The trail begins at the visitor center and heads north east to the Gooseberry River. Once you're at the river, cross under Hwy 61, and stick to the left. The trails head out from here. There are quite a few options you have in choosing a route. You can keep it relatively short, or you can stretch it out and go over 7 miles by taking advantage of the outer loop and some inner trails. I recommend skipping the place entirely.

Starting off from the visitor's center, the trail is paved, and quickly turns into crushed rock. I was expecting this to keep up, but it didn't. As soon as you cross Gooseberry River the trail conditions drop down to grassy XC ski trail. There's no dirt line, and you're lucky to find any smooth line throughout the entire trail cluster.

Some of the trails are marked 'one way - do not enter'. I'm not sure if this is for XC skiing, or if it really is intended for full season use. It doesn't really matter, because you're not likely to run into anyone out on these trails (they've got the smarts to not be out on them).

A couple of the climbs are sort of enjoyable as they are on a rock base and rolling resistence is minimal. If you sort of think about it right, that one spot could be 'alpine' but, no. not really. and it's a pretty short spot. You're quickly reminded that you're riding in rough doubletrack that bursting with grass. I will give the trails credit... The grass was only about 8 inches high, so they're somewhat mowed.

The trail system intersects and overlaps the Superior Hiking Trail in a few spots. I was hoping for snippets of singletrack in these spots, but alas, grassy doubletrack.

The day I happened to be out on the trail, it was approaching 90 in the sun, the flies were out in droves, and the army worms were eating everything in sight. It was pretty much as bad as it could have been. I guess throwing in a thunderstorm and a lightning strike could have made it worse...

 

TRAIL   PICS



 

TRAIL   MAPS*