Well, this one is simple.  Look at the map and go where the snow is.  That would not be anywhere around Duluth.  In the immediate Duluth area the trails are virtually bare and the warm weather coming on Friday won’t help.  Head north or head south but be aware if heading North that the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon will be on the North Shore State Trail from the 28th  to the 31st and snowmobiling, although still allowed, is not recommended on that particular trail.

Today on the trail we were lucky enough to meet up the Nephew family from Lindstrom, MN. We’re not related to them, that is their actual last name!  It’s great to see the next generation of snowmobilers out on the trail.

A quick trail update: The trail out of Duluth and al of the GIA trails around Duluth are in flat out horrible shape and after the warm weather today are practically down to dirt.  We suggest driving the extra half hour up to Two Harbors.  The trail from Laine Rd. North was flat out awesome!!!

Short and sweet baby- The trails have all been groomed from Duluth North- and about 75% of all the GIA trails have been groomed as well.  As has been the case all winter, the farther North you get the more snow there is and the better the trail conditions are. The weatherman once again claims that we may have real snow heading our way on Sunday- but so far when they say its going to snow it amounts to a whole lot of nothing. Keep your fingers crossed.  One thing to keep in mind if you are coming from  out of state- Sunday night the trails wont have much traffic as everyone in Minnesota will be watching the Vikings game so there is some real opportunity for you to have a nice ride with the trails all to yourselves.  So if you are a Packers, Lions or Bears fan come up and ride this weekend- we welcome all of you to the trails!!!

Wow, what a weekend. A great day of riding on Saturday, more snow and more riding on Sunday and a miracle Vikings win to top everything off. We started out early Saturday morning being greeted by a toasty 17 below zero temperature. Only two of us decided to brave the cold while the other members of the staff stayed behind to work on some sponsorship obligations for the upcoming Yeti Tour on February 17th.  I was riding with my friend Allen and we were prepared for the cold after spending part of last season perfecting our ultimate cold weather gear set up.  We started out of Duluth even though the State Trail had not been groomed yet and were somewhat surprised at how good of shape the trail was despite not being touched yet (This should all change be Wednesday).  There were no other sleds on the trail and the farther north we went the more snow there was and the better the trail conditions got.  We soon came to the Pequaywan trail intersection and were pleased to find that the trail had been groomed the night before!  Despite the allure of hitting the first groomed trail of the season we decided to keep pushing forward on the North Shore Trail because we were closing in on one of our favorite sections- and were we glad we did!  Hardly anyone had been o that section of trail since Thursday’s snowfall and we found ourselves contending with sections of fresh powder and a few random drift that needed busting- all in all a great ride similar to how things were back when we used to actually have winters with snow.  After a while we turned back because the siren song of that groomed Pequaywan trail was too much to resist.  There had only been one sled on it since it was groomed so we ran it all the way to the Pequaywan Inn and it was absolutely Heavenly. We stopped and filled up with gas and then headed back to Duluth- seeing our first sleds of the entire day on our return trip. After Lunch I went out on some local GIA trails hoping that I could find something groomed but to no avail, I did see a lot of riders out though and I was encouraged.  We rode a little bit more Sunday afternoon to take advantage of the falling snow and although the trails weren’t the best we still had fun.  We got back in time for some Beer Brats and the Vikings game and ended the weekend pretty much the best way you can end a weekend!