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Northern Minnesota Snowmobiling
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Snowmobile Trails 2008 ARCHIVED TRAIL REPORTS
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We have the most current reports on the Internet for the Minnesota North Shore Snowmobile Trails.

Reports below start at the first report from December 5th, 2007.

Snowmobile April, 2008  " In Fairbanks, Alaska heading to the annual Arctic Man Ski and Sno-Go Classic in Summit Lake - Paxson, Alaska. " Read more... Report by Chad Jones / Editor snowmobiletrails.com - Grand Marais, Minnesota. Send your report to us!

Snowmobile March 31, 2008  " Rode 3/29 and 3/30 on the state trail near Pike Lake. It was a bit bumpy, but still lots of snow (2-3' off trail). A few dirt spots on corners south towards Lutsen, then good again down toward Tofte (on state trail). Lutsen trails were excellent, with no dirt spots where I rode. Logging and Forest roads were very good also. Best ride of the year up there for me. I have a cabin and go quite often to this area. "  See "Options C or K " for planning this route.  Report by Jeff H. - St. Michael, Minnesota. Send your report to us!

Snowmobile March 29, 2008  " Started at the Mineral Center Trailhead and rode most of the Grand Portage Snowmobile Trails. Conditions were excellent, few bare spots and few riders. Conditions may last into first weekend in April. The past few years we've ridden these trails into first week of April. "  See "Options D or E " for planning this route.  Report by Chad Jones / Editor snowmobiletrails.com - Grand Marais, Minnesota. Send your report to us!

Snowmobile March 26th, 2008   " My son and I rode about 80 miles last night (3/25) from Lutsen to North State Snowmobile Trail, then south to Trestle Inn and back. Best conditions of the year! Didn't see one other sled! Rode today north on the State Trail to the Expressway, and on up to the Trail Center Lodge. 4 inches or so of fresh snow on that route. Rode "G Trail" back to Devil Track Lake and it was freshly groomed. Saw maybe a dozen sleds all day. Goofed around quite a bit today and put on 135 miles. Still enough snow in the woods to get stuck! By far the best riding of the season! If this was the last trip of the year - it was by far the BEST!  "  See "Options C or K" for planning this route.  Report by Dave S. - Cloquet, Minnesota. Send your report to us!

Snowmobile March 15th, 2008   " Rode the North Shore trail out of Lutsen toward Grand Marais. Then took the Express Way up to the Mushquash Trail. We then took the Swamper until it connected with the Gunflint Trail. Took the Gunflint Trail up to Gunflint Lake and then beyond for about another 15 miles. In all we put on about 180 miles. The trails were well groomed and in very good condition. Although a few of the corners were wearing down, over all there was plenty of good snow.  "  See "Options C or K" for planning this route.  Report by Doug S. - Prior Lake, Minnesota. Send your report to us!

Snowmobile March 11th, 2008   " Started at the Devil Track Lake, rode the Expressway up and stopped for lunch at the Gunflint Lodge. Continued to the end of the trail at Sag and turned around. Took the G trail back to Devil Track. 122 miles total. Plenty of snow but rather disappointed in the grooming. Other than the G trail from the Expressway intersection down to Devil Track, the trails were washboard and full of stutter bumps. Not sure when the last time it was groomed but I heard 5 days ago. Other trips in past years have had awesome groomed trails, not sure what happened this year.
Still an excellent trip with great weather. I'll be back. "  Editor note: this area is groomed weekly, with the  Lower Gunflint Trail "G Trail" (Poplar Lake to Devil Track Lake), Mushquash, Clearwater and the Hungry Jack Spur groomed on Mondays. The upper Gunflint Trail "G Trail" (Poplar Lake to Sag Lake) on Tuesday, and the Express Way is groomed twice a week once Tuesday and Friday. See full Cook County snowmobile trail groomer schedule.
See "Option  C " for planning this route.  Report by Tim M. - Duluth, Minnesota. Send your report to us!

Snowmobile March 11th, 2008   " Over the weekend, took the Gunflint & Swamper trails from Devil Track up to Trail Center at Poplar Lake. Both the G-Trail and Swamper were in great shape for March. Rode the X-Trail down to Devil Track and saw uniformly good conditions. Also rode the connector trail from the Gunflint system up to Grand Portage. Some areas of the Connector Trail have logging going on and you are sharing the road with an occasional logging truck, but the snowmobile lanes are well separated from the truck lane. Only about 8-10 miles of this, the rest was sleds only. A few Icy patches, but good otherwise. Once actually on the Grand Portage system, the conditions were superb. The Grand portage trails were really, really nice. See "Options A, B, C, D, E, F" for planning this route.  Report by Dave T. - Duluth, Minnesota. Send your report to us!

