Trail Reports

[leech~~]

Looking like NW MN could be getting dumped on in this next round of storms....possibly 16-20" around the DL or Bemidji areas at this point. Should help out the trail conditions!!

Well the Holidays with all the relatives are done after this weekend! "Let's Go Sleding"!!!

[311Hemi]

Well, hopefully we get what the models are currently showing!!

No sled for me right now, but I will have to get up to the inlaws in DL in the next couple weeks to get my riding fix in!!

[kdawg]

Paint me stupid, but.... How do the lakes freeze solid, but the swamps don't?

[leech~~]

Paint me stupid, but.... How do the lakes freeze solid, but the swamps don't?

Ground heat, all the mud and peat keep them warmer longer.

[kdawg]

Ahhhhh. I am now amongst the informed. TY.

[Tim O]

A group of us rode from Scenic Pines store over to Side Lake and back yesterday. Day brook and Chisholm Spur were just groomed and awsome, Taconite was fair and not groomed with some frozen slushy spots. Local trails around Marcell and Bowstring are in the excelent condition for this time of year and were groomed yesterday.

With all the slush on the lakes, might be riding alot more than fishing.

[BoxMN]

Crosslake / Emily area trails. Were kind of bumpy on Saturday, well ridden but we didn't see many people on them. LOTS of trees hanging down almost covering trails due to the heavy snow on them. Lots of snow in the ditches. Once the groomer get out again I bet they will be nice. As Tim said, maybe more riding until the slush freezes, holy cow ius there slush on the lakes now bigtime.

[311Hemi]

Detroit Lakes area conditions are good. We put on 180 miles Saturday riding from Perham to DL, then up to Elbow Lake and looped back down around to Perham. Most of the trails were in great condition, other than some of the ones in the ditches that the groomers were working on clearing. Lakes are a little bumpy with the drifting. A lot of snow up in the area and didn't see many riders out.

Sunday we grabbed the longtracks and went ditch banging, had a blast. The ditches were full of snow and it made for easy carving pretty much every where we went, and some pretty big drifts to hit as well. Not sure I will be making it out west this year bug I got plenty of side hilling in to get my fix...for the time being!

[FishHawk11]

St. Cloud area trails were decent. I think they were groomed late last week which helped. I was out last wednesday and they were in rough shape. Not bad now though. Hopefully the groomers are able to get out after this snow and we should be set. Corners are still a little icy.

[Scott Stein]

Road the trail from Courtland to Madison Lake,trails were awesome!

[DaveSorensen]

I own a store in Tower all of the reports I'm getting right now (It's January 12th) are that the taconite trail is in excellent condition. One snowmobiler had told me that this is the best he has seen in several years.

[FLaker]

On 1/9 we rode from McGregor across Big Sandy, thru Savana Portage up to Jacobsen over to Hill City and back to McGregor. Trails were excellent!!! About 10 miles of bumps thru the state park and the rest was flat. Beware of low hanging, ice covered branches, the top of my helmet now has some nice racing stripes!

FLaker

[Macgyver55]

Rode from Knife lake in Mora to Glen, up to Minnewawa to my place, then rode from there to Barnum via Cromwell. Headed south through Nickerson, Duquette and Askov, down to Hinkley and back across to Knife Lake. Everything we rode was great with the exception of the trail from McGregor to Minnewawa which must have had a good bar run Friday night. 244 miles total, and one DNR check on the Kimberly swamp trail. Nice guys, (2) just checked our sled license asked about the trails and told us to have a good time! Overall a 9.5 on the scale. Had to take off a half point due to bright sun when we were heading west from Hinkley, awfully hard to see with the snow dust.

[leech~~]

Mac55, you are a Mad Man!

I talked to a couple guys that were up in Ely sledding in the room next to me at the Paddle Inn and they said the trails were in great shape! But, if you go on any lakes I would stay on the trail or hit the gas and do not stop anywhere! I hit some of the worst slush on Burntside Laker fishing this weekend that I had ever been in! But I was back in some bays where no one else had gone yet. Good luck and keep the speed up on the lakes!

