The Middle of no where.

[Bikerkid]

Ok, I'm new to MTB, but the more I ride the more I love it. The only problem is that I live in Pine River. Does anyone know where that is? If you don't it's like 30 miles north of Brainard. Well I have a problem, I don't know where any trails are. If any one knows where some are up here let me know, please.

[fisherbikefreak]

Dude, the Paul Bunyan State Trail is on your back door step. Here's a link: http://www.paulbunyantrail.com/map.html

[syntaxjunkie]

Sweet, Sean. Know of anything near Detroit Lakes? I have in-laws to get away from there... :crazy2:

[Rocky Mountain]

Sweet, Sean. Know of anything near Detroit Lakes? I have in-laws to get away from there... :crazy2:
Maple Lag is just north of there. Check Maplelags website and they have also womens race their every fall so the trail does get some use. The trails in the state forest north of Park Rapids are decent. Dont bother riding the motorcycle trails to the NE which are rutted real bad.

[Bikerkid]

Ok, as for the Paul Bunyan trail, that is over rated for anyone other than road bikers. It's a good thing, but I want to also get off road, that is what I'm looking for, and I don't know if the Paul Bunyan Trail has very much of that, and for Detroit lakes, I don't know of anything.

[reedallan]

Maplelag is a great off-road trail north of Detroit Lakes near a little town called Callaway, MN. You should check out the Maplelag website for directions, a map of the trail and updated trail conditions. This trail is ligit and actually holds a MNSCS race evry year named Laddies Loppet. Great Race and Mapleag is a beautiful resort, especially in the Fall. I will actually be getting married at the resort this October, I plan on riding the night before and the morning of my wedding - sweet. Give it a shot if you are ever in the area. Later. ;)

[martini]

There's also the North Country Trail that goes from one side of Cass County to the other. I'd imagine the best point to get on it would be near Walker. I've not been up there to ride it, but have been meaning to sometime. This is a continuation of the NCT from WI that I keep blathering on about. It's pretty remote, so be prepared I say. To 'see' it, follow this link: http://www.northcountrytrail.org/explore/ex_mn/mn.htm
Also go buy a DeLorme Minnesota Atlas if you haven't already. It's got teh trail mapped out in there, though I wouldn't really trust it for navigation. For that, get a few Topos from the USGS.

[EmL34]

I've ridden at MapleLag a few times when up at the in-law cabin. I hate to say that I have been disappointed. From what I have ridden it is mostly x-c ski trail, soft, grassy, wide, with only a couple of spurs into the woods for small sections of MTB trail.

And it seems like the entire resort is deserted, despite the fact that all of the buildings are open. I've looked all over the lodge and cabins for someone to tell me about the trails, where to ride, etc but have never seen a living creature, except for an old, friendly dog. I still don't even know if I have been going to the right place.

Does anyone know more about this place? I might be heading up there this weekend. I've referred to the website in the past, but the website focusses on skiing, with only a few mentions of bikes.

[fisherbikefreak]

Ok, as for the Paul Bunyan trail, that is over rated for anyone other than road bikers. It's a good thing, but I want to also get off road, that is what I'm looking for, and I don't know if the Paul Bunyan Trail has very much of that, and for Detroit lakes, I don't know of anything.
Yeah I haven't ridden the PB Trail to know what it is like. When I lived in Bemidji it was still in the planning process for that section anyways. I think they have portions of it done in bemidji now.

Anyways, I think you might be able to link from the PBT to the off-road rec trails north of Akeley. All double track and likely rutted up from ATV use, but still might be worth checking out. I know there are tons of hills in the area.

Check with your LBS to see where your local MTB trails are located.

[fisherbikefreak]

It's an older article, but nonetheless...

Detroit Lakes: Deep woods site for mountain bikes

Troy Melhus, Star Tribune October 20, 2002

In the spring, Jay Richards cuts trail, scouring his family's northern Minnesota woods to map what mountain bikers call a "singletrack," a narrow, twisting trail often strewn with roots and rocks.

Come Labor Day, mountain bikers gather at his family's Detroit Lakes-area resort -- Maplelag -- and racers of the knobby-tired bikes crank their legs along a challenging, singletrack deep-woods course 6 miles long.

Come October, Maplelag offers the Midwest mountain biker quiet and colorful solitude: bright autumn skies against a peaceful backdrop of earth-toned oranges, browns and blues.

I have been coming to this part of Minnesota all my life, yet its secrets continue to thrill and surprise me.

