Fatbike Trail Condition Resources for Freeze/Thaw Season

As we head into March the weather will become warmer bringing freeze/thaw cycles to winter singletrack.  Below freezing temperatures overnight quickly become above freezing during the daytime turning a hard packed groomed trail into one that is soft and easily rutted.  To prevent this, trail managers use their discretion on whether a trail should close or remain open.  Closures are going to happen and knowing before you head out for a ride can save you a trip if your favorite trail is closed.  It's better to know beforehand than finding out once you get to the trailhead.

Twin Cities

The Minnesota Off-Road Cyclists (MORC) have made it easy to get updates on the latest winter trail conditions for the trail systems they manage.  The one way that has been around the longest and that most people are familiar with is the MORC Trail Conditions Forum.  MORC Forum members keep this page active with reports on trail status with a brief condition description for your favorite Twin Cities area trails as well as several others around Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Another way is to get the MORC Trail Conditions app for IOS and Android.  Both apps are free and use data that is populated from the MORC Trail Conditions Forum giving the user instant access to the latest updates.

The MORC Trail Conditions Twitter page is updated from the MORC Trail Conditions Forum.

MORC Trail Conditions

Tweets by @trailconditions

And finally, trail status updates can be found on Facebook at the links below.

Bertram Chain of Lakes

Carver Lake Park

Elm Creek

Hillside Park

Lake Rebecca

Lebanon Hills

Minneapolis Off-Road Cycling Advocates (MOCA)

Minnesota Off-Road Cyclists (MORC)

Minnesota River Bottoms

Murphy-Hanrehan

Theodore Wirth

West Lake Marion

Woolley

Central Minnesota

Cuyuna Lakes

The Cuyuna Lakes Mountain Bike Crew regularly updates trail conditions in the Cuyuna Country State Recreation Area via Twitter and their Facebook page.  Know the trail status and get tire pressure recommendations for freshly groomed sections beforehand.

Tweets by @CLMTBTCondition

Jail Trail/Plum Creek

The Mid MN Cycling Club posts trail status updates and conditions reports for Jail Trail and Plum Creek on the Mid MN Cycling Club Facebook page.

Duluth Area

C.O.G.G.S. (Cyclists of Gitchee Gumee Shores) updates trail conditions for several trails in the Duluth area via Twitter.  These include Hartley Park, LesterPark/Hawk Ridge/Morning Side, Mission Creek, and Piedmont/Brewer.  You can also visit the COGGS Trails Status Feed page on their website.

Spirit Mountain

Spirit Mountain has winter lift-served, downhill fat tire biking Sundays with bonus days in February and March depending on weather and trail conditions.  Visit the Spirit Mountain Snow Report page for the latest updates.

Northern Minnesota

Detroit Mountain

Detroit Mountain Recreation Area updates trail and grooming conditions for its Nordic and Fatbike loops on their Detroit Mtn-Trail Report on Twitter.  Follow at @DMRA_Trails.

Donald D. Ferguson Demonstration Forest

The Donald D. Ferguson Demonstration Forest located just north of Two Harbors has eight miles of  non-motorized, multi-use trails that are groomed in the winter for snowshoeing, cross-country skiing and fatbiking.  Get the latest trail updates by visiting the Lake County Mountain Bike Trails Facebook page.

Giants Ridge

Giants Ridge in Biwabik offers 60 km of Nordic trails and introduced lift-served downhill fatbiking this winter.  Check the Giants Ridge Snow Report for the latest status and trail conditions.  Reports are updated daily during the season.

Laurentian Divide/Lookout Mountain

The Laurentian Divide Recreation Area located near Virginia has groomed singletrack in both the Laurention Divide and Lookout Mountain areas in Superior National Forest.  Visit the Mesabi Outdoor Adventures Facebook page for the latest grooming reports and trail status.

Maplelag Resort

Maplelag Resort grooms 20 km of trails for winter fatbiking on their property in Callaway.  For trail status and grooming updates visit the Fat Biking Trail Report page.  Additional reports can be found on the Maplelag Resort Twitter page and Maplelag Resort Facebook page.

Pincushion Mountain

Just a short trip up the Gunflint Trail from Grand Marais sits the Pincushion Mountain trails.  These trails with overlooks of Lake Superior are groomed throughout the winter season for fatbiking.  Visit the SCA Trail Conditions page and Superior Cycling Association Facebook page for the latest updates and recommendations.

Tioga Recreation Area

The Tioga Recreation Area has groomed singltrack throughout the winter on its 500 wooded acres in Cohasset.  Regular updates on grooming and trail status can be found on the Tioga Recreation Area Facebook page and GRIMBA Facebook page.

