Lutsen replacement??

[MTBgirl]

Anyone know of a good replacement mtb trip for Lutsen? My bf and I try to take a trip every Aug, just the two of us. We were planning Lutsen again this year, but for obvious reasons that won't be happening. :incazzato:

It's the one trip we splurge on a little. Ya know...decent lodging, a nice town, a couple decent meals...but we don't like to go too overboard on the spending...still poor med students for a bit longer!

As of now we have a trip planned to the Black Hiils, Virginia, and Colorado, but need our Aug trip to be a bit closer.

[krazykatie]

the U.P. i loved marquette but thats a good drive too.

[flombe]

Copper Harbor - Michigan UP. Great riding, cool little town. And Lake Superior. See Sam at Keweenaw Adventures (http://www.keweenawadventure.com/).

[gus man]

I'm getting the word that Spirit mountain has a better attitude towards mtn biking. The fellas and I will up there this year.

[MTBgirl]

I'm getting the word that Spirit mountain has a better attitude towards mtn biking. The fellas and I will up there this year.

REALLY?!?!? They don't run the lifts nor maintain or mark the trails! I steered clear for those reasons. I'm all for trying it out, but I'm not a fan of climbing hills :sick:

[FarmerBEN]

Copper Harbor - Michigan UP. Great riding, cool little town. And Lake Superior. See Sam at Keweenaw Adventures (http://www.keweenawadventure.com/).


you stole my idea. But I enthusiastically second motion. depending on how long you go, I would say take a day to ride the camba trails on the way up.

otherwise if that's too far do the river loop. Red wing, winona, la crosse, and then over to decorah. Red Wing has nice riding, although a tad confusing for a first timer, winona has rugged and unmarked trails, that are awesome once you figure them out, and la crosse has phenomenal trails. I haven't ridden decorah yet, but I hear that their trails are great as well.

[daviebee]

the U.P. i loved marquette but thats a good drive too.

I highly SECOND that, sure you think it could be too far to drive but, you will be wonderfully surprised! I lived in both the houghton/hancock and marquette areas, rode 5 days a week and barely hit 10% of what is available. PM me and I can give you info, contact info, free camping spots, drinks and eats, etc.

Had my wife not gotten a bonus to stay at the hospital for 2 more years, we would be packing up and heading there this summer for me to go back to grad school in Marquette.

many dancing :banana::banana::banana::banana::banana::banana::b anana::banana::banana::banana::banana:

look on mtbr for trail info also...

[jms]

the Cable/Hayward, area offers some great trails. great places to stay, be it camping or plusher digs. take your pick.
rock lake is an 16 to 18 mile A+ singletrack trail, IMHO.
anyway just my 2 cents.

Peace,
Joe


Anyone know of a good replacement mtb trip for Lutsen? My bf and I try to take a trip every Aug, just the two of us. We were planning Lutsen again this year, but for obvious reasons that won't be happening. :incazzato:

It's the one trip we splurge on a little. Ya know...decent lodging, a nice town, a couple decent meals...but we don't like to go too overboard on the spending...still poor med students for a bit longer!

As of now we have a trip planned to the Black Hiils, Virginia, and Colorado, but need our Aug trip to be a bit closer.

[ryno lite]

the Cable/Hayward, area offers some great trails. great places to stay, be it camping or plusher digs. take your pick.
rock lake is an 16 to 18 mile A+ singletrack trail, IMHO.
anyway just my 2 cents.

Peace,
Joe

I agree, some of the finer trails in the midwest and it is still growing! You can go every year and expect to find brand new singletrack! The Rock Lake/Namekogan trails are still being expanded, and the Hayward area trailhead is growing also. Throw in Ojibwe and you have a lot of singletrack. They probably have about 40 miles of singletrack and they plan to keep adding for some time.

[MTBgirl]

I agree, some of the finer trails in the midwest and it is still growing! You can go every year and expect to find brand new singletrack! The Rock Lake/Namekogan trails are still being expanded, and the Hayward area trailhead is growing also. Throw in Ojibwe and you have a lot of singletrack. They probably have about 40 miles of singletrack and they plan to keep adding for some time.

Sweet guys! That's more the distance of a drive I'm thinkin of...and not too far from my lake home. :banana: Where can I find info on the trails? I've checked the MORC trail guide for it before and just did now as well and haven't seen anything. Is there a WI version of MORC out there?

[Heuy]

What about connecting with fellow MORCers and trying out Cuyuna Lakes?

Never ridden it and not sure if its even built yet, but, I know it was going to be a destination trail and the closing of Lutsen could be the opportunity that area needs long-term.

[jitterjepp]

What about connecting with fellow MORCers and trying out Cuyuna Lakes?

Never ridden it and not sure if its even built yet, but, I know it was going to be a destination trail and the closing of Lutsen could be the opportunity that area needs long-term.I'm really looking forward to seeing Cuyuna (Ironton Mines to me) become a reality and have my tires on it. My dad lives fairly close to there and has a couple cabins and my sister and brother-in-law have a cabin on Gull Lake.
There is also trout fishing in those mine lakes and diving.

[MTBgirl]

What about connecting with fellow MORCers and trying out Cuyuna Lakes?

Never ridden it and not sure if its even built yet, but, I know it was going to be a destination trail and the closing of Lutsen could be the opportunity that area needs long-term.

That's hilarious...my boyfriend is from Crosby...we were planning a trip this summer to kayak the old mine pits & visit his fam. I was completely unaware that they were working on MTB trails up there.

