|
Trail Report January 3,
2009
>snowmobiletrails.com
trail reports>Cascade
River State Park / Lutsen Area Report
Cascade River State
Park / Lutsen Area
[ Please send your report to us! ]
A Day of Snowmobiling and
Great Food
We launched from the
trailhead in Cascade River State Park 1 mile west of Cascade Lodge off
of HWY 61 in Lutsen @1pm. This is a large parking area with plenty of
room for trucks with 4 place trailers. The wind was howling and snow
was really starting to pile up when we reached the turn off into the
trailhead and onto the Deer Trail. We headed north on the Deer Trail
to the Muehlberg Trail. Today we wanted to cover all of the Lutsen
area snowmobile trails east of Lutsen MTN Ski Area, including the
North Shore State Trail. We've heard the trails were in bad shape. We
found all trails were groomed and in very nice shape.
Though we found no maps
in the map boxes at kiosks, and the maps that were supposed to be
displayed at trail kiosks were; outdated, missing or ripped in half...
so make sure you always have a current trail map with each person in
your group. Maps are available at fuel stations and visitor centers.
We really appreciated that there were trail signs along the trails
with the trail name on them... we also thought the area where the;
Beaver Trail, Caribou Trail and the Lutsen Access converge to be
difficult to decipher. Someone needs to get out there and replace the
old maps on the kiosks and get some maps in the map boxes.
From the Muehlberg
Trail we rode the remaining leg of the Deer Trail and then over to the
Caribou Snowmobile Trail which runs along the Caribou Trail / County
Road 4 and then onto the Beaver Trail. On the Beaver Trail there is a
shelter we stopped at and took a break.
Log shelter on the
Beaver Trail is right next to the trail, so you won't miss it.
Log shelter faces south
towards Lake Superior which you can normally see, but today we were
lucky to see 100Ft in front of us since we were riding in a winter
storm.
Inside the log shelter
there is a memorial plaque for the first president and first wife of
the Lutsen Trailbreakers Snowmobile Club.
After our break and
enjoying being out of the howling wind and snow in the log shelter we
headed west on the Beaver Trail to the Lutsen Access Trail, which goes
down to the Lutsen downtown area where there are; fuel stations, Moon
Dance Coffee Shop, and convenience stores. This trail also connects to the Fox Trail
and heads west to Lutsen Resort, Lutsen Sea Villas and onto the local
trails in Tofte and Schroeder and back up to the
North Shore State
Trail. From the Lutsen Access Trail we hit the Mountain Access Trail
which connects with the Lutsen Ski Hill Road / County Road 5, on the
Cook County Snowmobile Club Map it is mismarked "County Road 36" ...
from this trail we headed about 3/4 of mile north along the road side
to Papa Charlie's. It was 5pm, and the Arizona Cardinals and the
Atlanta Falcons were wrapping up a game on the BIG SCREEN TV! See
image below of the big screen...
 --------------------------------------------------------------------------
Resources for planning
snowmobile trip to the Cascade River State Park area;
Trailhead address is
3871 W HWY 61 Lutsen and is located between mile marker 98 and 99.
Nearest lodging and
restaurants are;
Cascade Lodge and Restaurant and
Lutsen Resort and Dining and the above mentioned dining. Fuel;
downtown Lutsen and downtown Grand Marais.
See Option M
or K for planning this route. Report by
Chad Jones / Editor snowmobiletrails.com -
Grand Marais, Minnesota. Send your report
to us!
>snowmobiletrails.com
trail reports>Cascade
River State Park / Lutsen Area Report
|