Snowmobile March 9th, 2008  Silver Bay AmericInn to Papa Charlie's Saloon / Lutsen Ski Hill - Approx. 70 miles.  " We left the Silver Bay AmericInn on spur #158 that goes right from the hotel to the North Shore Snowmobile Trail. When we got to the Lutsen area we turned onto the Lutsen Access Trail and onto the Mountain Access Trail, and followed the Ski Hill Road / County Road 5 north about a mile & a half to Papa Charlie's, the Gooney Birds were playing last night, great music and dancing. Trails were great and we only saw 4 other sledders on the trail and a moose. We stayed at the Mountain Inn, right on the Ski Hill Road. "  See "Options K or H " for planning this route.  Report by Chad Jones / Editor snowmobiletrails.com - Grand Marais, Minnesota. Send your report to us!

Snowmobile March 6th, 2008  PHENOMENAL TRAIL CONDITIONS AND FEW RIDERS ON THE GRAND PORTAGE SNOWMOBILE TRAIL SYSTEM!  " From Devil Track Lake to Grand Portage and back to Devil Track Lake... approx. 110 miles. We started at about 10am, surface of Devil Track was hard drifts, took the Gunflint Snowmobile Trail from the east end of Devil Track north to the South Brule River Trailhead to the Blueberry Road and on to the Grand Portage Trails. All trails were in great shape, most were freshly groomed! I must say the Grand Portage Snowmobile Trails impress me every time we ride on 'em. So much MORE than any other trails. The area has great scenery and nice overlooks above Lake Superior and the mountainous terrain, AND BEST OF ALL - FEW RIDERS. We had lunch at the Grand Portage Lodge, buzzed up to Ryden's Border Store, visited with friends, performed some minor repairs on J. S's sled  and fueled up. We ran the Pigeon River and some secret goat paths, played in some powder and headed back towards Devil Track Lake, temps were dropping all day, zero degrees when we got back. The past three years we've rode these trails into April, with great spring sledding. Please slow down if you start seeing moose tracks on/near the trail. "  Many trailhead/start options for this area. See "Options A, B, C, D, E " for planning this route.  Report by Chad Jones/Editor snowmobiletrails.com - Grand Marais, Minnesota. Send your report to us!

Snowmobile Feb 25, 2008  " WAS ON NORTH SHORE TRAIL FROM FINLAND, ALL THE WAY UP TO DEVIL TRACK LAKE, TRAIL WAS GREAT EVERY DAY.. LUTSEN ACCESS TRAIL AND CARIBOU TRAIL WERE PERFECT 2/22/08
TOMAHAWK TRAIL FROM NORTH SHORE TRAIL WAS GREAT ALL THE WAY TO ISABELLA 2/23/08
WE STAYED AT BLUEFIN BAY... THE ACCESS TRAIL SUCKED THE WHOLE TIME WE WERE THERE. FELT IT HADN'T BEEN GROOMED IN SOME TIME. WHOEVER IS IN CHARGE OF THAT SHOULD GET ON THE STICK RIGHT AWAY AND TAKE CARE OF IT. RIDING 100 PLUS MILES EVERY DAY ON PERFECT TRAILS AND THEN RIDING ON THAT 6 MILE STRETCH AT THE END OF THE DAY REALLY SUCKED !
"  Editor note: 03.01.2008 Tofte groomer was down for 8 days and is now back up... See "Option H" below for planning this route. Report by Will D. - Plymouth, Minnesota.  Send your report to us!

Snowmobile Feb 20, 2008  " We arrived at Devil Track Lodge on Friday Feb. 15th and took the Expressway to the State Trail, we then took the Caribou trail towards Cascade River and looped back to the State trail, all the trails were great with spectacular views. On Saturday we took the Gunflint Trail up to Gunflint lodge and had lunch, after lunch we went to Hungry Jack Lodge to gas up and took the Expressway back to Devil Track, all trails were good with bumps in a few spots. Sunday we took the State Trail to the Crooked Lake and had lunch at Trestle Inn, the trail was great on the way there, but a little beat up on the way back. Northeastern Minnesota is definitely the place to go for great riding. " See "Option C" below for planning this route. Report by Ben H. - Sartell, Minnesota.  Send your report to us!

