Some friends of mine have a fishing trip planned on LOW in Feb and asked if me and a couple buddies wanted to join them. We were thinking we'd drop the sleds off in Cook, MN at my father in law's place and ride up to LOW on Friday and back on Saturday.

Has anyone done this trip? How is it for gas stops and such. I have not begun to look at the trail maps yet, but that is my next step.

Thanks for any input you have.

Two ways you could go. You could go west out of Cook and head for Effie and hook up with the Blue Ox then the Lost River and Border trails leading right into Baudette. Or you could head north on the Arrowhead and hook up In International Falls with Haggerman Voyagers that leads into Baudette. I have rode both trails and if I was to do it again what I would do was take both, one there, one back. It would be a nice trip. Gas is readily availabe but don't drive past any fuel stations without topping off.

What is the approximate Time to get from one to the other with ocasional breaks?

I would say allow yourself at least half the day for travel time. Not sure how fast you ride. The arrowhead trail to I Falls is probably quicker. Watch out for The Devils Hump.

Just got back from the Falls. Arrowhead Trail was perfect. We rode south out of the Falls on the Arrowhead to Orr; Orr - Cook to Effie-Togo and back up. We rode all over the place and the only trail we encountered that was junk was the Northern Connection heading West out of the Falls going towards Birchdale.

From just west of the "Y" Junction it was good for about 5 miles and then we ended up in the bog that was totally ungroomed! (To soft for the groomer) We had to go around trees, branches, etc... until you hit that ditch grade that runs towards Birchdale. Once we hit that grade, we headed towards Big Falls but the trail was groomed.

In my opinion, I would stay heading North and West out of Cook and you should be fine. Just my input.

When did you ride this? The club claims that the Birchdale stretch was opened (through the swamps) on the 17th. Their report even mentions water and swamps stopping the groomer. I'm curious if you rode it before the 17th or if it's still a problem?

I rode that stretch the 13th and we talked to a rider in Big Falls and he said they weren't going to push the groomer through there this year. To clarify, I don't know if you are familiar with the stretch of trail I am referring to, but we left the Falls and took the Northern Connection Trail. This is the trail I'm referring to when I say about 5 miles West of the "Y" they stopped grooming and we ended up in a stretch where it was single lane only and hadn't seen a groomer all year until you hit that ditchgrade that you can either hang a right and go to Birchdale or head left (which we did) towards Big Falls. That part was all groomed and good. Hope that helps you.

Yup - thanks for the clarification.

One of the groomer operators reported (on the 17th) "even the Birchdale trail and the Northern Connection have finally been opened by the groomer after weeks of water and swamps stopping us" - that's why I was wondering when you rode it.