Riding The Northwoods Route- Bikes, Hikes, And Boat Rides

After finishing most of the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route in August of 2023, my buddy Justin and I were looking for something a little more manageable for this summer. We settled on the Northwoods Route, a newer route developed by Bikepacking Roots and legend Kurt Refsnider. This would encompass three states, a national park, two long ferry rides, and a bunch of short ATV double-track.

Getting There

We flew into Minneapolis, sat around in the airport for a few hours, then caught a Landline bus from MPLS to DLH. We didn’t really have a great plan for getting our bike boxes and ourselves 8 miles into town, but ended up renting an SUV, which was was really handy and cost out the same as two Uber XL rides (two giant boxes, two people, one Uber XL available in town which was a Mitsubishi Outlander or something, so two trips) and got ourselves to the Munger Inn in West Duluth, which was a great place to base out of. This motel was at the end of the Munger Trail, which one could ride up from Minneapolis and back if they had more time. It is also within a couple blocks of the stunning Duluth Traverse Trail and several amazing trail networks.

We spent the next day in Duluth picking up supplies, building bikes, returning the rental car via the local single-track, and visiting Twin Ports Cyclery, an amazing old school shop.

Day 1- Duluth- Gooseberry Falls SP - 65 miles, 2047 feet.

We rolled out of town after a leisurely breakfast, storing our boxes with Jeff at the motel. We rode up the Lakeshore trail until we were out of town, then began what would be a pattern of the route, zig zagging back and forth on quiet paved and gravel roads away from the lake shore.I had some issues with my carbon seat post slipping, and there were a few stops, where I found my marks for saddle height had worn off in transit. It was funny for a bike fitter to have this trouble, but I was able to sort it out over the next couple of days using some valve grinding compound purchased at the local auto parts store (no fancy carbon paste out in the woods!) and using the logo on the side of the post and my thumb as a landmark.

We needed some water at some point and stopped at a fantastic event outside of Two Harbors, MN for lunch and a break. Kyle rides Mid-South every year, hosts the local Farm Fest on his property, and allows folks to camp before the local gravel races on his land. What a cool event! We stuffed our panniers full and headed off refreshed and happy!

Agate Acres Farms

Day 2- Gooseberry Falls- Grand Marais,MN- 97 miles, 3727 feet.

We rode out on the Gitchi-Gami trail all the way to Silver Bay, where we bought too many sandwiches and met a couple road touring for a few days. With a bunch of thunderstorms in the forecast for that evening, we pushed past our planned camping spot at Clara Lake and got a room in Grand Marais. This was a good thing, as the humidity was high, the temps were in the 80’s, and the few remaining black flies in Minnesota all followed Justin around any time the speeds dropped under 18 mph.

It was unbearably humid here. Two Cokes apiece made things marginally better.

Day 3- Grand Marais- Grand Portage,MN- 56 miles, 4121 feet

We started the day with an awesome breakfast at Java Moose in Grand Marais, just missing the line of tourists. We also grabbed sandwiches for lunch, which was a perfect way to not just eat snack bars all day.

Because we went so long the day before, we had a relatively short day. The roads were nicely packed from the overnight rain, and we made good time into Grand Portage.

As we entered the Grand Portage Reservation, the forest changed and became much more mature, with space between trees and less undergrowth. My guess is that not so much logging happens under the stewardship of the Ojibwe Nation, and it was much easier to see into the woods compared with the roads to the south. There is no camping allowed on these lands, so we continued to Grand Portage, where we stayed at a casino hotel and waited for our ferry ride early the next morning.

Day 4- Grand Portage, MN- Rock Harbor, MI

Please tie that up there good, Bob.

We got up early and rode quickly over to Hat Point, where the Voyageur IV waited to take us to Isle Royale. We had reserved bike space and were able to secure the bikes onto the top deck. We then settled in for a long seven hour boat ride in choppy water across the 25 mile channel to Windigo, then up the western coast of Isle Royale, around the northern point, and down into Rock Harbor.

