Northern MN

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snowchief

Member
Got reservations up in Grand Marais for Wednesday but second guessing driving that far, looking for recommendations further south stayed at fredenberg last year and liked the shorter drive and trails were good there but not sure how they're holding up, wouldn't mind going to silver bay/Finland area possibly but not sure where to stay around there we'd like to be with walking distance to a bar or bar grill for after riding but not a deal breaker, biggest question would be how far south the trails held up not to worried about traffic on a Wednesday Thursday ride
 
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sweeperguy

Active member
snowchief said:
Got reservations up in Grand Marais for Wednesday but second guessing driving that far, looking for recommendations further south stayed at fredenberg last year and liked the shorter drive and trails were good there but not sure how they're holding up, wouldn't mind going to silver bay/Finland area possibly but not sure where to stay around there we'd like to be with walking distance to a bar or bar grill for after riding but not a deal breaker, biggest question would be how far south the trails held up not to worried about traffic on a Wednesday Thursday ride
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Maple Grove motel in Finland. Across the street from Four Season's supper club.
 
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Sledhead850

New member
Last Saturday 2/29/20 we hauled our sleds up to the trail parking lot just a few miles out of Two Harbors. Rode the Yukon trail up to Isabella, Tomahawk trail to the Trestle for lunch, NSST back to the parking lot. 140 miles of very good riding.
The trails have a hard ice base and 3" of sugar snow that's been recycled many, many times by the groomers and sleds. If they could get 6" of snow and cooler temps for the month of March the riding would be amazing.
The season is over in central MN.
 
C

CrossfireLOW

Member
Some snowfall reports from Wed Night-Thurs morning for northern minnesota....
Not huge amounts, but it will make this weekend riding much better than otherwise


Preliminary local storm report
national weather service grand forks nd
1033 am cst thu mar 5 2020

..time... ...event... ...city location... ...lat.lon...
..date... ....mag.... ..county location..st.. ...source....
..remarks..

1030 am heavy snow 1 wnw flag island 49.33n 94.89w
03/05/2020 e12.0 inch lake of the woods mn public

report of around a foot or snow on flag
island. The duration of the heavy snow event
was 24 hours.

RELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND FORKS ND
234 PM CST THU MAR 5 2020

..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..

0126 PM SNOW 5 N ROOSEVELT 48.88N 95.09W
03/05/2020 M6.0 INCH LAKE OF THE WOODS MN PUBLIC

REPORT OF 4.5 INCHES THROUGH 7:30 AM THEN UP
TO 6 INCHES BEFORE SNOW STOPPED NEAR THE
REPORT TIME. THE DURATION OF THE SNOW EVENT
WAS 24 HOURS.

0411 pm snow 1 e silver bay 47.30n 91.26w
03/05/2020 m3.2 inch lake mn public

0214 pm snow 1 ssw ely 47.90n 91.86w
03/05/2020 m4.5 inch st. Louis mn trained spotter

0210 pm snow 4 w grand marais 47.76n 90.44w
03/05/2020 m6.9 inch cook mn public

1200 pm snow intl. Falls 48.58n 93.40w
03/05/2020 m4.6 inch koochiching mn official nws obs

1107 am snow 5 nw two harbors 47.09n 91.75w
03/05/2020 e1.0 inch lake mn trained spotter

0943 am snow 11 nnw coleraine 47.45n 93.52w
03/05/2020 m0.5 inch itasca mn public

0900 am snow 14 w isabella 47.59n 91.65w
03/05/2020 m5.0 inch lake mn co-op observer

co-op observer station iblm5 isabella 14 w.
 
X

xcr440

Well-known member
Trails were softening up Saturday afternoon and Sunday, but still riding to be had out there. Guys in our club talked to a few groomers and they are not done. Plan is to get back out this week once it freezes up again, which it did overnight. Definitely enough snow in most places - yeah, you might find a burned through spot here and there, south facing slopes, and obviously towns and road trails are clear - "only" put on 365 this weekend, with 50 checking out the Vintage Fun Run out of Aurora/Hoyt Lakes Saturday afternoon.

Been an AMAZING season in Northern MN this year!! Troy, be sure to let me know if you guys go for a day ride or two if we get that 30" April dump in Finland this year....
 
