Two Days Mountain Biking on the Iron Range

I had a couple days off and decided to dig out some camping gear, tune up the bike, and take my new Tundra on it's first road trip. Unfortunately my ARE topper ordered 5 weeks ago is still not in so I had to do some downsizing and make everything fit in the back seat.
To keep things organized I use the Mountain Hardware cube system and to keep things cold I have a Yeti Tundra 45. For the record, the Yeti was a gift and I probably wouldn't pay that much myself. That said, the cooler does a good job and what the hell, it has the same name as my truck.

 

That's a tight squeeze! Smart to hang that pad from the back of the front seat.

 

Hope the skeeters don't carry you away. Drink lots of fluids, they are hungry!

 

Day one started a little later than I had hoped. I made the mistake of thinking I could go into work for a short meeting in the morning and then get out right away. Finally got on the road around 12:30 to Tioga Recreation Area in Cohasset, MN. Once a booming iron ore mine in the early to mid 1950's it is now a 500 acre recreation area with about 30 miles of purpose built mountain bike trails. Due to my late arrival I didn't get as much riding in as I would have liked but I did get in enough to get a feel for everything it has to offer as well as stoking a desire to return.

After getting changed in one of the changing stalls and padding up, I was ready to take a look at a map to figure out where I should head off to first.

Just as I was ready to take off I heard someone yell, "Hey, can you help me?" It turned out to be the local mountain bike coach who had a wooden teeter totter bike ramp feature in the back of her mini van. I followed her a couple hundred yards on a service road off the parking lot where the trail building company had their equipment and material stored as well as their encampment. As it turns out, the red colored soil has been trucked in from another part of the state. The trail is built by putting down a layer of larger stone and then back filling with this red colored crushed ore and clay. Quite a process but it does provide a distinct look to the trail surface as well as providing a bomb proof trail bed.

All in all I spent about three hours at Tioga. There's a great skills area off the parking lot where kids or adults can spend time perfecting technique or just killing time. They have a number of gravity trails that are fast a flowy as well as a jump line with huge senders and some xc single track that is more my style.



By the time I got changed and took a wet wipe shower it was about 5:30pm and I needed to get on the road to my second ride area, Redhead in Chisholm. I had thought about finding a place to camp in Cohasset but decided I would rather be at the same camp site two nights in a row to save the hassle of tent set up and take down each night. I also liked the idea of not driving on day two. The campsite I researched in Chisholm was only about a mile from the trailhead and it always makes for a nice day when you only have to pedal.

 

Gorgeous riding area

 

The pad is an Orvis seat protector that I just hooked to the front seats and let lay on the floor to protect the seats and carpet from getting muddy if I got into wet conditions.

The Mosquitoes were not bad at all, which was a nice surprise!

 

nice pictures ! why not using the bed of the truck for the bike/gear ? unless you were carrying something else.

 

Looks like a fun weekend

 

Those trails look awesome! Enjoy the ride and the truck...

 

Good question on not using the bed of the truck. The only reasons were for loss prevention and keeping things dry. There was a 50% chance of rain the entire time I was there and the bike is worth about $5k. Even the best locks are only to keep honest people honest!

 

DO A WHEELIE!!!!!

 

I hear you. One of the reason I got a shell. That will work good for you. I would also get a hitch mounted bike rack like the KUAT or One Up. Very easy to load/unload bikes but don't leave the bike overnight on the bike rack.

check the tundras with bikes thread. lots of good info.

this is what I run:

 

Very nice! The Kuat is on my list. I've actually applied to be a Kuat dealer through my place of business. I like the COOP bike on the bike. I worked for REI for 10 years.

 

I love REI. been a member for 15+ years. The COOP bike is my oldest son first adult size bike. He loves it.

 

I made it to the Chisholm campsite at dusk and found three tent sites to choose from. Two right on the main traffic circle and one tucked back in a corner flanked by two RV's and a chain link fence. I opted for the chain link fence. On the opposite side of the fence was a mining museum with a large open field display old heavy mining equipment.