Snowmobile Feb 19, 2008  " Rode out of Lutsen Mountains Ski Hill on Saturday, Feb. 17. Took the Mountain Access trail to the Caribou trail to the North Shore State Trail. The Mountain Access trail was OK - icy in the corners, a little rough in spots. The Caribou trail was in fantastic shape - freshly groomed, plenty of snow, fresh coat of snow on the trees. Best conditions I've ridden this season. The North Shore State Trail was in good condition from the Caribou up to Devil Track Lake. The trail from Devil Track up to Trail Center was good to OK (we rode up on the GTrail, back on the Express). The North Shore State Trail was still in OK shape on the way back, and it looked like they were getting ready to groom again at about 9:00 p.m. Saturday night. Somewhere between the two Lutsen exits we passed two groomers and a handful of guys who looked to be starting them - I assume one was going North, the other going South. But we didn't ride Sunday so I don't know for sure.  " See "Option K" below for planning this route. Report by Mike V. - Plymouth, Minnesota.  Send your report to us!

Snowmobile Feb 17, 2008  " Rode the North Shore Snowmobile Trail on Saturday, February 16th. Most of the trails were fairly smooth. They had enough snow cover, not a lot, but had a few icy corners kinda scattered about. We rode from Silver Bay to Tofte and back. Lots of great twisty sections north of the Temperance River. The LeVeaux Mountain trail was good, but the spur was bumpy on the last couple block stretch into the Tofte Holiday station.

A little rougher on the return, which is typical. LOTS of sled traffic today (long weekend). The Tomahawk Trail spur from the North Shore Snowmobile Trail into the Trestle Inn was just groomed on Friday, and in superb shape. We hit the Moosewalk Trail just outside Silver Bay for a short blast, which was in good shape.

As with any trail this year, there isn't enough snow to make huge moguls, which keeps the trails flat, but hardpacked, and some corners are a bit loose. No problems overheating anywhere, because snow dust is very prevalent, however this hinders visibility, but also keeps from following too close. Be safe, stay right, use your mirrors!! " See "Option H" below for planning this route. Report by Dick T. - Duluth, Minnesota.  Send your report to us!

Snowmobile Jan 24, 2008  " We were in Two Harbors from 1/19/08-1/21/08. The temperature was frigid for the whole weekend, but the snowmobiling was great. There weren't many people out and the trail conditions were excellent. We rode all day, everyday, driving over 300 miles on the North Shore Snowmobile Trail, the Yukon Trail, the Brimson Trail, Tomahawk Trail and more. We stopped in Isabella and Finland for excellent food/beverages. The best trail was the Yukon trail that heads north to Isabella. There was an incredible amount of snow and the trail was perfect. The only trail that was sub-par was the 9 mile trail from Two Harbors to the North Shore Snowmobile Trail . It had been used so much that the turns were covered in ice. Overall, it was a great trip and one of my friends stated that it was the best trail riding he has every had. " See "Option I" below for planning this route. Report by Adam O. - Waconia, Minnesota.  Send your report to us!

Snowmobile Jan 23, 2008  " My 13 year old son and me were up for a long weekend on the 20th. despite the frigid cold (-10 to -20 degrees) we had a blast! As in past trips we stayed at Devil Track Resort. The accommodations were great.  Saturday, we snowmobiled north on the Gunflint Trail stopping for lunch (and warmth) at Trail Center. As usual, the food and atmosphere were great. We returned to Devil Track on the Expressway Trail. Both the Gunflint and Expressway Trails were in very good shape.
Sunday we took the State Trail and then Mountain Access Trail up to Caribou Highlands Resort for lunch. Returning, we took the Caribou Trail before hooking back up with the State Trail. The State Trail was in descent shape but definitely ready to be groomed. The Caribou trail was in excellent shape. My wife and I are planning to come back up towards the end of February...I can't wait!
" See "Option C" below for planning this route. Report by Eric W. - Woodbury, Minnesota.  Send your report to us!

Snowmobile Jan 18, 2008  " SPENT JAN16-18 ON THE NORTH SHORE. WENT FROM TWO HARBORS TO HOYT LAKES, AURORA, EMBARRASS UP TO ELY, THEN DOWN THE TOMAHAWK TO STATE TRAIL UP TO GRAND MARAIS AND BACK TO TWO HARBORS. IN 3 DAYS JUST UNDER 500 MILES GREAT TRAILS, LITTLE TRAFFIC " See "Option I" below for planning this route. Report by Ron K. - Hugo, Minnesota.  Send your report to us!