Each fall, Richards plays host to an annual state championship off-road bike race, opening his family's 650 acres of rolling ski trails to a motley, muddy crew. I was among nearly 400 bikers who raced "Laddies Loppet" this past Sept. 1.

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Maplelag is an old-fashioned resort: Rustic cabins surround an open lodge that overlooks sheltered Little Sugarbush Lake. Meals are served family style and guests are encouraged to bring their own linens. Maplelag, about 20 minutes north of Detroit Lakes, just west of the Tamarac Wildlife Refuge, is about as secluded as one can find.

Richards has been riding knobbies since 1991, about the time the fat-tired bikes began to go mainstream. That was also the year of Maplelag's first bike race.

He has since lived around the world, from Norway to Montana, and ridden everywhere in between.

"All the places I've ever ridden, I have memories of what flowed well, what rode really nice," Richards said. "So in making the new singletrack here, I tried to maximize the terrain that we have and incorporate some of those experiences."

It's about perfect for mountain bikers of all skill levels. Beginners can easily handle the wider cross-country ski terrain; experts can tackle Richards' technical climbs and descents.

"One thing I want to maintain is the technicality," he said. "I try to build through trees instead of around them, having the drops, maximizing the terrain as much as I can, because if you had it where it was all ridable for the average mountain biker, then it's not as challenging. But if you have it where it's challenging, people will want to come back and try to clean it."

Richards said some of the best riding he's experienced in Minnesota is in the south unit of Paul Bunyan State Forest, just a little more than an hour to the east.

Now I've got one more stop to make on the way to Maplelag next time.

-- Troy Melhus is at tmelhus@startribune.com.
Here's an image (doesn't depict much)
[url="http://www.startribune.com/images/embed/3366670_49151.html"]http://www.startribune.com/stonline/images/news94/1geta1020.e.jpg (http://www.startribune.com/images/embed/3366670_49151.html)

[reedallan]

Maplelag is a very quiet resort, Jay Richards lives at the resort and maintains the trails and the summers are very quiet, except for the Concordia Language Camps. There are good trails if you get on the right ones. Remember that this resort is centered around winter skiing with mounatin biking as a summer addition. Give Jay a call and I'd bet he would be more than happy to meet with you for a couple minutes and point you in the right direction of the trails. Read the article posted before this one, it has a lot of good information. If you don't like maplelag thats cool, but good luck finding anything else around there. We need an advocacy group in the northwest to start working with land owners/managers to get some more trails started. :)

[Rocky Mountain]

I have ridden the trails in the Paul Bunyan Forest which are also used for motorcycles and ATV's. Some areas are rutted but others are not as bad and are actually not bad mtn biking trails. Check the follow links for more info.

http://content.mtbr.com/pscTrails/United,States,Trails/Minnesota/,Paul,Bunyan,State,Forest/PRD_168711_4557crx.aspx#reviews
http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_forests/sft00038/index.html

There is not alot of designated bike trails up in this area so you have to ride what ya got.

[TML]

Sean-

Here's a couple of options that I know of:

Theres the Washburn lake solitude area, a few miles west of Outing: http://www.casscomn.com/wsbrn_mp.htm
This is a ski trail system that was actually pretty good mtbing a few years ago. the stuff on the south side of the road can hook you up with some pretty good atv trails along a powerline run, if I remember right. You could take the Mitchell Lk. Rd north out of Fifty Lakes if you're coming from Pine River. We've got a place near here and I will check the trail out again in the next couple of weeks to see what the condition of it is.

There's also some good riding around the Crosby-Ironton mine pits. This is a great mix of old mine roads, singletrack and atv doubletrack. There's lots of rock in the area so that adds to the fun a bit. It's pretty spread out so give yourself time to explore.

There may be a few others that I'm gonna check into the next time I'm at the lake. I'll give ya details if they're worth checking out.

--Troy

[TML]

Here's a link to the Land O' Lakes state forest maps like Jason's link to the Paul Bunyan Forest. http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_forests/sft00031/index.html The Washburn solitude area is in the Land o lakes SF. There's a ton of atv trails on these maps, some are mtb friendly and some aren't. I'm going to try and figure out a nice bikeable loop in this area.

[whitt_travis]

Martineau is a decent run. It's not that rutted along the dirtbike trails, however some of the bigger hill climbs do get loose and rocky, but it's worth the trip... LMK if your deciding to take the trip, We can meet up, or maybe get the guys from Northern Cycle (Park Rapids) to go for a group ride. It's really not that rutted, it's rough, but beats riding the asphalt highways (trails). TTYL.