Courtesy of Explore Minnesota
Mountain biker on trail
It took the pandemic for our youngest kid to finally agree to the removal of her training wheels. The fever dream of those earliest days of stay-at-home broke what had been her maddeningly stout insistence that there would never be a day she pedaled with any fewer than four wheels on the blacktop. So when she told me in April that she wanted to knock the trainers off and go for a roll, I couldn’t get my wrench fast enough. And on the first try she rode—for like 13 feet, before an almost imperceptible weedy seam in the pavement jumped up and tossed her head over handlebars onto the ground. She tried again, and again, and again. Eventually she got it, and she hasn’t stopped pedaling since.
Still, when our family friends asked us to meet them in Crosby for a weekend of single-track riding on the Cuyuna Lakes Mountain Bike Trails barely a month later, I was skeptical. Cuyuna is the upper Midwest’s mountain biking North Star. With 30-plus miles (and growing) of pristine red dirt trails undulating up and down around a series of otherworldly mine pit lakes and a charming-small-town jump-off point, Cuyuna and Crosby are quickly becoming to pedaling what the Boundary Waters and Ely are to paddling. Could Matilda—still shaky on the paved paths of Minneapolis—and her older sister, Willa—a solid rider with a new mountain bike that’s seen nothing but pavement—really ride the red dirt rodeo?
Then again, in the family who’d invited us, two of the daughters are the same age as ours, and they’d been riding Cuyuna for nearly two seasons. Heck, our friends enjoyed it so much that they bought a cabin in Crosby as a sort of mountain biking crash pad. This fact alone proved riding Cuyuna with kids was not only possible but probable, but it didn’t stop me from attempting one last bailout Hail Mary—that neither Matilda nor my wife, Vanessa, had mountain bikes. They tidily put this protestation down by assuring us that Red Raven in Crosby has super quality, affordable rentals.
So, we decided to go.
Perched between the Brainerd Lakes area and Lake Mille Lacs, Cuyuna Country State Recreation Area is in the heart of the tourist epicenter of Minnesota. And yet, aside from area cabin owners, the spoils of the region’s robust tourism industry had historically eluded cities like Crosby and Ironton, which, until 30 years ago, were still full-on mining towns. Then, in the early 2010s, some visionary cyclists convinced the state that the crystalline mine pit lakes and the 5,000 acres of woods, waste rock, and iron-tinted red dirt surrounding them set up perfectly for mountain biking—and that people flock to great mountain biking. The state agreed, and by 2011 the Cuyuna Lakes Mountain Bike Trails were hosting their first riders. Not a decade later, the gravitational pull of Cuyuna has forced the central Minnesota tourist trail to realign right through Crosby.
And Crosby is great. Just five minutes by bike from Cuyuna, the main drag centers on a couple blocks emanating from the intersection of East Main Street and 3rd Avenue, and most everything you need is there—Cuyuna Brewing Company, Iron Range Eatery, a grocery and a liquor store, and even Red Raven, which in addition to being a bike shop is also a top-notch organic café. Crosby is basically a quaint ski town, and Cuyuna is the resort—except everything’s way cheaper. That includes the lodging, which essentially consists of Airbnbs, campsites, and two hip camper-cabin-style resorts designed specifically for cyclists—True North Basecamp and Red Rider Resort—that are both located a stone’s throw from Cuyuna’s single tracks.
While lots of folks bike in from Crosby, our friends prefer to strap a canoe to their roof, pack a lunch and some post-ride suds, and park at the Miner’s Mountain Rally Center, a park within Cuyuna that functions as the central point of the trail system and sits between Huntington Mine Lake and Pennington Mine Lake. There are various skill loop warm-up courses at the north end of the parking lots, and before the adults are done unloading and gearing up, the kids are flying around said loops and making my skepticism about the trip look silly—by the time I get my bike off the rack, Matilda is already covered in red dirt and grinning ear to ear.
Cuyuna’s single-track trails are accessible from a six-mile paved path that loops around the lakes, and the difficulty of each is labeled, ski area–style, at each trailhead. Most are uber-rideable-for-anyone green circles, which are still plenty interesting and fun even for more advanced riders as they roller-coaster through rutty forest and in and out of view of the mine pit lakes below. Eventually, we put the bikes back on the cars and take the canoes off of them and head to Huntington Mine Lake for a paddle, swim, and those beers.
But on this day, before any of that, despite the other kids already having changed into their swimsuits, Matilda, who less than two months earlier swore she’d never take her training wheels off, still has her helmet on and is gunning for a couple last laps on the skill loop course.
Breaking Away
Inspired to take a biking vacay that doesn’t involve the red dirt of Cuyuna? Then try one of these two-wheeled weekend adventures. They offer something for every level rider in the family, plus solid après-biking activities to shake off the dirt.
Sakatah Singing Hills
This 39-mile trail connects Mankato to Faribault and moves through the remnants of Big Woods forests that open to prairies, marshes, lakes, and farmland. In the portion that runs through Sakatah Lake State Park, old-growth oak trees that were spared during Minnesota’s logging boom create an ancient canopy unrivaled in the state.
Lake Wobegon Trail
This 65-mile asphalt trail follows the corridor of the Great Northern Railroad, with trailheads and recreation and dining options in towns like St. Joseph, Waite Park, Avon, and Albany. The ride weaves through woods, farms, colleges, and even two monasteries. Take the extension by Holdingford to ride Minnesota’s longest covered bridge.
Redhead Mountain Bike Park
Located a few hours north of the Cities in Chisholm, the single-track trails of the state’s newest mountain bike park meander through a former 1,225-acre Iron Range mine. Open from dawn to dusk seven days a week, the trails, with names like Roller Derby, Boneyard, Fractured Falls, and Mine Blast, parallel the deep crystal-clear blue waters of former Iron Range mine pits. The first 15 miles of an expected 35-mile series of trail loops opened in June, and riders are already calling it world class. The trailhead is located at the Minnesota Discovery Center, and limited rentals are available. Post-ride, grab grub and suds at the Rustic Pig Food Court and tour the museum’s Iron Range history exhibits. Plan to spend a weekend exploring the Redhead trails? The Chisholm Inn and Suites is located across the street, and the Chisholm Iron Trail Campground is nearby.