Snowmobile Jan 14, 2008  " We stayed in Grand Marais for the weekend at the Best Western Superior Inn and rode right from the parking lot onto the spur trail to the State Trail System. There was 17 plus inches of fresh powder in downtown and over 2 feet of fresh powder on the State Trail System along the hills overlooking Lake Superior. The best riding we've ever experienced!" See "Option J" below for planning this route. Report by Grant, Mike and Tony - Stillwater, Minnesota.  Send your report to us!

Snowmobile Jan 11, 2008  " Fresh snow on the gunflint trail. About 4 to 5 inches of fresh, sticky snow on top of an AWESOME base. The trails are groomed and are in great condition. If any time is the time to come up, its NOW!!!!! A little bit more snow is coming down now and more is expected. We were out for 5 hours and only passed 3 groups. If your sled has been sitting in the garage, pack your gear, get your friends or family, and head on up to the gunflint trail. If you've been waiting for the right time, that time is NOW!!!!!!!!!!! " See "Option A, B, C, F or J" below for planning this route. Report by Spencer K., Grand Marais, Minnesota.  Send your report to us!

Snowmobile Jan 7, 2008  " Arrived late afternoon in Tofte on 1/3 and stayed till 1/6. Trails were in very good condition for the three days of riding we did. We traveled to The Trestle Inn, Devil Track Lake (Grand Marais area) and to Finland. The groomers did a good job on smoothing the trails back out in the evenings. My wife commented that the trail conditions were the best she had been on any where for many years. The only concerns are Devil Track Lake is marked and we were told that it had a foot of ice but we still kicked up slush and unfortunately it was 35°F and drizzling on 1/6 when we left. " See "Option C" below for planning this route. Report by David S., Golden Valley, Minnesota.  Send your report to us!

[ Go to 2012 ARCHIVED TRAIL REPORTS ]

[ Go to 2011 ARCHIVED TRAIL REPORTS ]

[ Go to 2010 ARCHIVED TRAIL REPORTS ]

[ Go to 2009 ARCHIVED TRAIL REPORTS ]

[ Go to 2007 ARCHIVED TRAIL REPORTS ]

SNOWMOBILE TRAIL SYSTEMS

North Shore State Snowmobile Trail
From Duluth to Grand Marais, Minnesota the 153 mile long North Shore State Snowmobile Trail system traverses St. Louis, Lake and Cook Counties of Northeastern Minnesota, along the vistas overlooking Lake Superior. The trail system winds its way through forests and nearby Lake Superior scenic overlooks. (Requires MN "State Trail" Snowmobile Permit Sticker, this is an addition to the regular registration.)

More Local North Shore Snowmobile Trails

Grand Portage Trail System northeast corner of Minnesota

Duluth Cross Town Trail - West Section 33 miles West area of Duluth, Minnesota

Duluth Cross Town Trail - East Section 12 miles East area of Duluth, Minnesota

Taft Trail North out of Duluth, Minnesota

Pequaywan Lake Trail 10 miles North out of Duluth, Minnesota

Two Harbors Corridor Trail 9.6 miles East end of Two Harbors, Minnesota

Gooseberry State Park Trail 3-9 miles Located at Hwy 61 and Gooseberry River/State Park

Red Dot Trail 15 miles East end of Beaver Bay, Minnesota

Tettegouche Trail 10 miles and Sawtooth Trail 15 miles East of Silver Bay, Minnesota

Moose Walk Trail 15 miles North of Silver Bay, Minnesota

Tomahawk Trail 86 miles North of Little Marais, Minnesota

Lutsen Trail System 67 miles Between Tofte, Minnesota and Cascade River State Park

The X Trail North of Cascade River State Park and leads to the Gunflint Trail System

Grand Marais Trail 5.5 miles

Gunflint Trail System 125 miles

Grand Portage Trail System Over 100 miles of loops, great scenery and well groomed trails.

Ontario Snowmobile Trails from the Gunflint Trail/Gunflint Lake/Sag Lake area.

Cascade Lodge Lutsen Minnesota
Cascade Lodge
Lutsen, Minnesota

Hungry Jack Lodge Gunflint Trail
Hungry Jack Lodge
Gunflint Trail

Lutsen Resort Lutsen Minnesota
Lutsen Resort
on Lake Superior

AmericInn Two Harbors Minnesota
AmericInn Two Harbors

Gunflint Lodge
Gunflint Lodge

Gunflint Trail


Timber Trail Lodge

Ely, Minnesota

Gunflint Trail Scenic Byway
Gunflint Trail Lodging

AmericInn Silver Bay Minnesota
AmericInn Silver Bay

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Snowmobiling Destinations and Trail Information

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Updated Jan 7, 2020