We left Wednesday morning. It was me my Mom and my brother. My brother is the one in orange... No pics of me as I took all the pics... We borrowed a friends 2000 Indy 500, a really nice sled except it doesn't have any carbides and only one wear bar, ended up working fine.

We took the State trail north from our house. It was in awesome condition and kept getting better the further north we went. There were barely any other sleds out, we saw maybe 15-20 all day. Riding was smooth and fast, and we made it to Schroeder quickly. Trails into Schroeder were ruff and we ate at Bluefin after taking some trails along the shore to Tofte. State trail north of Tofte was great. We stayed at the Aspen Lodge in Grand Marais, a nice hotel.

Ready to leave in the Driveway.


Trail Conditions We great





Giant backpack before we rigged it to the two-up.



Met the groomer


Playing off trail


Down by the shore near Tofte


Over look on the NSST


State trail conditions north of Tofte.





Stuck off trail near Grand Marais





We got on the trails by about 9:30 the next morning. We headed north up the Gunflint. Found some nice logging roads to play on. The trail was in great shape. We ate at the Hungry Jack, Food was great. There were only 5 sleds there including ours. We kept heading up the trail and eventually turned around somewhere past Loon lake. We took the Expressway trail back towards Grand Marais. That trail was very smooth and super fast. We stayed the night at Devils Track Lodge, Awesome place to eat and sleep. We had dinner with some friends from hockey who live up there.

Gunflint Conditions

Logging road off the Gunflint.


Stuck...


Expressway on the way back.



Shot of my Brother coming up a hill just off the expressway.





We were on the trails again the next morning. We went south down the NSST and then up the Tomahawk. We ate at the Tresle, good food. Had a little mishap on the way back, Coming around a corner, with my mom leading we met some sleds. I put my left hand up to signal my brother was behind me. My mom put on the brakes and I slid into the back of her.... My fault, my following distance wasn't big enough. Not to much damage though, the hood got pushed back on the 440 about an inch and a half, can't really tell what bent. No cracks surprisingly. The Tomahawk was fast but a little bumpy with some rocks. Was a fun ride. We took the Timberwolf trail back down to Wildhurst and the Moosewalk home. Timberwolf trail is always a blast to ride.


Pic from inside our room, a small dusting fell over night.


Logging road off the NSST. This one connected up with the Tomahawk.


Pic of damage to 440


Met the groomer on the Timberwolf trail.



Brother on Timberwolf trail.


Put on almost 300 miles and the trip was perfect except for the hood on the 440.

-Shane

Nice wish I were less of a weekend warrior!

nice pics

Nice pics, wish we had snow like that!

Drooling all over myself...

I would like to ride that same route sometime! Thanks for the pics!

What are the conditions up there this week? I really need to ride my sled but I am not sure where there is decent snow. Are the trails still rideable or did it all melt?

I was on the northern half of the North Shore Trail and on the entire Gunflint Trail on Saturday. There's a ton of snow there (I sunk to my waist in one spot off the trail). The NSST was beautiful with little traffic - the Gunflint Trail appears to have tons of snow but wasn't groomed well when we were there.

So you would definitly say Go Up there then?

It was my first time up the Gunflint beyond Trail Center. The scenery makes the trip worth it alone.

Be prepared to put on fewer miles though, especially if the trails are rough and icy like they were last weekend. Even if they're good though, the Gunflint trails are very windy (that is, full of turns, not full of wind) - it takes more out of you than you think to continue to navigate icy, narrow trails and 90 deg turns mile after mile.

Yeah we ride the gunflint area 2-3 times a year and usually put about 150 miles on per day which is about our average for the rest of the north shore. Nice area but the trails arn't marked as well as many people would like.

Does anyone have a current trail report for the Gunflint trail?

that's not a groomer it's a bulldozer ........can't say I have ever seen that before

thanks for the pictures and the nice write up

For a good trail report call hungry jack lake lodge. Ask for forest! He will give you a good honest report!

Thanks man Will DO!