The perfect ride. It is the elusive nirvana that you seek every time you hop on your sled.  Every snowmobiler has a short list of the best rides or trips of their lives and there is always a ride that ranks at the top of the list, a ride by which all others are judged.  For me that ride came when I was fifteen years old.  I have had great rides since then but there still hasn’t been one to knock that childhood memory off of its perch at the top of the list.

  My family purchased their first snowmobile when I was 3 years old and my first snowmobiling memory was riding with my parents down the power lines and winding up a Shakey’s Pizza.  If there is anything that would guarantee someone becoming a snowmobile fan it is bringing a five year old kid on a snowmobile to a pizza place!   

The Shakey’s trip started my love affair with the snowmobile but the thing that truly cemented its place in my heart were the days riding with my neighborhood friends:  Paul, Mike, Matt and Cy.  Paul’s family owned several Ski-Doo Olympiques and it was the rides with my friends on those machines that ultimately led me to spending my entire summer of 1982 caddying at the local golf course and landing every babysitting job I could get my hands on to save up enough money by fall to buy my first snowmobile: a 1972 Ski-Doo Olympique. 

By the following winter Paul had gotten his driver’s license and bought a green Chevy Van. Now we could not only ride our sleds around the neighborhood but we could also trailer them to places more exotic.  That December Paul invited me on a snowmobile trip to his family’s cabin which was on a private lake about an hour north of Duluth.  Since we were on Christmas break Paul and I would drive up with our sleds Friday Morning and then Paul’s dad (Henry) and his dad’s friend (Michael) would come up with their sleds Friday night.

Paul and I got up at the crack of dawn Friday morning and loaded up my Olympique and his older brothers’ new Yamaha Enticer.  As we were about to pull out of the driveway Paul’s dad stopped us and asked us if we had the spare for the trailer.

“No we don’t dad,” Paul replied, “but we won’t need it.”

“You never leave without the spare,” his father said, and he demanded that we go up to the shed and fetch the spare.  Begrudgingly Paul followed his dad’s orders all the while grumbling under his breath how over cautious and silly he was being.  Of course half way to the cabin the trailer got a flat tire, proving once again why dads are smarter than know-it-all teenage boys.

When we finally arrived at the road leading into Paul’s cabin I was shocked to see that the road had not been plowed and was covered with over a foot of fresh powder.

“Don’t they plow the cabin road?” I asked.

“It’s a private unmaintained road so unless someone comes up here with their own plow it doesn’t get touched,” replied Paul, “and now the snow is so deep I doubt anyone will plow it all winter.  We’ll have to park here and ride into the cabin.”

“What about all of our gear?”  I asked.

“There’s a dogsled at the cabin.  Once we get there we will pull it back to the van and get our stuff.”

This was the coolest thing that I could even imagine- being forced to snowmobile into a remote cabin, but the best was yet to come.  We unloaded the sleds and packed as much gear on them as we could and as we were about to head out Paul said to me, “You’re going to have to lead because the Enticer isn’t that great in deep snow.”  This is where that defining moment happened that to this day makes this the single greatest snowmobiling ride of my life, breaking trail though a foot of fresh powder down a private road through a pine forest with the boughs of the trees laden with a thick coating of fresh snow.  It was like something out of a dream.  The Olympique churned through the deep powder sending an endless spray of fresh snow over the hood for miles on end.  It just doesn’t get any better than that!

When we reached the cabin and went in for a few minutes to start a fire and then dug out the dogsled and hooked it up to my snowmobile and forged our way back out to the road.  We filled the dogsled with supplies and rode back to the cabin which was now toasty warm from the fire we started earlier. As typical teens we just carelessly tossed everything into the cabin so we could get back out on the sleds. This is where the second awesome part of our day began.  We rode down to the lake to see that it had also remained untouched by any other snowmobile since the last snowfall.  Paul and I looked at each other and even though our faces we covered by ski masks I could see in his eyes that he had a smile as big as mine.  We hit the lake and spent the next several hours carving through foot deep powder until we had significantly crisscrossed the lake with about a hundred snowmobile tracks.  The winter sun was starting to set so we decided to ride back to the cabin. When we arrived we were surprised to see Paul’s dad’s ’72 Olympique 335 parked outside next to Michael’s ’72 Ski-Doo T’NT 440. 

“Oh, no,” Paul said.  “We must have been out for a long time, I wasn’t expecting them yet.”

 We went in and received a major tongue lashing for just throwing everything on the floor and taking off. This was still the time when you could get chewed out by your friend’s parents without having your own parents freaking out about it, and Paul’s dad let us both have it.  After making us do some cleaning and firewood gathering for failing to properly put away put the supplies we all sat down to a fine dinner of steak and hash browns.  This to me was a lot like the meals I had with my brother and father at the hunting shack, we always ate way better out with the men then we ever did at home.  Then it was a night of cards until Paul and I went off to bed exhausted after a long day of carving through powder and digging out the Enticer.

As I laid on the bunk staring at the ceiling I listened intently as Paul’s dad and Michael reminisced about snowmobiling trips of the past over a few cigars and a bottle of whiskey.  The stories were heightened by Michael’s thick accent.  I don’t know what country the accent was from, maybe Norway or Finland, but it was really cool and hearing them talk about their past journeys through the Minnesota wilderness on old Ski-Doos made me wonder if I would ever be able to pass on similar stories when I was their age.  Ironically, not only did I get to do it but I got to keep their memories alive by relaying this story on a huge mass media forum.

The second day we followed Paul’s dad and Michael across the lake to a private trail that hooked up with the Pequaywan Trail.  Michael couldn’t resist cracking open the 440’s throttle and rocketing across the lake leaving us in his snow dust. This started my love affair with the T’NT and I’ve wanted to land a ’72 T’NT ever since, but my wife isn’t too keen on adding another sled to our already crowded corral.

The Pequaywan trail was the first time I had ever been on a state trail in my life which added to the overall awesomeness of this trip.  Paul and I broke away from the pack as this was the type of riding the Enticer had been designed for.  Even though my Olympique had dominated the Enticer in the deep powder I was no match for him on the trail and I struggled to keep up.  Faster and faster Paul went as he became more comfortable with the Enticer’s handling, but his thirst for speed soon ended when we came to a bridge and the hump at the bridge approach launched the speedy Enticer into the air and made Paul jump a good portion of the bridge span.  He came down hard on the other side of the creek and pulled to the side of the trail with his eyes as wide as saucers.  

“Did you see that!?  I jumped like 15 feet!” he said half excited and half terrified. 

