The trail starts out directly
behind the Trail Center and is initially a paved trail. You
follow this paved trail a little ways and meander around the
lakeshore working your way through the campground. There is
one really nice view of the Split Rock Lighthouse. After
that it's all mediocre.
Most of the nearly 7 mile
loop is XC ski trail. Some of that has a dirt strip, but the
vast majority is just grass all the way across. The other
types of trail include crushed rock, and gravel road. No
singletrack here kiddies.
The trail is fairly
reasonably marked, however once you get on the north side of
Hwy 61, things get a little iffy. There were a couple
intersections at the very north end of the loop that were
not marked and I reasoned I had gone far enough when I ran
into the Superior Hiking Trail (NO BIKES).
The trail makes a close
pass of Day Hill. There's a spur that heads up to the top of
the hill. It's not part of the official bike loop, but it's
a tempting poach (it's also not specifically 'no bikes').
The views from the top are spectacular, and the descent is
entertaining. Be sure to check your speed though. I am sure
that the reason this is not an official bike trail is
because it is two direction, and you could get some serious
speed with good potential for a head-on with unsuspecting
hikers.
One cool thing about this
trail is that eventually, the Gitchi Gumi paved trail is
going to pass right through it. There are a couple places
now where you can tell they are working on it. There's the
crushed rock surface and the drainage pipes being laid.
Lots of the trail on the
north side of Hwy 61 is pretty moist. The rocky rooty soil
seems to keep the moisture near the surface. Throw in a
little overgrown grass, and it feels like riding through a
bumpy bog.
If you're thinking of
riding the trail, you might want to skip the part that is
north of Hwy 61 and just ride the southern part. It has more
views and a better trail surface.