You aren't allowed to ride bikes on the island, and we were pointed to a bike rack in the woods where we unloaded our bags and walked everything into the Rock Harbor campground. A nice couple from Minneapolis let us share their site. After an awesome sunset hike, we secured our food in the bear boxes (no bears, but lots of foxes and wolves that like human food) and had a nice long rest.

Isle Royale Sunset.

Day 5- Rock Harbor MI- Copper Harbor, MI

We got up early, ate breakfast, and hiked north to Scoville Point on the island. It’s an amazing place, and I’d definitely like to return and backpack the length of Isle Royale.

We then waited for the afternoon ferry, loaded our bikes on the Isle Royale Queen, and scurried for the open rear deck. After dealing with the choppy water the day before, we were taking no chances and drugged ourselves with Dramamine. After a four hour ride across Lake Superior, we arrived at Copper Harbor at the tip of the Kee-We-Naw peninsula, or UP.

We were pleasantly surprised to find a hippie grocery store to resupply at, a hamburger spot, and tons of people buzzing around on mountain bikes. The entire campground was full of mountain bikers preparing for an Enduro race on Saturday and XC race on Sunday. It kind of felt like a NICA race weekend with a Midwest flavor.

Day 6- Rock Harbor, MI- Sunset Bay, MI. 58 miles and 2818 feet

After a night and morning of rain, we packed up our wet tents and headed south, criss-crossing the UP, and riding some really rocky ATV trails, both up and down. These weren't the most fun on a rigid bike, requiring picking lines and generally going extra slow. However, the rowdiest parts were over soon, and we found ourselves back on graded dirt roads for the most part.

We had our second mechanical of the trip here when Justin's crank arm came loose, with the plastic preload bolt stripping out. We removed the bolt with a preload tool I had stashed in the tool bag, removed my crank bolt, set the preload on Justin's bike and pinched it down, then re-installed my preload bolt. This held, and we stopped at a small country store to regenerate, drink a Coke, and buy some local thimbleberry jam, which was amazing on tortillas with peanut butter.

The weather was getting nicer and nicer as we made our way to the Lake Superior shore again. When we got to Sunset Bay, we did some laundry and relaxed in a great spot, then took in one of the famous sunsets.

Day 7- Sunset Bay, MI- Mass City, MI. 80 miles and 2667 feet.

We rolled out of Sunset Bay early on rail trails, and soon found ourselves crossing the Portage Canal into Houghton. The first order of business was getting Justin's crank fixed with a new bolt and proper torque at Rhythm Bike And Board, then eating a giant breakfast including the biggest cinnamon roll I have ever seen.

The cinnamon roll is out of focus but you get the idea

Tad at Rhythm said we might see his wife and dog picking berries on the route south. After cruising down some beautiful dirt with trees arching overhead, we did run into Margie and their Aussie Shepherd deep in a berry patch. We chatted for a while, then continued south on rail trail for many miles, trying to stay consistent and push forward in the summer sun.

We ended up at the Adventure Motel in Mass City, where we grilled some steaks on the community BBQ, paired it with Uncle Ben's rice and canned peaches, and hid from a GIANT thunderstorm and deluge.

Day 8- Mass City, MI- Presque Isle, MI. 69 miles and 3907 feet.

An Otso Fenrir in its natural habitat

Today was advertised as the rockiest part of the route, but it actually wasn't bad at all. We missed a few miles of it rejoining the route from our motel, and then it was mostly climbing on the rocks. We then headed west, back to the coast, where we stopped for lunch and took a break from the cross headwind off the lake. One Hawaiian pizza later, we put in some work on a long, paved climb and ended up in Presque Island Campground, where a befuddled attendant couldn’t quite get his head around we weren't on a motor vehicle with a license plate. Eventually, we got to our reserved spot, set up, and hiked the Presque Island Falls trail, which got a bit tough in Xero sandals after a six hour day on the bike, but worth it.

