January 30th, 2010
Rob and I finally got out for a ride together this weekend. We started in Hawley and followed some freshly groomed trails about half-way to Cormorant and then the groomer went back towards Lake Park/Hiterdal at the intersection between the Lake Park, Hawley and Cormorant trails. The Cormorant trails were ungroomed almost all the way to the Cormorant Pub. After a quick bite we picked up the trail from Cormorant down to Pelican Rapids. This was all freshly groomed and in good shape. Snow conditions are excellent in this area… get out and enjoy it while you can!
Rob’s freshly rebuilt XLT engine got it’s first 100+ miles on it today and it ran flawless.
-Chris
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January 27th, 2010
Get out and enjoy the fresh snow!
I rode from Crookston, MN all the way down to Cormorant, MN today. The snow conditions are great! There were two groomers out and getting the trails in good shape for the weekend. Temperatures are looking good for the next 10 days so we should have some prime snowmobiling for the next couple of weeks.
-Chris
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January 24th, 2010
My group was up riding the NSST from Beaver Bay, MN this past Friday and Saturday. It rained most of Saturday while we were up there with the exception of last night when it was snowing hard in areas of the NSST.
It finally switched to snow in Beaver Bay this morning when we left… wet and heavy. Most of the weekend was very foggy as well.
Overall we put on about 240 miles or so.
The group stayed at Cove Point Lodge just to the South of Beaver Bay.
We rode down to Gooseberry Falls on Friday. The conditions were excellent until we got close to the lake and then things get icy and the snow gets thin (which seems to be the case anywhere you go up there right now). It’s amazing what difference a mile or so can make in the snow conditions. Away from the lake you will run into areas with 2 feet of snow but close to the lake you can run into areas with just a trace of snow.
On Saturday we rode up through Finland, MN on the Moose Walk trail (excellent snow and trail – nice scenic overlook). We ate at “Our Place” in Finland which had a very friendly staff and good/cheap food. We rode from there up the NSST to Schroeder and through Tofte (I don’t recommend going anywhere near these two towns right now if you can help it unless they get more snow out of this storm. We were riding on mud trails to get gas in Tofte last night). We went about half way to Lutsen from Tofte before going back and then eventually taking the NSST back to Beaver Bay.
Note – There is a spur trail near Gooseberry Falls that brings you to a restaurant near Castle Danger. It is about 5 miles from the Gooseberry Spur. They advertise along the trails that they have gas. They do NOT have a working gas pump as of last Friday. I would try to call the place before you drive all the way there for fuel – overall it’s about 10 miles from the NSST to the restaurant).
Another note… there will be a sled dog race up there this coming weekend according to signs I saw posted. They will be using parts of the NSST.
-Chris
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December 27th, 2009
What better present can you get for Christmas, if you are a snowmobiling fan, than a record breaking snow storm? Most of the state got hammered good over the Christmas holiday. Duluth and East Grand Forks both got about 2 feet of snow during the storm. Locally in the Hawley area we got somewhere around 14 inches.
I would imagine in the next week or two a lot of clubs will begin grooming trails around the state.
I haven’t seen groomers out this weekend yet in the Hawley or Grand Rapids areas.
-Chris
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December 19th, 2009
It’s been a slow start to the 2009-2010 snowmobiling season in Northern Minnesota. Stay tuned… when we get snow, we will let you know how the trails are looking!
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March 15th, 2009
The early part of last week we received one last monster 11 inch snowfall. My wife and I made good use of it and rode from Detroit Lakes up to Pinehurst and back on the 14th. The trails going up there were great, but by the time we had lunch and were headed back temperatures had jumped up to the mid 40’s and the trails were quickly becoming mud in areas.
Looking at the weather outlook for this coming week, it looks like more of the same with mid 40’s each day.
Overall it was a great season. I put on right around 1,800 miles with no mechanical issues. The new F8 has been an excellent trail sled – very comfortable with plenty of power and surprisingly good gas mileage at right around 16mpg.
If you haven’t checked it out already… be sure to take a look at the message forum on this site. There are a lot of great sledheads on there discussing both new and vintage sleds.
Have a great summer and we’ll see you next season with more improvements/changes to the site.
-Chris
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March 7th, 2009
It doesn’t take long for a good snowfall to be washed away by warm weather and rain.
We had a few days that were pushing 40 and a steady rain last week and that put an end to our good snow that fell the week before.
The trails around Hawley are shot. Any direction you leave town you eventually run into a lot of water or bare fields.
I also heard the trails near Detroit Lakes aren’t any better right now. They actually got more rain than we did…
-Chris
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March 1st, 2009
We received another good snowfall in the last few days. We received anywhere from 4 to 8 inches in this immediate area. If you go further South, some areas even got over a foot of snow.
A friend and myself rode from Cormorant, MN down through Vergas, Weetown and to Fergus Falls yesterday. We came back through Pelican Rapids. We went a short distance on the Central Lakes Trail out of Fergus Falls down to Pebble Lake to get gas before coming back.
The trails had plenty of snow, although not all of them had been groomed yet since this last snow storm. We had a few issues near Vergas with a lack of trail markers and sled traffic and ended up getting mixed up there for a bit.
Overall it was a great ride though and it was nice to get another late season storm to keep the riding season rolling…
Get out there while you can! There isn’t much winter remaining!
-Chris
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February 21st, 2009
I went on two seperate rides today. I left early this morning from Detroit Lakes with some guys from work and rode up to Pinehurst on Twin Lakes. We had a good burger up there and rode back to DL after lunch. A couple from the group had to get back early.
The trails were excellent! The only minor issues with those trails were some icy corners… otherwise they were freshly groomed and good snow! We took the 300 trail on the way up and went through Elbow Lake. Coming back we went through Tulaby Lake.
The remaining 2 from the group and myself went back to Hawley after the Pinehurst ride and rode out of there down to Pelican Lake before turning and heading up to Pit 611 and having a pizza before returning to Hawley. I knew the trails hadn’t been groomed since before the rain and warm weather and it showed. The snow was very thin in some fields and the trails in the trees were rough. I wouldn’t recommend riding anywhere near the lakes or Hawley until we get further snow and grooming resumes.
We put on nearly 200 miles today between the two rides.
-Chris
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February 10th, 2009
We have had 3 straight days of rain now with temps in the upper 30’s/low 40’s and the snow is all but gone. What strange weather for February. Winter is officially on hold… we’re going to need a lot of cold weather to freeze all of this water and a big old snow storm to get things rolling again.
This will be my last post until the snow flies again.
-Chris
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