Whew. Took the day off work to get in one last good ride. Spectacular day, sun out and cloudless blue sky, brilliant snow covered trails, and only a few sleds out.

Put on another 140+ miles today. The trails were super. We put in at the Finland parking lot and saw a couple trailers already there. We didn't know how the trails were gonna be, thought about going as far north as Tofte to start, but a guy we met at the Two Harbors gas station told us the groomer had run down to get put away for the season on Wednesday, and that there was six inches of relatively fresh snow up into Grand Marais, so we thought, why not??

We were quite delighted, except for the first few miles up from the lot, where there were a few (avoidable) brown/dirt spots showing, the rest of the trail up was as smooth as anything we'd encountered this year. It was a little bouncy from the Caribou parking lot up to the turn-off onto the Expressway and Devil's Track, but everything on either side of that area was GREAT. The trail into Grand Marais was all snow covered, and the only bad spot down in town was the sidewalk negotiations on the way to fill up at the SA. The waitress at My Sister's Place was very friendly and the burger's were tasty and cooked to perfection.

The way back was exceptional, too, until we got into the area just below the RR tracks south of the Tomahawk turn-off, where the sun had toasted many spots that mere hours before had plenty of snow cover. There were many brown outs and dirt showing on the way back, if anyone decides to try it, put in north of Finland somewhere, there is lots of good riding yet. Of the total we put on today, the last five miles were the only real ruff ones, and they weren't terrible, just some unavoidable mud, grass, dirt, and a few gravelly spots.

It is hard to get out on the main trail system and see all these little side trails and not want to go down and explore. Some we've been on, but there is only so much time in a day (and gas in the tank) to really do some exploring. Someday...


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This one is from next door to My Sister's Place... look out- that first step is a doozy!!
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SKIPS TOMORROW!!

Glad to hear you had a good ride. We were up last weekend for the last time. I'm ok with that since the bikes will be out next week!

D-rail........did you get some fresh snow over the past week? I didn't think conditions were any good. I was Wrong! Looks awesome! We are thinking about heading north next week. Probably the UP unless you still have decent snow!

Looks like awesome conditions up there! That last pic looks like it has the same amount of snow as when I was up there in February!

Today I just went from Devil's track all the way up the gunflint and i don't really recommend going past hungryjack, past that it is ROUGH, but there is plenty of snow. between Devil's track and hungryjack the trails, gunflint, expressway, and swamp trails are all great.

yesterday I took a couple of kids from devils track up to gunflint lodge and back , Man did the sun do a number on the trails yesterday afternoon . they were pretty excited to say they went to canada (across lake from the lodge) . I also got rear ended pulling into Harbor Light restaurant leaving Grand Marais last night , kinda sucks but not much damage

I just returned from my cabin near GM and like D-Rail showed in the pictures it is still very nice. Behind my cabin the snow is just below the propane tanks, so a good 2.5-3 feet.

Will they still be grooming the nst this week? Would like to come up soon.....

I think it's offically all over (trails close) as of April 1st.

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong.

Grooming will stop April 1st but as long as there is snow you can ride. I have ridden many times well into April up there.
The latest ride I have had on the North Shore was April 20th, I am sure some have even ridden later than that.