Another amazing Lake Superior sunset and we both slept like logs.

Sunset Bay living up to the name.

Day 9- Presque Isle MI- Clam Lake WI. 110 miles and 4104 feet.

I was worried about this day when we were planning the trip. We couldn't find a good place to camp at the 70 mile mark, and reserved a motel in Clam Lake at about 92 miles.

There was an overgrown section early on that paired with me not having enough breakfast, and made the first 30 miles to Ironwood tougher than they needed to be. But then we stopped at Contrast Coffee, sat on the patio and ate a great breakfast. Things were better now, and we made our way south on dirt roads. It was hot and we were running out of water, but we were making good time. We stopped at a lake about 80 miles into the day to filter some water, and I noticed my bar-mounted Inreach Mini was gone. After some thought, we looked at the last pinged location, which was roughly 12 miles back, and went back to look for it. Unfortunately, we never found it, so either someone picked it up and shut it off or it died completely on impact. We only saw one car on the deserted dirt road, so it's a mystery. We then called the motel, who left a key in the door for us, and we retraced our route again, pulling in right at dusk. A quick burger across the street at a local watering hole, and we crashed out.

Day 10- Clam Lake WI- Drummond Lake WI. 50 miles and 2904 feet.

We had hoped for a diner breakfast, but with cafes going to a post-labor day schedule, we had no luck, so we were back to cold soak oatmeal and instant coffee.

After a few miles on the highway, we rejoined the route and headed into the Chequamegon Forest. We went from graded dirt roads to hand-cut single-track, back to rocky fire roads, crossing the famous Birkebeiner Trail and tons of MTB trail that CAMBA has built over many years.

After a stop in Cable WI to find out the pizza place didn't open until 4 PM, we grabbed lunch in a cafe where I ate approximately 3 lbs of homemade mashed potatoes. What a cool, chill town. I will definitely return!

After a resupply in the hardware/grocery combo store, we headed to Drummond Lake, where we found an awesome town campground with showers and picnic tables. We were definitely not in California anymore, as you could buy a fifth of whisky, some candy, and a specially decorated AR-15 in the same convenience store.

Day 11- Drummond Lake WI- Duluth MN. 87 miles and 2365 feet.

We had reservations at a state park outside of Duluth, but with thunderstorms in the forecast for all night and the next morning, opted to push a little more and sleep indoors. This day featured some of the sandiest riding of the day (one of the roads was named Sand Road) as the route zig zagged again, avoiding busy highways. We were blessed with a south wind most of the day and averaged our fastest mph.

We crossed the bridge from Superior into Duluth, called for a takeout Sammys Pizza, and celebrated back at the Munger, where we started repacking the boxes.

Getting Back Home- We had an extra day, and the bus schedule was fairly restrictive. So we rode up to the airport on more awesome single-track, rented a SUV, hit Dovetail Cafe for lunch, packed the boxes completely, and had a last dinner at OMC Smokehouse.

The last day was a long one of waiting for buses and trains, with a 5 hour layover in the MPLS airport, where we walked six miles and covered all of Terminal One.

Downloads And Takeaways

We are getting more experienced and know what we like to do. 70 miles a day was a nice sweet spot, less than that, and we were looking for other things to do.Over 90 miles and the next day got a bit difficult.

I rode a Wolf Tooth 34T Eccentric ring for this route. I ride a heavy bike and overpack, but the 51T cassette gave me a good bailout gear. For context, I rode a 30T round ring on GDMBR.

I still brought too many clothes. I made a video in our hotel room afterwards, but it’s probably more for me to look at the next time I want to bring that extra midweight layer.

Three liters of water storage was about right. We filtered a few times, but a lot of the water is standing in lakes and full of tannins.

We got showers almost every day, and when we didn't, we promptly got out of bike clothes and used alcohol wipes on the undercarriage. Neither of us had any saddle sores.

Thanks for reading!