[Xplorer]

Rode from Orr to Crane lake and back thru Elephant lake this last saturday afternoon with the family. Trails were excellent. Did hear there was quite a bit of slush up on Sand Point from a couple guys who had about a 100# of ice frozen to thier sled's, the lake trails were froze down good. We didnt hit any on either elephant or Pelican lakes.

Too chilly on Sunday morning to ride, woke to -26.

As it was it never got above zero on saturday either, started at -6 and was 0 at Voyageurs on Crane for a late lunch, then after a quick stop for ahot chocolate at Melgeorge's on Elephant, we got back to Orr about 6:30ish and it was -14 already.

[Macgyver55]

Anyone been on the Taconite lately? A few buddies and myself are leaving tomorrow morning early from Glen, riding to Ely, staying overnight and riding back Sunday. We are going to wing it on the way up but will end up with quite a bit of it being on the Taconite most likely on the way home. I've made the trip several times as I have relatives in Ely, but I like to try different trails on the way up.

Any suggestions of nice one to try on the way up?

[Macgyver55]

Well the ride went well although there was heavy traffic due to the fresh snow and decent temps. We put on just over 540 miles with some pretty nice trails and a few poor ones due to heavy snow/traffic.

We actuall stayed off the Tac as much as possible and found much better riding and the scenery to be awesome. Overall a 7 for the trails but a 10+ for the scenery.........

I wish I would have taken more pics than I did, but here is one of my favorites.

[BoxMN]

Nice Macgyver!

We were east of Crosslake on the Crosslake/Emily trails and it was pretty beat up. My wife said she felt like a yoyo from bumps. Lots of people out. Friends went to Hill City and they said trails were rather poor, but considering the traffic not too bad.

[hydro]

Nice trail picture. It looks like you found some beautiful riding conditions!

[Xplorer]

Quick weekend report on trails around Duluth. Yesterday took the family from our house south of Cloquet and headed for Fish lake. Left at 2pm, took the Munger trail to west Duluth, was very good. Crosstown Trail was Ok til Hwy 53, but from there to Eagles Nest is was nasty bumps most of the way. The freezing rain and 34 degree temps didnt help a bit.

Left Eagles Nest after having an early dinner and headed west. Had great trails down to Twig, then ditchbanged to Grand lake. Picked up the trail on the other side of Grand and had a fast trip back to Cloquet on the "expressway".

88 miles of good family fun!!!

The wifes machine started to misfire on the way back, so I rode it the last 15 miles or so. Took it back out after sunday school today. Felt like water in the gas, so added a can of Seafoam and topped it off with non-oxy and took off. Ran back up to Grand lake and back (40 mi) and not a sputter. Nice run, saw 5 deer and 3 pileated woodpeckers on the way.

Headed to Vermillion/Ely next weekend. looking good so far!!

[toughguy]

Rode from Lakeville out to Randolph and Hampton on Saturday. Trails are in great shape. The groomers are doing a great job this year. I saw some off road snow mountain bikers on the trails. Isn't that illegal on a snowmobile trail?

[Xplorer]

Rode the Tower/Ely area this weekend and it was AWESOME!!! Best weekend of riding up there that I cam remember. Even the Tac was awesome, and the side trails seemed untouched in spots. We even came across what little was left of a wolf killed deer, just the back 2 legs and about half the hide picked clean. Wolf, deer and moose tracks all over the trail in that area!

[Xplorer]

A couple of pic's.

[kdawg]

Do you think the trails will be good this upcoming weekend? I'm thinking of going for a ride from Grand Rapids to Ely.

[MNUser]

Do you think the trails will be good this upcoming weekend? I'm thinking of going for a ride from Grand Rapids to Ely.

How far is that round trip? Do you want some company?