devil's track lake and has 24 your pay at pump with a card.
The crooked lake resort behind the Trestle Inn also is 24 hour pay at the pump. I just wanted you to know the ones that had 24 hour in case something happens; which sometimes can. I hope you have a great trip.
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Fixed
 
R

robgoggins

New member
Hi gang, as a reminder we're heading up to the North Shore (staying in Schroeder @ Superior Ridge Resort) Feb. 15 - 18. According to NOAA there is 16-20" of snow depth along the NSST from roughly Silver Bay up to Grand Marais (20"+ north of Grand Marais). There is not much snowfall predicted for the next 10 days, but it's going to be 10-20 degrees so I'm assuming there won't be any snow melting.

I've debated switching our trip to the U.P. but it appears there is no lodging to be found anywhere in that area, so I'm thinking it's either North Shore or stay home. Thoughts on what to do? Am I missing another potential riding area within 4-5 hours of the Twin Cities next weekend? Thanks.
 
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xcr440

Well-known member
Don’t change - you won’t be disappointed - no matter where you go it’s going to be busy that weekend.
 
Z

zimmer1310

Member
group of us from Kato and Faribault going up those dates also and staying near Hungry Jack and cant wait. Love the area and there will be decent snow so don't worry.
 
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robgoggins

New member
I still don't see any snow forecasted for that North Shore region through next weekend (Feb. 16-18), according to www.weather.com. Although on John Dee's weather page it shows a 5-10 day weather graphic indicating 4" - 8" (???). Assuming there's not much snow hitting up there this coming week - and it's going to be 39 degrees and sunny on Wed. - are all of you still fairly certain there will be enough snow to ride up there this coming weekend?
 
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xcr440

Well-known member
Seriously - stop worrying about one lousy 39 degree day. Maybe the parking lot at the gas stations will open up, that’s about it.

The real question is, do you want to ride or not??
 
SledTL

SledTL

Active member
robgoggins said:
I still don't see any snow forecasted for that North Shore region through next weekend (Feb. 16-18), according to www.weather.com. Although on John Dee's weather page it shows a 5-10 day weather graphic indicating 4" - 8" (???). Assuming there's not much snow hitting up there this coming week - and it's going to be 39 degrees and sunny on Wed. - are all of you still fairly certain there will be enough snow to ride up there this coming weekend?
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Where do you have sleds registered? One day of upper 30s won't do much. It's gonna drop below at night. If you have Wisconsin stickers you can go up towards amery, dresser, balsam lake area. If you keep going a bit more north you have Hayward, and then bayfield area. Less trafficked than the eastern half of the state. I lived up that way this past summer and the trails through the forests looked to be a lot of fun in the winter time. A guy on Facebook posted some nice pics around dresser today, and you could do that in a day if you are from EP.
 
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WorkHardPlayHrd

Active member
Robgobbins keep your plan and go to Minnesota. The UP will have far more sleds and traffic. We really enjoyed the north shore when we went up the first time and that was 20 days ago. The further north the more snow. Stick with your plan you shouldn't be disappointed.
 
F

fadmon30

New member
catalac said:
Pump looks lonely. Is that 3.27$ a gallon?
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It is $3.27 for non oxy 91. Priced in the middle of what is available in town. 87 is $2.52 currently, same as town. Checking the cameras from time to time, people buy gas at some strange hours of the night. Deputys like to use the lot in the middle of the night too.
 
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ezsnow

New member
Rode the State Trail from Two Harbors lot up to Tofte and back on Sunday. It snowed at least 8" on Sunday, mostly while we were riding. The trail was as you would expect when snow is coming down at over 1"/hr rates- a little more than a single track down the middle in most places. It was a lot of fun, and I'm sure it's groomed and looking good by now.

The only exception was the connector from the CJ Ramstad to Tofte.... It. Was. TERRIBLE. We left Tofte toward Schroeder and back out to the state trail that way, which was fantastic.

160 miles on the sleds. We were the last ones in the lot and still had to drive back to the cities. Great day trip- completely worth the trip.
 
Z

zimmer1310

Member
I will echo ezsnow but we were a little further north. we stayed 4 nights at NorWester on the Gunflint and rode north south and east. Great spot, great owners and have gas. That area received over a foot of snow on Sunday alone. Saw groomer when we left. Sunday we went north on lake and forest roads to the border and was awesome. That area should be set up for at least two weeks. We avoided the radar runs and rode to the casino on Sunday. they do a great job of grooming their trails on the reservation. enjoy.
 
S

snowchief

Member
Looking at staying on fish lake reservoir northwest of Duluth this weekend thought they were going r o get the snow it looks like I thought wrong anyone rode around there or cotton or up towards Virginia or hoyt lakes or Yukon trail nsst to the trestle any info on this area would be great we should be able to cover some ground if the codiions are right but with the new snow wasn't sure how it'd be south like McGregor or moose lake even hinckley any info b eould be greatly appreciated
 
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