Our Minnesota cycling tour assembles in Duluth on the shores of Lake Superior, and we’ll ride beside the lake’s sparkling blue waters early morning of Day 2. After passing Two Harbors, we’ll join the Gitchi-Gami State Trail at Gooseberry Falls State Park and continue along the trail to Silver Bay, where we’ll spend our first night.
Day 3, we’ll ride through Tettegouche State Park, turn north and begin our climb up the Sawtooth Ridge in Superior National Forest through fragrant coniferous forests and around countless pristine lakes. We’ll overnight in Ely, the Gateway to the Boundary Waters Wilderness area, on Shagawa Lake. We join the Mesabi Trail early afternoon of Day 4 on our way to Virginia. We’ll return to the trail as it traverses the Mesabi Iron Range throughout Day 5 and our overnight in Grand Rapids.
On Day 6, we’ll ride the gently rolling hills of the Chippewa National Forest in the heart of Minnesota’s Land of Lakes region. We’ll spend the night on the shores of Leach Lake in Walker at the grand Chase-on-the-Lake Resort. The Paul Bunyan Trail is our corridor of travel for Day 7 as we ride from Walker south into the Brainerd Lakes region. We’ll leave the trail at Nissawa and trace the shore of Gull Lake to Madden’s Resort.
Madden’s Resort is that kind of place that demands a layover day, and that’s our plan for Day 8. Whether it’s an optional bike ride around the lake, a round of golf, a canoe or sailboat on Gull Lake, or a lazy day on the beach or poolside, there is no end of ways to fill this day.
Day 9, our final day, we will pick up one last smooth bike trail to bring us back to Duluth. A van shuttle will bring us to Finlayson to jump on the Willard Munger State Trail. We travel past numerous lakes and state parks to bring us to the spectacular scenery of Jay Cooke State Park, just south of Duluth. We end our tour at the famous swinging bridge over the St. Louis River, before our shuttle back to the Duluth airport where our Minnesota Cycling Tour concludes.