The tent is an old Sierra Designs Lookout two person with a three pole design. There is a zippered mesh panel in the ceiling that can be left open for extra airflow and ventilation. The rainfly has a zippered vent as well so this tent is ideal in humid conditions in the summer. The two person size is nice for single car camping as it leave plenty of room for an extra wide sleeping pad and your gear. I use the Therma Rest Camp LE. It's an open cell foam self inflating style pad. I think the dimensions are 2" thick by 30" wide and 76" long. It's much more comfortable than the open air inflatable mattresses I see some people camping with.
Once the tent was set up I had a quick cold dinner and settled in for the night. Sadly, I hadn't slept in a tent for probably 8 to 10 years and I was looking forward to it.

Thursday morning came and I had a great night sleep. The campground was quiet through the night and around 7am I could hear some vehicles starting up and leaving. I gathered that many of the camp sites were rented seasonally and the early departure was people leaving for work. Maybe there are some road projects or railway work happening in the area but I didn't see anything in my limited travel around town. I know there are more mountain bike trails planned but there was no active work being done in the area I rode bike.
Breakfast was a simple menu of coffee, eggs, and sausage. I have an old white gas single burner stove that works well for boiling water and simple dishes. Flame control is a little tricky and it's mostly full bore or flame out. If the car camping bug sticks with me I'm definitely upgrading to new propane two burner. Coffee made with French Press is my favorite when camping.

After breakfast I geared up and headed off to the MN Discovery Center which serves as the trail head for Redhead. It's a quick pedal from campground and hard to get lost when these are your landmarks.

 

nice trip report, keep it coming

 

The trail head is located off the back of the MN Discovery Center Parking lot. A large party tent is set up for shade with some picnic tables but no other services. Inside the Discovery Center they have a museum/education area, restrooms, and some food and beverage options but I did not need to go in.

Redhead starts on high ground and all trails descend into the iron ore pit and then climb out to the ridge on the opposite side. For MN you get some nice climbs and elevation change. Even with the best maps it takes some extra time to get acquainted with the trails and you need to pay attention to the intersections. I always take a picture of the map at the trail head so I can pull it up later in the absence of on trail signs. It's a good thing, this area definitely needs more signage.
As far as scenery goes, this area did not disappoint. There were multiple locations that had vistas or something unique to look at. So much that I simply stopped getting off my bike to pull out my phone.

The terrain is really rocky and even with a fairly minor slip up I think you could shed a little blood. After about a 1/2 mile I stopped and pulled on my light weight knee and elbow pads just in case.




After riding for a half hour or so I rounded a corner and just yards away was and old train station. To actually get to it I would have had to gone of trail and ride down a road to get to it. I should have stopped to get a picture but I was cruising along and didn't want to stop again. I assume it is some kind of tourist ride that departs at or near the Discovery Center. I'll have to check that out next time.
Not much further I ride past a field and in the distance I can see some old mining equipment with trees growing through and around them. It was off trail a bit so I didn't ride over to investigate. A little later in the ride the trail came around to the other side and I couldn't resist investigating.


Euclids were made in Ohio and these must have been a real beast in their day. Imagine the tonnage these things moved in their life.

Couple more pieces of tired iron the Earth is trying to take back.



Old GMC's and Dodge but no Toyotas!
I spent way too much time poking around this equipment and it was time to get pedaling again. After a little bit I found Orange Crush. People were telling me this was a "must ride" trail full gnarly descents and rock jumps.






Unfortunately the photos of the descent are not of high quality because I had my phone attached to the handle bars with a mount that is not designed for filming. Hopefully you get the idea despite the poor quality.
The trail is crazy fun but it's fairly remote and there is some risk of wrecking yourself and then being faced with the task of dragging yourself out.
Not long after that I found a good lunch spot.
One last shot of the bike before wrapping up for the day and heading back to camp.