Southern Minnesota

Gamehaven/Oxbow

Rochester Active Sports Club Facebook page regularly posts grooming updates and trail reports for both Gamehaven and Oxbow trails.

Heath Creek/Sechler Park

If you're looking to ride Heath Creek or Sechler Park in Northfield visit the CROCT Facebook page for the latest updates and recommendations.

Kaplan's Woods

The Owatonna Trails Association grooms the trails at Kaplan's Woods Park and regularly posts trail updates to their Owatonna Trails Association Facebook page.

Kiwanis

The Mankato Area Mountain Bikers post regular updates on the six miles of trail at Kiwanis Recreation Area on the MAMB Facebook page.

There are still plenty of opportunities elsewhere to ride if the trails are closed.  For a list of these places please visit my post, Alternative Winter Fatbike Riding Opportunities and keep on riding.

A Winter Getaway Weekend at True North Basecamp

January meant it was once again time for my yearly trip to True North Basecamp for a weekend outdoors on the lakes and trails of the Cuyuna Country State Recreation Area.  Reports were that the trail conditions were stellar and this time around I would be trying my luck at ice fishing on a mine pit lake.

The Accommodations

Our accommodations were at the Artcrank Cabin located on the shore of Armour #2 Mine Lake at True North Basecamp in Crosby, MN.  This would be our "basecamp" for a weekend full of outdoor activity.

The Trails

Day 1-Portsmouth & Yawkey

Once we got unpacked with all of our gear settled into the cabin and had a little lunch it was time to hit Cuyuna's groomed singletrack.  One of the perks of staying at True North Basecamp is being able to jump right onto the trails from the cabin.

It was 1° F when we were ready to roll and the high would be around 7° F so Alex and I layered up in our subzero gear since we would be out until sundown.  This meant choosing apparel that would provide the proper balance to keep warm without overheating.  Sweat can be your enemy and cut a ride short when the temperatures are this cold.

We headed down the trail connector from the Basecamp and then jumped on Drag Line (South), the Cuyuna Lakes State Trail and back onto Drag Line (North) for a ride that would take us all the way around Portsmouth Mine Lake.

A little ways past the Portsmouth Campground is the public water access where we could get out onto the lake.

The snow wasn't too deep so we ventured out for a roll in the virgin powder that was covering the ice.

After riding the Portsmouth Unit we took the New Haul Road back into the trails of the Yawkey Unit.  Here we would ride Man Cage, Manuel Drive, Trout, Tugger and Bobsled until the sun began to set where we headed back towards the basecamp on Haul Road.

Day one trail conditions were perfect.  The groomed singletrack was hard-packed and very fast.  We had to make sure to keep our eyes on the trail because if we veered off just slightly the snow was very deep and a crash was inevitable.

Day 1-Portsmouth & Yawkey

Day 2-Portsmouth/Mahnomen Unit

Day 2 would take us through the Portsmouth Unit on our way to the Mahnomen Unit where there would be a bit of climbing and some fast downhill sections.  We followed the connector trail, Switchback from the west end of Portsmouth Mine Lake until we got on Galloping Goose which would take us along the south shore of Huntington Mine Lake.  We left Galloping Goose for the Sidewinder connection to Sand Hog Mountain.

After a scenic climb we made it to the overlook on Sand Hog Mountain and stopped for a photo op.  Now it was time for the fast ride down the mountain and back onto Galloping Goose.

We got off the trail on Miner's Mountain Road and rode past Miner's Mountain Rally Center on our way to the Cuyuna Lakes State Trail.  The freshly groomed state trail was our fast track back to our cabin at True North Basecamp.

Day 2-Portsmouth/Mahnomen Unit

Day 2-Ice fishing

After our morning ride we relaxed a bit and had lunch.  Our cabin was right on Armour #2 Mine Lake so I wanted to try my luck at ice fishing while Alex would get some outdoor photos and video.  The trout season opener was the following weekend so I was unable to fish many of the lakes in the CCSRA because they are designated trout lakes that cannot be fished out of season.  After a stop at Oars-N-Mine in Crosby for some bait and "intel" on the lake, I would get started.  The lake our cabin was on was open for fishing so I drilled a few holes to check depths and structure near the inlet of Serpent Creek being careful to stay far enough away from the open water.  I was pretty close to shore and the water was 28' deep with 6" of ice.

Once I found a spot near the creek inlet that had fish both suspended and near the bottom I decided to set up and fish until dark.  It was nice being so close to our cabin in case I needed anything.  I graphed a lot of fish and presented a variety of different baits, both live and artificial, but they just weren't biting that afternoon.  I decided to try a Swedish Pimple spoon tipped with a minnow head to see if I could get the attention of some larger panfish.  That didn't work either except for this hungry little northern pike.  He was a "hammer handle" so I let him go so he could grow.  There must be some big northerns in this lake because he had half of his tail bitten off.