Just went to their website and it doesn't say much about what the status of the trails is right now. Anyone know??? - Actually, I just found out my bf's uncle is some head guy in charge of this (some political position) so I will try to get some info over the next couple of days and post up with the latest status of the mtb trails.

[bigwheel]

Just went to their website and it doesn't say much about what the status of the trails is right now. Anyone know???

Here's what I remember (some details might be incorrect): The new Cuyuna trail system is still in early stages. Area scoping has been done, but I don't think that anything has even been flagged yet. Like Murphy, much of the initial digging and bench cutting will be hired out, although MORC (and IMBA) will be heavily involved. MORC volunteers will take over with most of the upkeep and feature building. The people in the Cuyuna area (who will maintain the trail) have organized, and are now MORC's newest chapter.

Needless to say, we are very excited about this. I understand that there will be something like 40 miles of trails once it's all completed (several years), and there will be an IMBA trail center there. (one of only two in the entire US)

This is going to be good. Tim Wegner deserves a big applause for this one.

[gus man]

REALLY?!?!? They don't run the lifts nor maintain or mark the trails! I steered clear for those reasons. I'm all for trying it out, but I'm not a fan of climbing hills :sick:

I should also state that info is coming from the freerider types. I think they are used to hucking it up a hill.

Gus

[ryno lite]

Sweet guys! That's more the distance of a drive I'm thinkin of...and not too far from my lake home. :banana: Where can I find info on the trails? I've checked the MORC trail guide for it before and just did now as well and haven't seen anything. Is there a WI version of MORC out there?

The local club in charge of those trails is CAMBA, Chequamegon Area Mountain Bike Association. They have a website with some info. They have maps for sale, but I'm not sure how up to date they are since the trails are still being built. The trails are marked well with maps. Hard to get lost. There will be some people from MORC heading up this year, so keep your eyes out for group rides up there.

[GearDaddy]

CAMBA - http://www.cambatrails.org They've had great singletrack since before MORC existed. Now they have even more. In Wisconsin there is also Levis-Trow, Razorback Ridges, Nine Mile, North Country Trail, and more. I've explored many other places over the years. It would be so cool if trails were developed in the Blue Hills area - such potential.

The irony of northeastern Minnesota is that it is too wild. I did some riding in the Grand Marais area awhile back and it was OK, but it was a lot of fire road, a little double track, and then bushwhacking. Many hiking trails would make for good mountain biking. The trails at Tetagouche alone would be pretty cool riding. Of course, I'm not suggesting that they should be opened to mountain biking though!

Northern Wisconsin is different in that there has just been a lot more human activity and thus there are trails all over the place. When CAMBA was started, they mostly had to get permission from landowners and then just sign and map existing trails. It's still the best comprehensive X-C trail system in the Midwest IMO.

[Tony M]

Agreed that there are tons of destination trails but.....anyone know of lift assisted riding with a day's drive. I'm not a black diamond junkie but it's nice to get away on at trail system that generally flows down hill.

[toasthaiku]

[quote=MTBgirl;271418]Anyone know of a good replacement mtb trip for Lutsen?
decent lodging, a nice town, a couple decent meals...but we don't like to go too overboard on the spending...still poor med students for a bit longer!
quote]

You're describing Duluth.

Amity, Hartley, Spirit Mt., and COGGS' track in Superior are always accessible. The new Piedmont trail is ridable and beautiful. Heck, you could even cruise the Lakewalk. It's paved. But it's not every day you can ride the shore of Lake Superior.

Ski Hut has rides a few days a week. COGGS charges a whopping $5 for Tuesday rides around Mont du Lac. I think Lake Superior Cycling Club has weekly rides, too. New faces are welcome. Post up on the Duluth Area Trails section of this site and 99% of the time people will reply and meet you for a ride.

Dining and lodging options abound. Not sure where you both are in the med school and career process, but consider combining a riding trip with a visit to Duluth Clinic or some of the other practices up here. I think recruiters cover lodging and meals. Tell them you're specializing in Dermatology or Neurosurgery and they'll probably cut custom trails just for you! ;)

[FarmerBEN]

Agreed that there are tons of destination trails but.....anyone know of lift assisted riding with a day's drive. I'm not a black diamond junkie but it's nice to get away on at trail system that generally flows down hill.


you will have to hit the right weekend, but marquette mountain has it a couple weekends a summer, I think the rest of the riding up there is great as well.

[mountaincyclerulz]

Marquette is the best!! They have been running lifts for the past 4 years. Last year they ran them every other weekend starting a couple weeks after the bike fest running into october. I also heard from a local that they were going to build more trails on the ski hill. I go more than once a month from may-oct. Last fall I went up to thunder bay and that was sweet riding also. I'll make sure to post up thunder bay and marquette trips ahead of time. Definately a weekends worth of riding in duluth too. come on up!!

[Tony M]

Cool. I'll look into both.

[LMARX]

Mountain Bike Lift Service Canceled
Due to
"POOR INTEREST"

The above message was on their web site.

http://www.marquettemountain.com/mmsum01.php


Marquette is the best!! They have been running lifts for the past 4 years. Last year they ran them every other weekend starting a couple weeks after the bike fest running into october. I also heard from a local that they were going to build more trails on the ski hill. I go more than once a month from may-oct. Last fall I went up to thunder bay and that was sweet riding also. I'll make sure to post up thunder bay and marquette trips ahead of time. Definately a weekends worth of riding in duluth too. come on up!!