Paul’s dad and Michael caught up to us and pulled to the side of the trail.  “You boys follow us,” Paul’s dad said.  “We are going to be turning off of the trail soon.”  Paul’s dad and Michael rode ahead of us at a much slower and more casual pace. The trail crossed a road and we left the trail to follow the ditch line for about a mile where we then turned off into the woods and followed a short trail to an old logging road.  No one had been on the logging road which meant miles of untouched powder, unfortunately Paul’s dad and Michael got to lead the way and enjoy all of the trail breaking duties. 

The sun was beginning to set and the cold was creeping in on us as logging road conveniently duped us out close to the main road that lead back to the cabin.  We once again got to ride through the majestic snow laden pines with our headlights cutting through the cold darkness.  By the time we reached the cabin, the chill had cut through my gloves and boots and hunger was burning inside my stomach.  We once again feasted on a huge outdoorsmen’s meal and warmed ourselves by the fireplace.  After a long day of riding Paul and I retired early and I drifted off to the sounds of the two old men recapping more stories of past rides that had taken place before I was even born. 

This truly was the greatest snowmobile trip have ever taken in my life.  Yes, I have gone to many places and have done many things on a snowmobile since then but it’s hard to replace something that holds its own special room in your memory banks, probably because when you’re a kid there aren’t the same sort of problems waiting back home for you that there are when you are an adult, and you don’t spend the weekend thinking about how you have to go back to work Monday morning.  Now my friends and I are “the old men” recapping stories of riding back in the day and it’s our kids that listen intently and dream of what it was like “back in the old days.”  It is moments like these that draw bigger and bigger crowds to the vintage shows and every time I see a ’72 Ski-Doo TN’T I think of that iconic trip to my friend’s cabin- way back in 1983…

Good October to you all! The weather is getting cooler and our blogs will start showing up here soon. In the meantime check out our new You Tube Page- we will soon be posting some videos to get you all jacked up for winter! Click here to get to the You Tube Channel

Last April we had a late season heavy snowfall and we went out for one last ride  where my 2001 Indy 500 went to be with Edgar Hetteen in Polaris Snowmobile Heaven. 

Up to this point every snowmobile purchase I had ever made had been a used sled, but now, with the work I do for snowmobiletrail.com, the miles that I need to put on my sled every year made buying my first ever new sled a logical choice.  Luckily with the wide array of people I ride with every year I get to spend time on numerous fairly new sleds.  I had the opportunity in 2013 to ride one of the new Polaris Indy 600 SP’s and I instantly fell in love with it. I’m six foot four and the set up of the Indy fit me perfectly and made transitioning from sitting to standing a breeze.  The combination of the Pro Ride front end with the traditional enclosed coupled rear suspension gave me exactly what I was looking for.  I knew that the local Polaris dealer had some 2013’s still left in stock from the previous winter so I ran out to cash in on a noncurrent deal.   Unfortunately the heavy snowfall of the 2013-14 season had wiped out the dealers back stock of 2013’s and also their 2014’s, so I waited until the annual Spring event and negotiated a sweet deal for a 2015 Indy 600 SP.  So yes, you can all blame me for this year’s horrible snowless winter, because I am cursed. I waited all summer for my sled to arrive and then waited all winter to ride it.  So for what little snowmobile time I did get in this year, here is my review of the 2015 Polaris Indy 600 SP. 

FROM OLD SCHOOL TO NEW SCHOOL

            First let me preface this review by saying that I am coming from the old school of snowmobiling.  I started riding on a 1972 Ski-Doo Olympique and upon returning to the snow-belt and reentering the snowmobile world full time in the early 2000’s I started off with a variety of late 90’s model sleds.  When the first rider forward models came out in 2003 I was not a fan. I thought they looked too pointy and I just couldn’t get used to it, but then I rode my buddy’s 2007 Ski-Doo Renegade and was blown away by its capabilities. 

When Polaris brought back the Indy in 2013 their target demo were people like me: guys who loved the Indy in its heyday and wanted something more traditional looking than the Rush models and didn’t want to spend a fortune for a new sled.  They wanted their Indy loyalists to make the jump from their reliable previous era Indy’s to the new Indy models.  They even went as far as to keep the color schemes similar.  Well, chalk up one for the Polaris brass because their ploy worked!  So for all of you old Indy guys out there this review will be very helpful to you as it is written by a guy who begrudgingly joined the 21^st century.  Statistics also show that I am not alone in my stubbornness to move on as 50% of the registered sleds on the trails still employ the “traditional” snowmobile design.  If you are in that 50% and are contemplating the switch this review will address many of your reservations.

SPRING BUY OPTIONS

            There were a couple of options available in the 2015 Indy line for the spring: the base Indy, the SP (with upgraded hooked handle bars, Fox Shocks and a slightly deeper lugged track) , and then the 60^th Anniversary Edition (a few more bells and whistles and all of the options that you had to pay for on the other models as standard accessories).  I went with the 600 SP because I didn’t want to pay the extra for the 60^th anniversary model (even though I liked the idea of the 1.25” track) and I liked the bad ass black and red color scheme.  As part of the spring buy deal I received $600 worth of accessories.  The first item on my accessory list was a cover and if you think the sleds have come a long way, let me tell you, the covers of today are a far cry from the standard canvas cover from the recent past.  I also filled the usual accessory needs: a spare drive belt, and a big jug of oil. Then came the three options that I really felt I needed on the sled:

1. MIRRORS:  I ride with my daughter a lot and being a typical concerned dad I like to make sure I’m not getting too far ahead of her, I also ride with several large groups of people during the season and I really like seeing who’s behind me.  I ordered the hood mounted mirrors because the windshield ones are hideous and they vibrate so badly that you can’t see anything.  I had visions of my older Indy’s and their excellent hood mounted mirrors.  Here is my first complaint about the new Indy- the hood is so narrow that the hood mounted mirrors line up with your hands on the handlebars and you can’t see anything behind you. If I would have known how useless these mirrors are I would have never gotten them.  They lack any real meaningful adjustability and are virtually worthless and unnecessary.  Polaris could definitely put some effort into the mirrors to at least get the lens enough maneuverability to aim them somewhere other than your hand. Later on I rode one of my buddy’s sleds with the Windshield mounted mirrors and although I still think they look awful, they are more effective
2. WINDSHIELD:  I also got the mid height windshield to cut down some of the wind without going crazy and getting the monster shield.  Unfortunately the mid height windshield is just slightly less useless than the low windshield.  This is a cold snowmobile.  Now to be fair this complaint is not unique to Polaris, it seems unless you are riding a touring or utility model the manufacturers want you to freeze your ass off. Even with my heavy FXR gloves and hand warmers on full bore my fingers were getting cold when the temperatures fell below zero. I’m probably going to have to get some of the muffs to put over my hands to ride on the most brutal of cold days.  The other issue with the bigger windshield is that on really sharp turns my hands would hit it- obviously this can be changed by adjusting the bars back a bit but then I sacrifice comfortable hand and arm position.  The windshield is warmer than the nonexistent regular windshield but overall, wind protection is lacking
3. TUNNEL BAG:  I also sprung for the tunnel bag and I love it.  Originally I was kind of miffed that you have to pay extra for storage and thought it should come standard with every sled, but now with all of the storage options you have available, it makes sense for you to customize your storage situation even if it costs a bit extra.  Comparing this to the storage I had on my Indy 500 is like night and day- the 500 had no room for anything, this tunnel mounted bag is outstanding!