After catching the little pike the bite was dead.  Around sunset the fish must have moved out to deeper water because I was no longer graphing them on my fishfinder.  I packed things up after dark and hauled my gear the short walk back to the cabin.  We planned on doing a night ride on the trails but after being outside all day long we were wiped out and hungry so we skipped it to relax and eat dinner in the cabin.  We still had one more morning to ride.

Day 3-Back to the Mahnomen Unit

Checkout was at noon but we wanted to get in another ride so we headed out early and took the fastest way back to the main trailhead at the Mahnomen Unit via the Cuyuna Lakes State Trail.  Here we would get a chance to ride some of our favorite trails one more time.  The scenery throughout the Mahnomen Unit is spectacular with the stands of pines, birch trees and overlooks of the mine pit lakes and land surrounding them.

We took our time to enjoy the ride and scenery on a light dusting of snow from the previous night before jumping back onto the Cuyuna Lakes State trail for the ride back to the basecamp.

Day 3-Back to the Mahnomen Unit

Short Video Recap of the Weekend

It was a great weekend at Cuyuna.  There's so much to do here and only so many hours in the day.  We packed in as much as we had the energy to do spending much of our time outside despite the cold temperatures that weekend.  True North Basecamp is the perfect place to stay and play while visiting Cuyuna.  Because of its prime location, everything we wanted to do was accessible by foot, bike or 5 minute car ride.  The cabin served as our basecamp for sleeping, taking breaks, getting something to eat or just warming up so we could get back outside and ride our bikes.  If you enjoy fatbiking, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing or ice fishing, make True North Basecamp your "basecamp" on your next winter adventure.

New MORC Trail Conditions App Released for Android and an Update For IOS

The MORC Trail Conditions Forum is the best place to get up-to-date trail conditions for singletrack around the Twin Cities area.  There has been a mobile app for IOS for some time now and Apple device users have had trail condition updates at their fingertips.  Just recently an Android version of the app was launched for the rest of us.  I have been waiting a long time for this release and now it's finally here.

Although the MORC Trail Conditions app for Android is still pretty limited in its first release, it still uses data populated from the MORC Trail Conditions Forum in a list form with easy to understand icons as seen below.  Information for Monticello, Memorial Trail in Red Wing, Jail Trail in St.Cloud, Whitetail Ridge in River Falls, WI and Woolly in St. Croix Falls, WI are also included in this first release.

Andrew Reitz, the app's developer stated "the plan is to keep adding features such as the ability to get push notifications for your favorite trail when the trail status changes, see twitter updates and much more. Stay tuned!"

The MORC Trail Conditions app is free and feedback can be submitted by contacting @andrewreitz_ on Twitter.

For Apple device users, the MORC Trails app has been updated on November 9th to be compatible with IOS 11.  The app is a little more advanced than the Android version because it has been out much longer and has had updates along the way.  Links to the Trail Conditions Forum and Trail Forum are found at the bottom of each trail's page.  The MORC Trails is free and available in the iTunes App Store.

This app requires IOS 9.0 or later and is compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

Both of these apps let you see the latest MORC Trail Conditions on your phone or mobile device anytime so you can plan accordingly and avoid showing up to a closed trail.  With winter fast approaching these mobile apps will be a useful tool for fatbikers to help determine tire choice and pressure to get the best traction out on the trail.  Remember, never ride wet trails.

45NRTH Launces Groomed Singletrack Website

45NRTH has launched a project that will help us all find groomed winter trails to ride fatbikes in our area.  The website is called Groomed Singletrack.  While the site is new, there is already a good listing of groomed singletrack trail information and I expect this to grow to include even more listings.


The Ride page of the website is designed to help find groomed singletrack near you by browsing the map or entering a Zip Code.  Search results can be narrowed or expanded to include a radius of 25, 100, 250, 500 or 1000 miles.  

Map Results

Below the map results is a list of those groomed singletrack trails with Location, Difficulty, Overall Mileage, Usage and website link if available.  Some information is missing but I expect this to change as the site is updated.  If you know of a trail that is not on the map you can email 45NRTH with the details so they can add it.

List Results

The Experience page provides information on fatbike rides and races broken down be region (Central, East and West) with links to more information on these events.

Image Credit: 45NRTH

Image Credit: 45NRTH

45NRTH has also implemented the hashtag #ridegroomed for discussion and to view or upload your own groomed trail fatbike ride photos to social media.   They are also coming out with Ride Groomed hats and t-shirts that will be available at local dealers in February and "proceeds go towards helping build more winter trails across the country".