I was pretty well satisfied with the trail ride and mileage and head back to camp with a quick people through town. I didn't take any photos of "main" street but it was interesting in that it seemed to have a bar every third building on both sides of the street. I didn't stop and investigate but they all appeared to be operating business. Given my stench and level of fatigue I opted for a cold one out of my own cooler.
At the end of town there is a land peace bridge with state flags on one side of the road and country flags on the other.


Back at camp I cracked open a beer and cooked up a one pot dish of Jambalaya and prepped for a nice campfire.

I was watching the weather reports and a good storm was on the way. I had faith in my tent but it was supposed to be a real soaker. In the end I caved and decided to drive to nearby Hibbing and see what our favorite box store had for extra protection. I found a 10 x 10 easy up tent for about $75 and thought what the hell, I might use it again and if it keeps me a little drier it would be worth it. The plan was to set it up on it's lowest setting which would put the height just above the height of my tent. After dragging up to the counter I realized I din't have my wallet. Thought for sure it was in my console so I told the cashier Ill be right back. No such luck! Mask over the face and back into the store to tell the cashier to restock it. Turns out it was in one of my bags in the tent. I didn't have the energy to make a repeat trip and really wanted a couple more beers by the fire.

The fire was great and lasted until about 10:30 and the beer was equally good. If you haven't tried Bell's Light Hearted Ale I recommend it.
Weather kept getting pushed out but it was inevitable, it was going to hit at some point in the middle of the night.

 

The storm finally showed up around 2am and boomed until about 6am. There wasn't much, if any, sleep during that time. Heavy rain, thunder, lightning, and wind with only a couple thin pieces of fabric between me and the elements. I knew the rain was coming so I had packed up everything in the Tundra except my sleeping pad and bag. I had closed only the screen door and left the screen panel open in the top of the tent to keep the air flow. At some point I woke to some dripping due to the rain fly being saturated and beginning to drip. I closed both the solid panels to help shed the drips and see if I could sleep at all. Not much longer the floor began to saturate as water was tunneling under the tent and collect in the low areas. Despite this I stayed dry on top of my sleeping pad and was able to fall back to sleep around 6am until 8am.

No avoiding the wet spot here!
And the remaining dry spot once the tent was removed.

I had planned to go to Giants Ridge in Biwabik to ride some lift service downhill trails but they had put a hold on their operation until noon. With a few hours to kill I couldn't pass up the chance to walk through the mining museum behind the chainlink fence I was camped next to.

The museum sits on a former sportsmen's club that was built by the CCC. It is full of tremendous stone work complete with a small castle club house and stone bleachers and parade grounds. Now a museum of iron mining, it has some absolute gems on display.

What size lift kit do I need for these tires?

The early haulers

A little bigger

And the real big hauler capable of something like 176 tons!

Can you imagine working in this piece of equipment? The noise must have been deafening and god forgive if there was some kind of equipment failure.


This last piece must have been an engineering marvel. Notice the work seat on the side with tin umbrella covering. What a job!

And I couldn't resist including this old bike with wooden rims and lace up tires.

I really enjoyed spending time at the museum and there were two pole buildings with displays, a depot building with a beautiful model train diorama, and the stone castle visitor center in addition to all of the outdoor pieces of machinery.
By this time I learned that Giants Ridge would not open at all due to rain and my three day bike trip was shortened to two. I had planned to meet my wife and daughter in Minneapolis Friday night for a visit with my son and to also pick up my niece who was flying in from San Fran on Saturday so I got on the road early.
My niece is a photographer and we had her come for a visit to take my daughters senior pictures. Saturday was spent traveling around to different photo spots. She had a great idea of going to the top of a parking garage in order to capture a free shot of the city skyline. While they were off getting the perfect grad shot I was taking my own pictures.
My parting shot to this trip report is the Hennepin Ave. Bridge and iconic Grain Belt sign. Thanks for reading along!

 

Great trip thanks for sharing!