OUT ON THE TRAIL

 The trail.  Where the rubber meets the snow.  That’s what a review is all about.  Unfortunately snow was the one thing we didn’t have a lot of so I didn’t get a chance to put the sled through as much as I would have liked to.  But here is what I did learn: 

HANDLING: Obviously compared to the old style sled there is no comparison here, that is the major advantage of the rider forward design and the handling advantage of the rider forward technology is enhanced with the Pro Ride front suspension, what I consider to be the best front end set up in the industry.  It has the perfect balance of stiffness and flexibility to keep the skis planted and give you maximum control in all trail conditions.  It handles everything from big rolling moguls to washboard trails.  No matter how poor trail conditions get you will never experience anything being telegraphed up to your hands.  This sled handles so well around the corners that you find yourself effortlessly and unintentionally pulling away from your buddies behind you.  It’s just so smooth and effortless that you don’t even notice that you are handling corners far quicker than everyone else.  Before buying this sled I had considered getting the 1.25” lugs as I thought it would be the perfect match for on and off trail capabilities, but after a year of riding I feel the 1.25” lugs would hurt this sleds performance around the corners because the track would have a little too much grip to follow the skis as easily as it does now, that being said it still lends itself to sliding out in icy corners so studs on this thing would really make it handle like nobody’s business.

REAR SUSPENSION:  The one thing I forgot to mention about my 2001 Indy is that it had an aftermarket snocross suspension set up, giving it crazy jumping and big mogul ability. It was great for ditch banging and good at handling the big stuff, but in stutter bumps it was so stiff that your internal organs were often rearranged after a day of rough trail riding.  The 2015 Indy did a great job of chewing up even the worst trails and smoothing them out.  We tackled some really nasty moguls and although you took a beating the sled handled them much better than the old backbreakers did and the transition from sitting to standing is so easy that yo can prepare yourself for the really big hits. I did bottom it out a few times but I think if I crank it u some more I can keep that to a minimum. I was also unable to test this sleds deep snow capabilities as we had no deep snow and no boon docking opportunities.  I will update this part of the review next winter.

ENGINE: Top speed on this sled floats right around 90-95 MPH. It has a very smooth acceleration and doesn’t want to straighten out your arms or throw you off the seat when you hammer the throttle. I put this thing head to head with my 2000 Indy 600 Touring sled and was surprised to see the 2000 carbed Indy smoke the 2015 off the line and reach top speed much quicker. I also never got a hair over 12 Miles to the gallon for the season, which isn’t bad but also doesn’t compare to what you can get out of a Ski-Doo 600. The oil consumption is ridiculously light. It uses so little oil I often wondered if it actually was a two stroke. This is good because a big jug of oil sets you back $50.

OVERALL FIT AND FINISH:  I love the seat on this sled, to me it is about as perfect a combination of firmness, width, length, height and grippiness.  The headlights are very bright and adjustable which is a great thing.  This sled comes with hooked bars and adjustable throttle, brake, and control pod.  I love the adjustability of setting up all of your handlebar control pods however you want them.  With all the adjustments you can make, most people can get really comfortable, but for me I wasn’t happy with the hooked bars- yes, they are nice in the corners but the bend in the bar seems to come a little bit too early. I’m a big guy and the bars fit just right in the showroom but once I put on my gloves, part of my hand is hanging over the bend in the bar making my overall hand position uncomfortable and the throttle pull taxing on a long day.  It would probably be fine with less thick gloves but as I stated earlier you need a good pair of gloves to ride this thing in below zero temps or they will be cutting off the tips of your fingers.  The gauges are a bit off putting as well- just a standard analog speedo (which I actually prefer over the hard to read electronic gauges) but  Polaris combined the analog speedometer with a digital odometer which at times is hard to read depending on sunlight.  The numbers are too small and not bold enough for my tastes.  They also give you a digital engine temp and RPM gauge but use the old gas cap fuel gauge.  This combination of old and new school stuff is confusing and at times seems silly.  I have no problems with the analog gauges but why combo them up with digital gauges?  Why not make everything analog and have a good old fashioned gas gauge on the dash?  Aren’t we beyond fumbling with the ridiculous gas cap fuel gauge? And that brings me to my last gripe, which is a cheesy snap on collar that goes around the big center do all gauge.  This thing pops off all of the time and is horribly annoying to have to constantly snap back on.  The ignition switch is also in a weird place because if you use any sort of key fob (which we all do) it bounces around and at times blocks your view of the do it all gauge.  

OVERALL IMPRESSION: A the end of the day I love this sled, its darn near perfect.  The ride is fantastic and so far I have had zero mechanical issues with it.  The only thing I suggest to Polaris is to get your gauges and accessories worked out a little better.  If you took this sled and put my 2000 Indy 600 Touring sled dashboard, windshield and mirrors on it this sled would be close to perfect.  All in all if you are one of those guys hanging on to their old Indy and are reluctant to make the jump all I can say is go ahead and do it, you’ll be glad that you did. I also think if you are getting into an Indy I would definitely spring for the SP because the shock and track package make it a hands down better sled than the baseline Indy.  $1,000 better?  Maybe not but it’s still worth all of the fun you’ll be having. Also, once you have been on this you understand why the rider forward design changed the world. You can rack up huge miles on this sled and not even feel it. Once you go from this back to a traditional style sled you wonder how it was that you ever rode one of those dinosaurs- yes, they were great machines for their time but going from that to a modern sled is the equivalent of going from dial up to high speed internet, there simply is no comparison.

