So, if I don't have time to visit Jeff Lynch or Mark Spinler...

[Longducdong]

Where is the Picnic Loop?

Pancore doesn't appeal. What else is good and challenging, and the closer to Tettegouche the better?

[TrailPatrol]

Jeff's shop, "Sawtooth Outfitters" is right in Tofte, and he laid out the trails near Tofte. It is well worth your while and a few minutes of your time to stop and talk with them. You will have a better ride for doing so.

Also, download maps from http://www.sugarbushtrail.org/

"Pancore doesn't appeal"??? What is not to like?

Ride safe,
:banana:
Hans

[Longducdong]

Would love to get the local perspective in person, but am getting in late at night and hitting the trail early in the a.m.

I read a description of Pancore as a good family ride, which conjures up an image of Burleys and tag-alongs cruising around the lakes in the Twin cities, not that there's anything wrong with that, but I won't be pulling a burley.

Is Lutsen the only singletrack in the area?

[TrailPatrol]

Jeff has been building singletrack off of Sawbill Trail, but I have not seen or ridden any of it yet.

"Nice family ride" on Pancore means "take the kids there to teach them to ride mountain bikes." Mostly doubletrack, old fire lanes, but NO pavement, unless you count the surface anorthracite on the SE side. Very wild, I have seen moose tracks, bear scat and had a wolf watch me ride from the top of a hill I was coming up. Singletrack, no. Backcountry, yes! (There is not any asphalt above the the top of the hill from Tofte, and I doubt you will see any Burleys. BoBs, maybe, but not Burleys.)

Most people who know me know I am not a singletrack addict. If it's there, I ride it, but with me the ride is the adventure and exploration is the ride.

BTW, we put up most of the "You are here" maps on Pancore, Sugarbush and Timber-Frear, and GPSed them for the USFS.

Ride safe,
:banana:
Hans

Hans Erdman, WEMT
Executive Director/Sr. Instructor
Backcountry Trail Patrol Association, Inc.
www.trailpatrol.org (http://www.trailpatrol.org)

"Explore on two wheels"- Adventure Cycling Association