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oldguy

oldguy

Member
Went for a 140 mile ride today around Tower MN, some of the best conditions in weeks. We just saw 2 other riders all day. Did not have to worry about meeting anybody in a corner that has been sitting on a bar stool all day, Nice!
 
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snowchief

Member
oldguy said:
Went for a 140 mile ride today around Tower MN, some of the best conditions in weeks. We just saw 2 other riders all day. Did not have to worry about meeting anybody in a corner that has been sitting on a bar stool all day, Nice![/QUOTE

Very jealous sounds like a blast
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oldguy

oldguy

Member
I don't think there is much interest in this subject lately but this is what is going on in the Iron Range of northern MN. It's pretty much done as of today. We rode until Monday this week and the trails were pretty good. Sunday we received another few inches of snow and no rain. Tuesday we had a big melt down and last night it never got below freezing. There is still plenty of snow in the woods but not much on the trails. Maybe the North Shore still has some trail riding snow.

If you enjoyed the trails up here especially the state groomed trails like the Arrowhead, Taconite and North Shore please let the guys at the MN DNR know. I personally think they really stepped up their grooming this year and hearing from the public will go a long way to keep them great in the future.
 
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xcr440

Well-known member
oldguy said:
I don't think there is much interest in this subject lately but this is what is going on in the Iron Range of northern MN. It's pretty much done as of today. We rode until Monday this week and the trails were pretty good. Sunday we received another few inches of snow and no rain. Tuesday we had a big melt down and last night it never got below freezing. There is still plenty of snow in the woods but not much on the trails. Maybe the North Shore still has some trail riding snow.

If you enjoyed the trails up here especially the state groomed trails like the Arrowhead, Taconite and North Shore please let the guys at the MN DNR know. I personally think they really stepped up their grooming this year and hearing from the public will go a long way to keep them great in the future.
Click to expand...

Completely agree, their grooming has significantly improved the last couple years - still a little light heading south/west on the Taconite out of Tower, but I know they have a number of spots through that section that almost never completely freeze up.
 
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WorkHardPlayHrd

Active member
North shore Finland north is not only rideable but dang nice. Lutzen told everyone they quite grooming, they did stop, but after they they groomed everything Monday night!😁
We've met some other sledders. Some grilling brats and another that said we shouldn't be up here, but then talked with us for about 30 minutes. The warm temps are making things slick, but overall they are very nice.

Had to stay at Grand Superior Lodge. All of Cook county has a warning out because of their elevated older population, and lack of hospitals.

If you come up here make sure to get what you need for the night by 7:00 o'clock. Everything is takeout.

Running the boarders tonight. Passed 5 state patrol on Wednesday night and didn't get bothered. I also was strictly following the speed limit. Have a good weekend!
 
E

elf

Well-known member
WorkHardPlayHrd said:
North shore Finland north is not only rideable but dang nice. Lutzen told everyone they quite grooming, they did stop, but after they they groomed everything Monday night!
We've met some other sledders. Some grilling brats and another that said we shouldn't be up here, but then talked with us for about 30 minutes. The warm temps are making things slick, but overall they are very nice.

Had to stay at Grand Superior Lodge. All of Cook county has a warning out because of their elevated older population, and lack of hospitals.

If you come up here make sure to get what you need for the night by 7:00 o'clock. Everything is takeout.

Running the boarders tonight. Passed 5 state patrol on Wednesday night and didn't get bothered. I also was strictly following the speed limit. Have a good weekend!
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We rode Saturday out of Finland and went north and the trails were perfect in the morning. At one point I even questioned my judgement when we hopped of the perfect trail to take a beat up old rail grade! But as soon as we got into some waist deep snow on some hills I quit questioning it. There'll be plenty of snow to keep going on forest roads for a couple of weeks yet. Calling for 6-8" up there saturday night.
 
bearrassler

bearrassler

Well-known member
20200323_155454.jpg

20200322_172230.jpg

It wasn't MN but two of us rode along the Red River on the ND side last Sunday and two more joined us last Monday, we rode the fields close to the river and went about 85 miles both days, unless we get a bunch of snow the riding is done here but it was a long season
 
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