I hate to admit defeat but let’s face it, the winter of 2014-15 is over and it flat out sucked.  We are looking at the least snowy winter on record at Duluth.  But it wasn’t just Duluth that suffered.  Almost the entire state of Minnesota with the exception of the far north saw a historic lack of snow as did Wisconsin and even parts of Michigan.  Lack of snow usually means slow snowmobile sales but this year that problem was more pronounced than ever due to heavy orders placed by dealers at the beginning of the year.

            Let’s rewind the clock back to the winter of 2013-14, you remember that winter don’t you?  Early December storms, cold temperatures and snowstorm after snowstorm and cold snap after cold snap, perfect trails, great riding all winter.  Well after winter ended, dealers had one of the largest spring rushes in years.  Usually, large spring orders foreshadow large fall orders so the dealers ordered heavy.  At first, it looked like their predictions would come to fruition when we received six inches of snow in early November.  But that snow soon melted and it never snowed again.  This left Dealers with overstocks of everything. Now 2015 models are being sold for $2,000 – $3,000 less than they were at the beginning of the year and any 2014’s that are still in stock are practically being given away.  Never in my life have I seen new sleds at such distressed prices and the closer we get to spring the lower those prices will go as the 2016 spring models will be arriving soon.  This is definitely a buyer’s market and if you have been waiting to upgrade to a new sled you may never see prices this low again.  Remember, with the market in as bad of shape as it is, you hold all the cards and can push the dealer to the breaking point.  Any sleds that don’t sell go into storage until next year, and if there is one thing dealers hate it is old inventory sitting in storage.  Also consider that just as this year’s the lack of snow killed the new sled market a big winter next year can quickly put prices back to normal.  Buy now, it’s the best chance you may ever get to get the deal of a lifetime.

This is the weekend to ride.  We received a few inches of snow enabling the clubs to legitimately groom this week and it is the first weekend that many area trails will be open.  As has been the case all winter the farther north you go the better the trails get.  We are expecting temps into the low 50′s next week which will pretty much be the end of the season as the little snow there is will melt.  Its almost time to start looking to next year.

After losing two infants to birth defects Nate and Kelly Alvar became heavily involved in the March of Dimes.  Nate and Kelly are also both avid snowmobilers and in 2010 they hatched a plan to combine their passion for snowmobiling with their passion for helping babies and the Yeti Tour was born.  The first Yeti Tour was held in January of 2011 and with the help of friends, family, sponsors and the snowmobiling community it was a fantastic success.  The following year RJ Sport and Cycle and Yamaha became the presenting sponsors fueling the events growth by enabling the Yeti Tour to raffle off a 2012 Yamaha RS Vector.  Unfortunately poor snow conditions in 2012 resulted in the ride portion of the event being cancelled.  “We thought that not having snow in January was an unusual occurrence for northern Minnesota,” said Nate, “But unfortunately it wasn’t.”  The ride portion of the event was again cancelled in 2013 due to lack of snow. 2014 provided the Yeti Tour with great snow conditions but bone chilling cold making the ride a true challenge of men and machine.  “After no snow in 2012 and 2013 and then subzero temperatures in 2014, we decided to move the event into late February to ensure that we had both snow and warmer temperatures,” said Alvar, but unfortunately Mother Nature didn’t deliver.  With most of the state suffering from historic lack of snow the Yeti Tour was once again in jeopardy of having the ride portion of the event cancelled, but some marginal snowfalls and the work of local snowmobile clubs enabled the ride to go on albeit in less than ideal riding conditions.  Having been a supporting sponsor of the Yeti Tour since its conception, snowmobiletrail.com has always had riders in the event and this year I was once again able to recap the ride for our readers…

The idea of moving the Yeti Tour to late February paid off in one regard, it was a full ten degrees warmer than the previous year- a whopping 5 degrees above zero, much balmier than the previous years’ 5 below and -35 wind chill.  Unfortunately we were still suffering from extreme lack of snow having barely enough to be able to ride.  We had received 2 inches of snow the day before to improve trail conditions slightly but not much.  To make matters worse there was power line work being done and the power company had cleared the snow off of the sections of trail that ran along the power lines.  To avoid this, half of the Yeti Tour Riders decided to trailer to Fish Lake and avoid the first 13 miles of trail, the other half of the riders, including myself, decided to tough it out and start right from the Sunset Bar and Grill, the other major Yeti Tour sponsor and the home of the Yeti Tour Banquet (learn more about the Sunset at www.thesunsetbarandgrill.com).  A group of about six riders left first, shortly followed by my group which was comprised of another twelve sleds.  Having scouted out this section of trail earlier I was elected to lead the group through the construction area and then onto the Hermantown Trail that leads to Fish Lake.  Despite the lack of snow, the Hermantown Night Riders were able to groom once earlier in the week to try to provide at least some semblance of a good trail for us, and all things considered the trail wasn’t that bad, to their credit there is very little you can do with a trail when there is very little snow to work with.

As is usually the case with the Yeti Tour the groups naturally separate themselves into various chunks of riders that enjoy similar paces and you wind up with riders with riding styles similar to your own.  By the time we reached Fish Lake my group of twelve had splintered into two groups of six but we still stayed relatively close to each other. Once on Fish Lake we found another large group of riders on the other side of the lake and assumed that it was the other half of the Yeti Tour.  Excited that we could all rendezvous together we blazed across the lake to meet them only to have them pull away and take a different trail than the Yeti Tour was taking.  Disappointed that we had not found the large Fish Lake group we went on our way, unable to locate the other half of the Yeti Tour.  Unknown to us, the large group that we had seen was, in fact, the other half of the Yeti Tour but that had taken a left off of the lake rather than a right. 

