Minnesota Adventure Riders

Just a quick ride report from this last Sunday in the Chengwatana State Forest.  If you haven’t been to this area before it is a small state OHM and ATV trail system, but one of the closest to the Twin Cities area.  I had my son in tow riding a DR250.  It was his first time on a real trail and he had a great time.  The photo below shows him trying to get up the only hill climb on this trail which can be pretty gnarly. The rocks in the photo are not limited to this hill.  Almost the entire trail has good sized rocks and ruts.

My advice if you go to this state forest? If you go on the weekends, get there early, like 8 or 9 AM before the ATVs arrive.  Many of the trails are twisty single or double track and running into an ATV head-on is no fun.  I have no idea why the DNR doesn’t make these trails one-way only.
I would also suggest only planning 2-3 hours of riding here as the trails system is very short.  I also have no idea why they don’t connect this trail system with the St. Croix forest trail system just a few miles to the North.   This would make a much larger and more attractive tourist destination for very little investment.  You can always jump on the county highway to get up to St. Croix or Nemadji though, and the Trans-Minnesota Adventure Trail GPX files will guide you on the quickest route.

Be sure and visit http://www.MinneADV.info for the latest on organized rides for September and October.  New rides were just posted.

Last week a fellow rider and myself trailered up to Two Harbors and set off from there to explore the “Gunflint Loop”.  This was just a week after the historic floods that hit that area so we didn’t know quite what to expect in the way of washouts or road closings.  We also hoped to have enough time to explore a bit on the Canadian side of the border in the “Canuck Loop”.

This is one of the most scenic areas of Minnesota.  I have visited the area several times before as a tourist but never on motorcycle, so I was excited to explore some new territory. Once unloaded in Two Harbors we headed for the nearest road on the TMAT. Unfortunately Alger Grade was a known washout from the storms, so we had a slight detour around it. We followed the Gunflint Loop GPS track the rest of the day north and north east and passed just to the west of Beaver Bay and Silver Bay. The gravel roads were in very good condition and even a little dry after a week of hot sun. We made our way past Tettegouche State Park and through Finland. Cramer Road was especially scenic with creeks and streams that were way above their normal water level. We followed what we hoped were a couple double track shortcuts but both turned out to be dead ends. We shot past Nine Mile lake, Four Mile Lake, and Toohey Lake, then transferred onto “The Grade” which led to Saw Bill Trail. Sawbill was a fun stretch of roller coaster like gravel that led to Sawbill Lake and Campground. It was getting a bit late so we decided to camp there. The fact that they had cold beer and hot showers influenced our decision greatly. Temps were perfect for tent camping.
The next morning after some freeze dried eggs and a hot shower were were off exploring again. We were a little tired of the National Forest gravel roads so exploring some tougher tracks was a priority. We decided to try to find a shortcut around Pine Lake and the old trestle bridge that once went over it. An ATV motorcycle trail partially gets you south of it, and from the gps it didn’t look much farther to get north to Lima Grade road. Boy was I wrong! After an hour of bushwacking and swatting flies, I ended up dead ended in a swamp. The two of us managed to get our bikes out of there, but by the time we were on high ground sweating, panting, and tired, my riding partner realized that his XR wasn’t shifting properly. Some cable adjustment managed to fix the problem temporarily but it seemed that the wet marsh had caused him to roast his clutch. We limped the bike over to Grand Marais for lunch and thought it over. We decided it would not be smart to cross the border with the bike in this condition even though it was only 30 minutes away. So we slabbed it back on Hwy 61 to the truck and trailer. About a mile from the truck my clutch started slipping as well. I guess the mighty DR wasn’t immune to muddy clutch eating swamps either.
In the end we were disappointed not to make it to the border, but didn’t regret pushing our bikes (and ourselves) to the limits in order to explore and try something new. We will definitely be back to continue to the ride once some repairs are made. I encourage all the riders reading this to consider the Iron Range area for your next trip. It is extremely scenic with some of the most varied terrain in the state. Well worth your time.