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...