As for my group we cruised down the Reservoir Lakes Trail toward the CJ Ramstad North Shore State Trail.  As with the Hermantown Trail, the Reservoir Riders snowmobile club had been struggling with extreme lack of snow but had still managed to get us a semi decent trail to run on.  Our group once again split into two with the quicker group which I was a part of reaching the gravel pit well ahead of the second half of the group.  It is here that we decided we would go on as two groups of six.  I was teamed up with a group consisting of my old friend Justin, Joe Addy, who was the top fundraiser for the Yeti Tour, and three guys that I had never met before: Shawn, Warren and Chip.  All of us seemed to enjoy a faster pace so off we went.  This section of trail from the gravel pit to the Paquaywan trail is one of my favorite sections of the North Shore State Trail, full of rolling hills and fantastic scenery.  From there we turned onto the Pequaywan Trail which had been very recently groomed by the Pequaywan Snowmobile Club and the ride was perfect, that is until some miles down the trail when I looked behind me to see that that there was no one there.  I turned the sled around and found my group changing out a belt on Chip’s Ski-Doo.  There were fibers of his old belt everywhere.  I also saw that Joe’s Arctic Cat had some recently acquired front and and mirror damage and discovered that when Chip’s belt blew Joe had turned his sled around to help when suddenly a tree popped out of the woods and hit his snowmobile.  This incident gave me the two best quotes of the day:  first that Chip’s Ski-Doo “was so powerful that the belt couldn’t handle it,” and Joe saying that “everything would be fine if it wasn’t for the trees on they put on the sides of the trail.”  We limped on to the Pequaywan Inn nursing Chip’s spare belt as it had a few chunks out of it as well.  Our delay with the belt allowed the rest of our group to catch up to us and the twelve of us pulled into the Pequaywan Inn Parking lot together.  Chip decided the hashed replacement belt wasn’t going to cut it so he loaded his sled onto the support vehicle trailer for a tow down to Two Harbors to get a new belt. Once again one of my favorite things about the Yeti Tour is being shadowed by our support vehicle which this year was manned by Jeremy Dick and the Yeti. The Support Vehicle is there to trailer you home if your sled fails to survive the trip or help out with gas and/ or minor repairs like a new drive belt.  The support vehicle also hauled around the Yeti who stopped at all of the checkpoints for photo ops with the riders and women that happen to be attracted to tall, hairy, smelly abominable snowmen.   The Pequaywan is also a great place to eat and, having ridden the year before, I knew exactly where to sit and what to order- I parked myself down next to the warm birch fire in the fireplace and ordered a burger and beer fries (French fries dipped in beer batter and then deep fried and yes they are as awesome as they sound).

While we were finishing up at the Pequaywan the other half of the Yeti Tour riders arrived.  They had apparently realized that they had taken a wrong turn and got back on track.  Suddenly the Pequaywan Inn was full of snowmobilers and a Yeti taking pictures with the other bar patrons.  After giving them a good deal of ribbing for going the wrong way, the twelve of us in the first group saddled up and rode on toward Hugo’s, the next checkpoint on the ride.  Unfortunately the trail from here had also been not groomed for a while and even though some patches had decent snow, most of the trail still suffered from this years poor snow totals.  We also ran into a bit of a quandary when we ran across a trail that was not on the map that for some reason was groomed and led off into the forest.  This threw us all of and we still aren’t quite sure what exactly that trail was.

Once we arrived at Hugo’s we did our fuel calculations and determined (again with experience from the previous years’ ride) that a full tank from here would get you all of the way back without having to refuel at the Dixie.  This is where we parted ways with Shawn and Warren who decided to make the run south to the Dixie to meet up with Chip who had fixed his belt and was waiting for them there. As we refueled the “lost group” (as we were now referring to them) caught up to us and a good portion of the twelve I had been with decided to tag along with them leaving my group consisting of myself, Joe, Justin, Yeti Tour Organizer Nate Alvar and Nate’s Parents who were doing the entire Yeti Tour on a two up 1998 Indy 500 Touring Sled.  I have to say I admired them greatly for this especially with the poor trail conditions, but Nate’s dad said this was nothing compared to riding two up back in the early seventies.  They definitely took home the hard core dedicated snowmobiler prize for the weekend.

We Left Hugo’s and headed for the Yukon trail.  When we reached the Yukon we saw that the Voyageur’s Snowmobile club had done a bit of trail maintenance early in the winter, pushing back the brush and smoothing things up for when the snow arrived, unfortunately since their trail work practically no snow had fallen for them to be able to groom the trail and we were once again faced with less than ideal conditions.  We still decided to take a quick detour up to the John Allen Brandt Memorial Shelter, which is truly the nicest shelter I have ever seen in my snowmobiling life and totally worth the trip.  After a few photos at the shelter we rode down the Yukon to the North Shore State trail to find it in excellent condition and we had a great ride back to the gravel pit.  It was at the gravel pit that we said goodbye to Justin and Nate’s parents who are both lucky enough to live close to the North Shore State Trail.  Joe, Nate and I made our way back across the Reservoir Lakes Trail which had now deteriorated substantially after a day of local riders using it to make their way to the North Shore State Trail. The Reservoir Lakes Trail is one of the most heavily traveled trails in the state as it links Duluth and Southern Minnesota directly to the North Shore State Trail.  This trail is hard to maintain in good snow years and with such little snow on the ground the task is virtually impossible.  When we reached the fork where we could take the Island Lake Trail that basically runs the length of Island Lake, we decided to take our chances and burn across the lake rather than facing more trail with poor snow conditions.  The Island Lake Trail is beautifully marked by the Reservoir Riders Club and aside from a few ice ridges the trail was a fantastic ride.  Finally we rode back to the Sunset on the Hermantown trail which now was also in fairy tough shape.

We ended the night with a delicious pizza buffet at the packed Yeti Tour Banquet where we capped of the 2015 Yeti Tour by giving away a 2015 Yamaha Viper XTX SE.  Despite the lack of snow the dedicated group of Yeti Tour Snowmobilers completed the ride, raised a ton of money for the March of Dimes and had a great time doing it.  I’m looking forward to Yeti Tour 2016 and am hoping against all odds that we will have an abundance of snow.

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.

Welcome to all of you that enjoyed the Duluth Snocross races this past weekend.  I wish we had better news to report in the way of snow but unfortunately the trails are still pretty bare and unrideable.  Since we don’t have enough snow to ride on yet I am forced to dig back a few years to recap a ride that is a good representation of what many of us have gone through at one point or another.  Snowmobilers hope that every ride they take will be that one ride where everything is perfect.  Some rides are memorable for their Epic Greatness, while others are remembered for everything that went wrong.  This is the story of one of those rides…

Teenagers have a knack for doing things that make no sense to adults, women do things that make no sense to men and men do things that make no sense to women, and sometimes we do things that make no sense to anyone, even ourselves.  How many times have you done something on your sled where you said to your buddy “What were we thinking?” You know, the times when you’ve tried to conquer powder with your trail sled that was a bit too deep, or tried to climb a hill that shouldn’t be climbed, or going down that trail that can’t be tamed.  That’s part of what makes the sport so great, the challenge that you may or may not conquer all in the name of fun and adventure.  My friends Nate and Justin and I embarked on one such adventure that at the time seemed like a good idea but turned into a less than ideal trip.  It took place several years ago and has infamously become known as the Alderman Swayzak Ride From Hell. 

