Duluth to Ely...over to Tower and back to Duluth - Feb 2-3

[311Hemi]

Well, I finally got out for a weekend of riding last weekend (Feb 2nd-3rd). The trails turned out to be in much better condition that what I had expected. A lot of icy corners and definitely rocks showing through......but well worth it!!!

Saturday:

We started out Saturday morning in Duluth and took the North Shore trail up to the Moosewalk trail. Both were in good condition and were smooth. There was snirt here and there...and some corners were icy, but overall the trails were good and the Moosewalk was of the better trails of the weekend. We took the Moosewalk up to the Tomahawk and stopped to eat in Isabella. From Isabella we took the Tomahawk towards Ely and there was a section between Isabella and the Yukon trail that was beat all to [PoorWordUsage] (probably the worst section of trail all weekend). The rest of the Tomahawk to Ely was in good condition. Corners were icy (as could be expected) and some areas of ice here and there.....but overall decent riding and no problems keeping the sled cool. 190 miles total for the day.

Sunday:

Took the Taconite trail from Ely to Tower and that was nice. We were the first ones on the trail so it was smooth sailing to Tower. We rode Vermilion over to the Casino and took the Arrowhead back down to the Taconite. The Taconite between the Arrowhead and the Iron Ore Trail was a little bumpy. Jumped on the Iron Ore Trail (heading south) and were the 2nd set of tracks down that. Nice.....smooth...and fast! We then jumped on the Taconite Spur Trail to head towards Aurora. This trail was beat to [PoorWordUsage].....the groomer must have not been through there all weekend. Jumped onto the Pequaywan East Range Trail and went through Aurora and over to Hoyt Lakes. Coming out of Hoyt lakes the trail was in Excellent condition and was very fast. This was probably the best riding I had all weekend. Plenty of snow and wide sweeping turns for miles. It was a blast. The trail got a little more tiring once you get south a ways into the woods. I don't know if they could have possibly made any more turns in the part of the trail.....LOL. Came across a couple and the wife had slid out on an icy corner and was facing the wrong direction. Made sure she got turned around and then kept on down the trail. Stopped for lunch in at Pequaywan Lake and came across a group of about 16 sleds. Got back on the trail following a couple XC's that had also just got done eating. Had a good time running the trails following these guy and were going at a decent pace. They stopped and took a breather and one point and we continued to. Jumped on the North Shore Trail heading back towards Duluth and it was smooth and fast. Ran that at a good rate to finish off the weekend. 170 miles.

All in all a good 370 miles for the weekend and good trail conditions. A little snow will go a long way to improving the trail conditions up there.......but it's still worth getting out!

[Dbl]

Great report and great pictures to go with it. Thanks 311Hemi.

[tashit]

Man that makes me want to head up north for the weekend...great report!

[Macgyver55]

Dang, that looked good, it is the same route me and my buddy had planned for last weekend.

We stayed at my cabin on Friday with the intention of getting over there early. Friday night we went out for a quick ride and the trails were nice. We had gone about 93 miles and were on the home stretch when his motor blew. We were only 2 miles from my cabin so I towed him to a spot where we could get it on the trailer, and then he rode back to the truck with me. Kinda put a damper on the weekend. The only good thing is that once again the old Renegade 600HO with 7000 miles had to tow his 2 year newer Switchback 800 to the trailer. I think he might be getting tired of the razzing though. I have had the good fortune of being the tow-er not the tow-ee every time. He keeps telling me my day will come. It probably will, but so far the Doo hasn't let me down.

[311Hemi]

That sucks when mechanical failures like that happen....at least the Doo was the one doing the towing!!! LOL

This was my first real ride on the 06' Gade 600 SDI as I just got it a few weeks ago. I can tell you I am impressed with the gas mileage. We rode all weekend pretty aggressively and I was always on the flipper, and I averaged 17.9mpg the first tank and 17 the second tank. I would be higher if I was out for a nice easy ride....but that doesn't happen most of the time.