Cuyuna, Duluth, Amnicon, Copper

At the tail-end of my vacation, I had a couple of days with Steve. We took our time travelling home. One of the reasons we were so excited to be in the Brainerd area is the Cuyuna Lakes Mountain Bike Trails. I had been stretching, foam rolling, and icing faithfully in hopes of 45 minutes or so of flowing singletrack.

I had looked up a little information about the trails and saw that "Sand Hog Hill" was designated as one of two Flow Trails in the United States by IMBA. I happen to be a fan of flow, so that was the first trail I was going to hit. We started out on "Easy Street", the corridor that leads to Sand Hog Hill. The climbs were gentle and flowing. I could feel I was working, but never so hard I even considered walking. Nice, steady climb with some breathtaking views.

Steve, waiting for me as usual

Before the descent

Berms and lakes a'plenty!

Beautiful trail

Scenic Overlook

 Rode around a bit and came to "Screamer", which was highly recommended by a local rider. I was hesitant at first due to the warning signs.

Check out the video of this trail! This is from the LIC Ego camera I won at Wausau 24. Fun little toy. I am learning to edit video yet, so bear with me.

What a blast!! Sand Hog Hill and Screamer had me grinning until well after the ride was over. At about 1.5 hours we were back to the car. I had been taking it relatively easy so that my injuries would allow me to enjoy the trails. However, I still had more. I decided to hit Switchback which was also fabulous. Red dirt berms through lush green forest on either side of a small strip of land between two brilliant, blue mine lakes. It was as if you could launch right into the water, but the berm held you in. From there I went back to the car, grateful for the time I had on the bike, and Steve continued on to Bobsled (which he raved about). I rode the paved trail back to the parking area.

Hot day, covered in red dirt, and this is where we parked. Cool water to soak in? Yes, please!

Enjoyed some yoga on this rock before getting in the water.

Red dirt line :-) The kinesio tape did a great job of holding me together, too.

Got my tires dirty! :-)

My summary of Cuyuna Lakes MTB Trails:

RIDICULOUSLY FUN!!!!

From here we drove to Duluth. We were pretty hungry, so we picked up pizza (gluten-free, light on the cheese for me) and ate on the shore of Lake Superior. This is near where my grandparents lived when I was growing up. I have so many fond memories of hours looking for agates, pottery, bits of smooth glass, and seagulls.

Steve made some new friends.

More?

So happy here. It was frigid cold, so I soaked my ankle as much as I could tolerate. We found a Whole Foods and picked up some camp grub.

Our walk-in site at Amnicon Falls State Park, just south of Superior, Wisconsin. We camped here for one night. Quite a change after the nice hotel room! It was over 90 degrees and humid. Perfect tenting weather (sarcasm). Nice place, nonetheless. The following are photos from our hike that evening.

Grow where you are planted?

Thimbleberries are delicious!

The next morning we stopped in Ashland at this unique coffee shop, in an old mansion with a view of the Chequamegon Bay. Next stop, Copper Falls for a hike.

And from there we went home!
What a beautiful couple of days with my sweetheart.