This all started one day when I was on a ride with my buddy, Nate, and we stopped at a bar to grab a burger, warm up, and check our map.  While we were sitting at the table we began dreaming up different cool rides we could go on and came up with the idea of running the entire length of the North Shore State Trail from Duluth to Grand Marais.  We could spend the night in Grand Marais and ride back the next day.  It sounded to us like the perfect weekend.  We called our friend Justin and he quickly jumped onboard.  Over the next three weeks, we planned out every detail: how far we could get on a tank of gas, where we needed to stop for fuel and food, what we would need for clothes and supplies, and how long it would take us to get from Duluth to Grand Marais. We made hotel reservations in Grand Marais and planned to leave early that Saturday morning.

Days before we were supposed to depart, warning signs began to arise that told us this might not be the smoothest trip. Earlier in the week I was out riding my primary sled, a 2001 Indy 500 that had been modified with a full snocross rear suspension.  When you own a sled that is set up for snocross you have this overwhelming urge to get it airborne.   I rode out to one of my favorite launching pads and while executing one of my landings I split one of my hyfax in half. I quickly got it into the shop and had new hyfax put on for the trip.  Of course I didn’t have time to properly break them in before we left.  Northern Minnesota also experienced a huge warm up two days before our departure date which melted a lot of the snow close to Lake Superior, followed by a wave of intense cold that froze the trails rock solid. 

Saturday morning arrived and I met Nate and Justin on the trail.  Since all of our sleds lacked any significant storage space, Justin, who was mechanically inclined, had constructed a large wooden box that he bolted to the back of his sled to store our food and clothes in.  We set out and after a few miles I smelled burning plastic. I stopped to investigate and saw that the hard pack had not afforded my new hyfax proper lubrication.  When we started out again I was shocked to find that my slides had melted to my track.  Once we broke my track free Nate and Justin decided I would be better off taking my back up sled, an Indy 600 Touring model, so we rode back to my house and swapped out sleds.  Of course the 600 burned more gas and oil than the 500 did so I grabbed a few quarts and threw them in Justin’s handy wooden box.

The Curse of the Iron Maiden 

 After about an hour of riding we stopped at a shelter to take a break and have some beef jerky and some water.  When Justin opened his wooden box we were horrified to see that everything was covered in two cycle oil.  Apparently the bolts Justin used to mount the box to the sled were a little long and protruded about an inch into the interior of the box.  All of the bouncing around on the trail resulted in one of the bolts puncturing an oil bottle.  “Dude, why did you use such long bolts to build this thing,” I complained, “Only Justin would decide to make a storage box for a snowmobile and construct it like an Iron Maiden!”  This comment got a huge roar of laughter from me and Nate, but Justin was not laughing.  It turned out that the oil had been selective about its victim in the Iron Maiden and had only destroyed all of Justin’s clothes and food while sparing the rest of us.  Nate and I found this even more funny as we ate our beef jerky and watched Justin throw away his supplies.  As I rattled off some makeshift Iron Maiden jokes Nathan was laughing so hard that he started choking on a piece of beef jerky which got Justin laughing as well.  Our laughter quickly ceased as we realized that Nate was   really choking, as in turning blue and dying.  Luckily, Nate coughed up the jerky and then promptly vomited on the side if the trail.

Despite Justin’s lack of clean clothes and Nathan’s near death experience we continued on.  After another couple of hours I started panicking as my gas gauge got closer and closer to E.  We came to the intersection of the NSST and the first spur trail that runs into Silver Bay.  Both Justin and I were running low on fuel, so rather than going forward to reach Finland we decided to take the ride into Silver Bay and get gas and food.  We came to a section of trail that had been flooded earlier in the week by melting snow.  The water had since frozen covering a section of the trail in ice.  Nate had gone through first and had made it around the turn because his track was studded.  He had stopped and tried to slow me down, knowing that I had no studs. Unfortunately I didn’t see him until I had already hit the ice.  My sled slid across the trail into the far bank, hit the berm and then flipped over and launched me into the air. I bounced my head off of the ice and rolled into the woods.  Meanwhile my sled landed back on its track and rode into the woods riderless until it luckily hit a tree between the two skis and was saved by its front bumper.  I heard Justin coming down the trail and I immediately sprang to my feet and ran away from his sled before he hit me.  Luckily he had seen me crash and slowed down enough not to crash himself.  We pulled my sled out of the woods and were relieved that it was no worse for the wear.  My helmet, however, was a different story.  I had broken the visor off when I hit the ice.  We were able to get it back on but I couldn’t lift it without it popping off.  We continued on to Silver Bay, fueled up and had a pizza and rode another fifteen miles back to the North Shore State Trail only to find that we had turned off just one mile before reaching Finland.  Our detour cost us an 30 extra miles, a busted visor and more importantly two hours of daylight.

The detour to Silver Bay provided us with some great views of Lake Superior

The next few hours were uneventful until we reached the spur trail that went into Lutsen.  The Lutsen spur is the last place on the NSST to get fuel before you reach Grand Marais.  It is a do or die situation from here.  We did a quick recalculation on our fuel and decided that our fifteen mile detour to Silver Bay had cost us just enough fuel to make reaching Grand Marais on what was left in the tank a 50/50 proposition.  Could we make it?  Maybe, but “maybe” after you pass Lutsen means you potentially run out of gas in the middle of the wilderness.  We decided to play it safe and head into Lutsen to top off on fuel.  The closer we got to Lake Superior the less snow there was until we found ourselves riding on dirt.  Apparently the warm up had melted everything close to the lake.  We found our way to the gas station while our hyfax were sheered away by lack of snow.  We fueled up and eventually got back on the trail as darkness started closing in.  There is nothing quite like riding on an unfamiliar trail miles from civilization in the pitch blackness of the wilderness.  The feeling of remoteness was accentuated by the creeping cold that was starting to cut its way through our riding gear. That’s when my oil light went on. We stopped to add oil to my sled which was challenging to do by flashlight. We did a map check and realized we had no idea where we were or how far away Grand Marais was.  All we could do from here was press on and hope for the best.  After what seemed like hours we finally began our steep descent to Grand Marais only to find the snow conditions were the same as they were at Lutsen- there wasn’t any.  We rode on a dirt trail to our hotel and checked in. The total trip had taken us twelve hours.  We were cold, hungry, and tired, so we did the most important thing right away and walked to the liquor store for some beer.  We decided to have a couple of cold beers and then go eat. Unfortunately, when we went to eat we discovered that everything in Grand Marais closes by eight, including the grill at the bar (side note here for anyone going to Grand Marais- eat early!).  All we were left with was gas station food.  I had some Pop Tarts, Doritos and beer for dinner.  We sat in our room and drank and watched TV and the only thing that was on was “Backdraft” so we watched it and found Alderman Swayzak far more entertaining than he should be.  It might have had something to do with a lack of food and a case of beer.  It was during this time that we decided that all of the misfortune that had befallen us on this trip was due to the scheming and plotting of the diabolical Alderman Swayzak- hence the title of this article.

