We rode out on the North Shore State Trail today (Sunday, January 18th) and although it has not been groomed it was still in okay shape from the Gravel Pit near Duluth to the first Two Harbors Spur trail, then it got a little sketchy.  Basically, that’s the MO for the rest of the trail to about 20 miles past Finland where the groomer has actually hit things from there all the way to Grand Marais.  The good news is that Finland onward picked up more snow this weekend and we are hoping they can run the groomer even farther south mid week.  The bad news is we need more snow from Duluth to Finland.  We haven’t seen any GIA trails open in the Duluth area and most of them need a good storm to be able to groom.  Things on high ground aren’t so bad but any trail running through a swamp is in desperate need of a storm.  The word of the day is this: The farther north you trailer your sleds the better off you are.

For the past few weeks many of you have been clicking in wondering what the snow conditions are like here in the Arrowhead and unfortunately all we can report is that we are still a few inches away from the trails being rideable, and that’s the worst part about it-  WE ARE ONLY A FEW INCHES AWAY!  But those inches of white fluffy powder have thus far been elusive.  Duluth keeps getting skirted by every storm that rolls through the Midwest.  The good news is that the first weekend of 2015 brought snow farther north and we are waiting for our comrades in extreme Northeast Minnesota to report back to us later this week.  As of last week the DNR had packed the CJ Ramstad North Shore State Trail from Finland to Grand Marais and were waiting on more snow, and some parts received that snow today.  The Gunflint area has been getting good snow as well but we have not heard any reports of any trails being open yet.  Hopefully by this weekend we will have better news for you.