Minnesotans...

“Greetings!...I live about 15 miles south of the twin cities in this great state and was wondering if anyone knew of any trails within an hour or two from here, some weekend sites would be great...already know about Afton and lake Mariah thank you.”

“Hello Footsy. Glad to hear of another Minnesotan. I currently live in Minneapolis, but will be moving north (near Duluth) upon graduation in may. I don't know of any trails in the immediate area, although i must confess my greenness to this passtime. I generally go up to the Superior Trail and am thinking about doing some of the Boundary Waters trails.

There is one possibility though. The Ice Age Trail runs all through Wisconsin. Cindy Lu (she lives about an hour north of the cities) and I went last fall. We did a couple sections north of Eau Claire. That's about all I can help with. good luck and welcome.

one more thought. Check the Minnesota state parks web site. It probably has some of the information you are looking for , though you could probably only do overnighters in most state parks. Try this site. cut and paste. I dont' know that htm-whatever.

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/parks_and_recreation/state_parks/”

“Hi Footsy, NE Iowa here (15 miles south of MN border and currently working in Preston/Lanesboro).

Also look into the Richard C. Dorer State Forest in southeastern Minny. There are places you could backpack there. Some of the units closer to the Cities are near Wabasha, etc. It goes all the way down to the Iowa border.

Maybe Cindy Lu will come up with a link for ya??! Hey, Cindy Lu, I biked from Lanesboro to the Isinours Unit in the forest (which is right by a county highway, I now realize!) Hiked through Forest for at least a mile or 2 to check out the remote campsites there. The highest one has an open wooden shelter on it, a couple fire rings ..OH! and some tree logs about waist high around a "bathroom" area...LOL!! Never seen such a thing!! Also a picnic table. Nice overlook there.

There's almost an even nicer overlook at the lower one. No shelter there, but the rest is the same. OH! But at this one there were a ton of beer cans. Perhaps access is just toooooo easy.

And I ran into a guy wandering off trail. That's always fun, being alone!! lol....... just a guy scouting for turkeys, was gonna be back the following week. He had another friend who was off elsewhere, scouting.

I biked 10 miles (this is about 5 miles from Lanesboro; just under 6 from Preston) roundtrip. Met a lot of bikers, fishermen, etc. Fun!”

“Howdy hoser”

“Hey now. We, here, aren't like doz der Hosers farder up nort. Yah, if you're gonna start callen us Minnesotans, you bedder be reddy fer a scuffle, O-key-doke? Yah sure we may be a bit passive aggressive, but don't go an tink we're all jus a bunch a Norskie, fishing, couch potatas, heck no. Oh, da heck, we're Vikins doncha know. We'll be comin down on you, you can be sure of dat. Or if not we'll jus keep on remindin you of dat one time when you called us a buncha hosers and try da make you feel a bit bad about da whole ting.”

“Oof-da, that took a lot outta me. I think I'll go fishin fer a while. I hope you've learned yer lesson.”

“Jeez, Oldie. You're moving up north just as I'm coming back into the cities?

'Bout the middle of June I'm gonna come back to Mpls for the summer; probably through December. If'n ya get homesick sometime c'mon down and we'll have some coffee at the Hard Times.”

“That is if Hard tii mes is open still. City coucil has been thinking babout shuttin them cosn. There ahve been drug charges on empleyeses there. They're still open now, but I dont knnow howmuch longer.


Beer is good. $1.50 pitchers of crappy beer ati Bit 10 on Tuesday nights. Yay!”

“Oldie, did Ice Tea type that last post for ya?LOL!”

“No kidding! What happened to spell check? ;^)

Ahh...they've been closing and re-opening the HT for years. I've stopped paying attention to the threats to close. Like listening to someone say they're going to quit smoking. I just smile and nod.”

“Ok, now that I only have a small headache I think I should be able to type a little more coherently.

Tommy, I don't know how much longer Hard Times is going to be open. The city council has been trying to shut them down for the past year or two due to some drug arrests there. When are you moving up, and how long are you going to be here in the cities? I'm graduating, yes, but I still have grad school. So I"m taking a year or more break then I'll be back in Minneapolis to get my teaching license. If you're around then - or heck, even if I'm visiting mpls or you're visiting the Duluth area - we'll have to go get some coffee, plan a hike and whatnot.”

“And when you make that requisite trip to the Root River Trail/Lanesboro for some recreational fun, remember I'm in the neighborhood, working!”

“lizs, we couldn't forget you! And CindyLu too, that's who!

I'll be up the 3rd week of June, probably staying through December.

And they have successfully closed the HT a few times, all drug related. It always opens back up. Personally, it's not my crowd, but my good friend works there (the girl in my Europe pics on my webpage) so I go there by default.”

“I'll be up near duluth all summer at least. If you want to plan a hike that would be great.”

“Tommy, I'm just an hour away! I really think we need to get an offishul Minnesotan TT hike going here! Whatcha say, Oldie? And Liz! And maybe some Wisconsonians and whoever else wants to join in!”

“I don't know if I can handle hiking with Sconnies. HA. No, that sounds like a great Cindy lu.

I was planning on going on a week-long hike up north some time in the second half of May. I'm not real picky about where. How do those weeks look to you all? If people don't have time for a week, maybe we could meet part way through or something. Comments, suggestions?”

“Of course, I won't be there yet, but from June on...

Actually, that's not true, either. I guess I'm going a show, presumably gigs in July...ah, crap. I'll post available times when things get more solid. I'm just looking forward to the Desolation trip these Cali folks are planning. Speaking of which, I'd better revive that thread.”

“oh, stupid of me. I knew that. I'm sorry Tommy.

When can us MN, IA, WI folks get together then?”

“Oldie--I'll be at Split Rock this weekend...Le Subtil is starting his 12 day hike there on Sunday. I have school to finish up til the 17th. I really won't be available til after mem weekend. Can't manage a week off... but maybe something Mid-June? I was talking to some others...maybe in Wisconsin...”

“Le Subtil - or Cindy lu if you know - what is your rout? Would you mind some company for a day or two somewhere along the trail?”

“I never realized, until now, what a cult Minnesota is.”

“Hey! We're a perfectly - JOIN US - normal bunch - THE CHOSEN ONES - of people. And completely ignore the rumor that lutefisk - AMBROSIA - is nasty stuff, it has no mind-control effects what so ever.”

“Repeat after me, "Syttende Mai..... Syttende Mai.... Syttende Mai....."

It does get kind of cult-ish, doesn't it??”