The following morning we gassed up and rode out on the dirt.  There’s a funny thing about liquid cooled sleds- you need snow to cool the heat exchangers.  Before we even made it out of town we had to stop and grab some ice out of the ditch to rub on our heat exchangers as all of our sleds were overheating.  Once we got things cooled down we rode up the steep ascent and really got an idea of how dramatically Lake Superior affects things.  At the base of the hill we were on dirt and by the time we reached the main trail we were on four feet of snow.  This time we trusted ourselves, made it to Finland on a tank of gas and the rest of the way to Duluth on another.  The total return trip took us just under six hours. But before we could safely pull into the comfort of our own garages Alderman Swayzak struck again and Justin broke down just a mile from his house.  Luckily we were able to get him to a point where he could limp his broken sled back to his garage and our trip finally ended.

Although the trip wasn’t ideal, the three of us still look back on it fondly for what it was- an adventure.  And that is what snowmobiling is really about.  You never know what’s going to happen or what you are going to see, just like the early explorers who had no idea what was over the next mountain we have no idea what may lie around the next corner.  Besides great memories there was something else that this trip produced- someone asking the question, “Why isn’t there a website that has all of the snowmobile trails listed for free and a way to find out exactly where you are on a trail?”  From this question snowmobiletrail.com was born.  And as Paul Harvey would say “Now you know the rest of the story.”

Imagine a world with no groomed trails, no trail maps, no trail network and no access to public land. A world where you’re only riding opportunities were in your own back yard and where the sport of snowmobiling as we know it ceased to exist. The only thing keeping this nightmare scenario from happening are snowmobile clubs. What most people don’t realize is that the majority of the “state” trails that they ride on only exist because snowmobile clubs created them. Of the 22,000 miles of snowmobile trails in Minnesota less than 10% of them are true state trails.  The other 20,000 miles are Grant-in-Aid trails that were built by snowmobile clubs with the cooperation of private land owners. The clubs maintain and groom all of these trails with 100% volunteer effort. Club members are responsible for buying and maintaining their groomers and for keeping the trails open for everyone to enjoy. Every year club members are knocking on doors of private land owners getting permission from them to use their land for snowmobile trails. These agreements need to be renewed on a regular basis and when they are not it results in trail reroutes. All of that reroute work is done by the clubs as well.  In addition to building and maintaining trails, club members also work with state and federal governments on land access in state and national forests and for use of public lands for snowmobiling.

Protecting Your Rights

The majority of snowmobilers are lovers of winter. We stare out our windows and wait for it to snow. Snowmobilers generally tend to like just about any winter activity having to do with snow: skiing, snowshoeing, hockey, sliding. I like them all and I respect the rights of other outdoor enthusiasts and in most cases the feeling is mutual, but there are a few extremist groups out there that are not so friendly to the snowmobile community. They think all forms of motorized recreation are evil and that the use of snowmobiles should be banned everywhere. These groups pool their time and money to try to get snowmobiles banned from trails, parks, lakes and forests and in the summer they try to do the same to ATV’s and personal watercraft. Snowmobile clubs and their members fight to keep your trails open and counter the efforts of those who see to eliminate the use of snowmobiles on public and private lands.

Snowmobile clubs also ensure that the use of taxes and fees generated by snowmobile use are used to maintain the sport and the trail system. They also meet with state and federal officials to make sure snowmobiles maintain access to public lands and national forests. Snowmobile use in places like Yellowstone National Park are preserved by the efforts of club leaders at the national level. When you become a member of a snowmobile club you are making your voice heard. The more members there are, the stronger the lobbying force is to defend your right to enjoy winter on a snowmobile.

Promoting Safety and Bringing Youth Into The Sport

Another important role that snowmobile clubs play is teaching snowmobile safety classes to the youth and conducting the snowmobile safety riding tests. Without snowmobile clubs performing this service we would not bring new youth into the sport, which is essential for its survival.

There are many snowmobilers out there that are not club members and do not realize how important clubs are to the survival of the sport. I used to be one of those snowmobilers. Once I joined a club and realized how important they are I have been encouraging others to join their local club. As a snowmobiler it is the most important thing you can do to ensure that snowmobiling will be around for future generations to enjoy.

The 1965 Ski-Doo Olympique holds a special place in my heart because it was the first snowmobile I ever drove in my life. It was in the early 1980’s and I had a neighbor, Paul, who was a year older than me and the youngest of five boys. His family owned 3 snowmobiles: two 1972 Ski-Doo Olympiques (a 299cc 15 horse and a 335cc 20 horse) and one 1965 Ski-Doo Olympique that they simply called “The 10 Horse,” referring to its 10hp engine. Paul’s dad had been one of the first people to get on board with the snowmobile movement in Duluth and was one of the first people in town to buy an Olympique when they were introduced for the 1965 model year. There were six kids around my age on our block and we all hung out at Paul’s house in the winter and made constant use of his family’s 3 sleds. The 20 horse was ridden by Paul and pulled a dog sled that carried the three of us that weren’t driving one of the other sleds. Since we were all boys it wasn’t long before the dogsled was quickly renamed “The Sled of Death” and the three of us riding on it spent the entire ride trying to push the other two off as we were going down the trail. The last one remaining won and got to drive the 10 horse, the 10 horse rider got bumped to the 15, and the 15 got bumped back on to the Sled of Death. This was how we ran our ride rotation so everyone got a chance to drive- if you were tough enough. Unfortunately for me the two toughest kids in my school happened to live on my block and I rarely won a match on the Sled of Death. On those days when there were only two or three of us and everyone got to drive, the 10 horse was always the last sled picked. We all thought it was slow and boring. Little did we know that every time we climbed aboard the 10 horse we were climbing aboard a classic piece of snowmobile history that is now coveted by snowmobile collectors around North America.

