Northern Minnesota

L

Lake County

Member
Have ridden northern Wisconsin, the UP for the last 20 years. Looking for something new: thinking northern Minnesota. Thoughts, suggestions, places of interest? We only ride weekdays now and looking for an adventure.
Tia
Lc
 
bearrassler

bearrassler

Well-known member
Northern Minnesota is a great place to ride, there are areas in NW MN with traffic so low that riding on weekends is no problem. I have ridden 200 to 300 miles in a day and met no more than 10 to 15 other sleds. What type of riding do you prefer, remote areas or lots of stops, let us know and I am sure you will get lots of different ideas.
 
SledTL

SledTL

Active member
I like to ride around Remer/Emily/Outing/Longville area which is more north central. Bear is right you can ride weekends and really not have any traffic like you see in wisco or MI. The first year or two that I lived here I was surprised at the lower volumes. North shore has more reliable snow usually, but its a more popular place, so it can border on UP traffic sometimes. Seems like most guys on this site are WI and UP folks, so hit me up if you have questions. My motto is "have trailer, will travel."
 
M

mysledblows

New member
If the snow hits right MN is a great place to ride. Primarily a Brainerd and North guy here. Like was mentioned above - the North Shore tends to have the most consistent snow from year to year. If you are primarily a weekday rider I doubt traffic will be an issue anywhere in the state. The weekends can get a little crazy along the shore and in the big resort areas but midweek should be smooth sailing.
 
E

elf

Well-known member
I ride the north shore probably a dozen weekends/yr and the area is spectacular. There is more traffic on the weekends but nowhere near what you'd see in Northern WI or the UP on the weekends. Biggest difference you'd find riding the north shore area is there's not much out there. The distance between places to eat and drink are much longer, same with gas. But if you want to spend some time exploring off trail and find some deep snow, its a great place to ride.
 
H

Hoosier

Well-known member
Good info. Was thinking about MN this year also. Been riding Ontario primarily in recent years but it doesn't look like that will be an option for our group this season at least. The UP is always an option too but it feels like we'd ridden all those trails so many times, so it's nice to try something new at least once a year.
 
W

whitedust

Well-known member
Hoosier said:
Good info. Was thinking about MN this year also. Been riding Ontario primarily in recent years but it doesn't look like that will be an option for our group this season at least. The UP is always an option too but it feels like we'd ridden all those trails so many times, so it's nice to try something new at least once a year.
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WOW! I lived in Vilas for 16 years and never came close to riding all UPMI Trails. Sure I rode most trails west of Big Bay south to WI but never touched trails east of Big Bay. How are trails and amenities riding east to the Mac Bridge???
 
O

old abe

Well-known member
whitedust said:
WOW! I lived in Vilas for 16 years and never came close to riding all UPMI Trails. Sure I rode most trails west of Big Bay south to WI but never touched trails east of Big Bay. How are trails and amenities riding east to the Mac Bridge???
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If the Lower UP gets good snow it's absolutely great. 20 plus years back, seemed like a bunch better snow, many, many good trips to the Mac/Soo/East end. We would base out of Gwynn, which also had good snow back then. Yeah well, time changes things, eh!
 
1

1fujifilm

Well-known member
Da' Bears!

Hi Abe,
Nice to hear from you.

With the Northern MN drought, we will see if it snows..and when. They finally lifted the fire danger restrictions last week ish. Last winter sucked and it's warmer in Bemidji than Green Bay today/tomorrow..we made 88 with 90 nearby.

Bear
 
saber1

saber1

Active member
Been riding the eastern UP for a change for the past 3 yrs we usually stay in Pine Stump area as it always has good snow.Eastern UP has less traffic and a little longer trips between stops but no big deal has some nice scenery with the Falls and trails are usually in good shape when we go in late January early February.Lodging i believe is a little cheaper also<br><br>
 
H

Hoosier

Well-known member
whitedust said:
WOW! I lived in Vilas for 16 years and never came close to riding all UPMI Trails. Sure I rode most trails west of Big Bay south to WI but never touched trails east of Big Bay. How are trails and amenities riding east to the Mac Bridge???
Click to expand...

I always preferred the trails on the west side more than the east side. Not saying we've hit every trail but it's more about finding new areas. We did find some great areas to ride around Roussau last year that we've never hit before.
 
I

ICT Sledder

Active member
The area north of Grand Rapids has a great trail network, with really modest traffic. Weekdays are nearly no-mans lands as far as traffic goes, at least in my experience. Really nice place for a trip... when they have snow.

North Shore is gorgeous, but traffic like the western UP, and if the snow isn't great the trails are rock city. Not a ton of trails either.
 
O

old abe

Well-known member
1fujifilm said:
Da' Bears!

Hi Abe,
Nice to hear from you.

With the Northern MN drought, we will see if it snows..and when. They finally lifted the fire danger restrictions last week ish. Last winter sucked and it's warmer in Bemidji than Green Bay today/tomorrow..we made 88 with 90 nearby.

Bear
Click to expand...

Hey fuji, I'll stir up a Hornet's nest for ya with this one! But from what I have witnessed over the past 50 some years of riding snowmobiles, there is no way to deny warming winters. Many of my friends in Canada, Minnesota, and Wisconsin absolutely agree! As they say, times change eh! What type of new "TOYS" have you accumulated in your move?
 
C

CrossfireLOW

Member
Lake County, you made the forum's yearly October post for first time northern Minnesota snowmobile trip info a little early. If you use the search button there is a lot of info from me and others from previous years on the topic. Just search "Northern Minnesota". Nothing has really changed since those threads were started.
Bottom line most of northern Minnesota snowmobiling can be a vastly different experience than northern Wisconsin/UP.

As ICT said about traffic being lower at times, have you ever seen a snowmobile overheat on a -20f morning because of riding untouched groomer packed powder for 10+ miles where you look behind you and can barely make out your tracks in the snow? It can happen here.
 
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