A page from the 1965 Ski-Doo Brochure

In 1965 snowmobiling was still in its infancy. There were only 13,259 Ski-Doos produced in 1965 and one of those wound up in my neighbor’s garage. The 1965 Olympique marked a significant turning point for Ski-Doo. It was the first year that their snowmobiles were actually given model names and the Olympique was the brand’s headliner. Also new for 1965 was the all fiberglass hood that had a big perforated “V” on it to let air in to cool the engine. This was the only year Ski-Doo used this design, 1966 would see the advent of the famous “bubble top” Ski-Doo hoods that became the standard until 1971. The 1965 Olympique came with a 250 cc 10 hp engine and a 3 gallon gas tank. It had a maximum speed of 38 mph although we never were able to approach those numbers. This was the time when snowmobiles were designed for only one thing- getting you through snow, and to this day I have never seen a snowmobile more capable of doing that than the ’65 Olympique. It performed well in all snow conditions- low snow, deep snow, slushy snow- you name it nothing ever stopped that little sled. We often used it to pull the other sleds out when they were hopelessly buried. My neighbors also used the ’65 exclusively in the spring to get their ice house off of the lake as its performance in slush was unmatched. The other advantage this little sled had was that it only weighed 250 pounds. In the rare occasion that the 10 horse did get stuck it was always easy to get it out. The most impressive aspect of this sled was its incredible range. It routinely got more than 40 miles to the gallon, imagine that kind of performance today! The 3 gallon gas tank provided you with about six hours of continuous riding, which was great for us. We would all pitch in on filling a five gallon gas can, fill the 10 horse and be amazed that there were still two gallons of gas left in the can! As is the case with most twelve and thirteen-year-old kids, we were all infatuated with riding something newer, faster and more powerful, never realizing how lucky we were to experience a piece of living history on a daily basis. To us in the early eighties the “10 Horse” was a beat up fifteen year old snowmobile. In 1965 it was the most technologically advanced snowmobile in the world.

It’s November.  This is the time I start getting antsy and start looking at the forecast daily and praying for snow.  The general rule of thumb this far north is after Halloween it can snow any time, and after Thanksgiving any snow that falls will be on the ground until spring.  It’s also the time that snowmobilers from the southern half of the state get a jump on their season by taking advantage of the early Northeast Minnesota snowfall.  We don’t have any snow on the ground yet but since many of my readers trailer their sleds to Duluth and points north I decided to fill you in on one often overlooked gem that is just a few minutes ride away from the C.J. Ramstad North Shore State Trail head at Martin Road: Hawk Ridge.

Hawk Ridge Trail Map

Each year there are a large number of riders that unload their sleds at the Martin Road lot, pull on to the trail, take a quick left and head North- not having any idea that they are missing out on a golden opportunity.  When leaving the Martin Road lot hanging a right instead of a left puts you on the East Duluth trail system- a small trail system run by the Drift-Toppers Snowmobile Club, one of the oldest snowmobile clubs in the state. Although the trail system isn’t great in size it does hold one of the most spectacular destinations one can find on a snowmobile- Hawk Ridge.  The trail to Hawk Ridge is really unspectacular- it is what I call a point A to point B trail, in other words a trail that was designed to link two destinations, in this case Hawk Ridge and the Lakeside neighborhood of Duluth with the C.J. Ramstad North shore state trail.  The trail to Hawk ridge is relatively narrow and has a multitude of steep terrain changes, hairpin turns, road crossings and some icy patches where hillside runoff creeps across the trail and freezes.  This short connecting trail ends at a T- taking a right on this T intersection brings you to a stretch of Skyline Parkway that is closed during the winter months. It is this trail that brings you to the Hawk Ridge scenic overlook.  This is the spot that is crowded with birdwatchers in the fall.  In winter most of the birds are gone but you can still see an occasional bald eagle soaring high overhead.  To say the view from here is spectacular would be a gross understatement.  From here you can see a huge chunk of Duluth, The Ariel Lift Bridge, part of the St. Louis River valley, the harbor and a phenomenal view of Lake Superior.  This is a photographer’s heaven.  You will be snapping a ton of pictures here that are all postcard worthy.  When you leave you can continue on Skyline Parkway and enjoy this beautiful closed road trail as you descend to the Amity Creek trail which loops you back to the T intersection.

.                                                                             HISTORY

The history of Hawk Ridge is almost as spectacular as the view.  The area was first accessed by the construction of a road that was the brainchild of Samuel F. Snively, Duluth’s longest serving mayor who owned property in the area.  The road which later became part of Skyline Parkway was completed in 1939.  Unfortunately the first attention that Hawk Ridge received was by people illegally shooting migrating birds in the area.  The Duluth Bird Club (which later became the Duluth Audubon Society) was able to bring public pressure to stop this illegal activity.  It soon became evident that the Hawk Ridge area was the site of one of the largest bird migration routes in the United States and was being used by several species of raptors every fall. The Duluth Audubon Society purchased the area in 1972 and turned it into a nature reserve.

The Bird Observatory Platform is a busy place in the fall and provides a great photo op in the winter

The history of snowmobiling on Hawk Ridge is as old as the history of the snowmobile itself.  As Scott Marshall from the Drift-Toppers said “When the first Ski-Doo arrived in Duluth in the early 1960’s the destination of one of the first ever snowmobile rides was Hawk Ridge.”  It has been a destination for snowmobilers ever since, seeing hundreds of thousands of snowmobiles stop to catch the view over the last 50 years.  In 1972 the City of Duluth turned the maintenance of the Amity Creek Trail and the closed portion of Skyline Parkway over to the Drift-Toppers and they have been grooming, brushing, and repairing the trail ever since.  The Amity Trail which completes the loop from Hawk Ridge back to the T has been plagued over the years by washouts and downed trees making maintaining and repairing the trail a year round job as it is also used in the summer by hikers bikers and everyone in between.  The Skyline and Amity portions of the trail are year round multi-use trails and many Duluth residents take advantage of the fact that snowmobilers create a hard packed surface for them to walk on. When snowmobiling these portions of the trails you must be aware of cross country skiers and hordes of people walking the trail, many of whom have dogs with them. In addition to the Amity Creek trail is the Lester Park trail that makes its way down to Lester Park.  This trail is crisscrossed with multiple cross-country ski trails so you have to be exceptionally careful and alert for skiers.  On your next trip to Duluth, Hawk Ridge is a must see snowmobile destination that is only a quick jaunt away from the Martin Road lot and well worth the time.  For more on Hawk Ridge and its history and the opportunities it offers for bird watchers in the fall visit www.hawkridge.org

Special Thanks to Scott Marshall and Bob Klein of the Drift-Toppers for their contributions to this article.