It was a spur of the moment decision, kind of. We went back and forth on what to spend our Monday doing. I wanted to do something fun. It was the last day of my July 4th vacation away from my day job. As I pretty much always suggest whenever I have a chance, I mentioned we could go for an ATV ride.
I felt like a kid at Christmas in July when my husband agreed and said we should take a trip down a road we had yet to travel. I was like a kid at Disney World at Christmas in July when I saw him strapping a full gas can to the back of our side by side. We’ve never taken a gas can when we’ve had a full tank in the Polaris! We were surely going out for an adventure.
We packed up some pop, water, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the journey. After double-checking we had bug dope, mosquito nets, and a couple sweatshirts, we shot down the Drummond and did something I’ve been itching to do since we moved out here. We took a left into the Donald D. Ferguson Demonstration Forest and got onto the Wild Country Trail.
I was immediately enamored with the scenery the trail presented and how it was ever-changing as we rode on. The mud puddles were aplenty and, being we didn’t want to get too wet on the way to wherever we were going, we drank in the sights at a non-mudding-pace. That is, until we found a little racetrack at a trailhead and a gravel pit down the road. That was a lot more fun than Disneyland and we didn’t need to wait in line.
We paused on every bridge over every stream and brook along the way. There were giant ancient looking beaver dams to gape at, too. We spotted grouse and a kestrel or two flew ahead of us, leading us down the trail. There were flowers and berries I saw that reminded me I should’ve brought my gosh darn forager’s identification book. Sigh. Can’t remember everything!
I learned from a display posted at one of the shelters alongside the road that a segment of the C.J. Ramstad North Shore Trail was once the Duluth and Northern Minnesota Railroad. This railroad was an important part of the logging industry at the turn of the century. It was interesting to imagine how different the landscape was at that time.
The landscape had recently been disturbed by the flood that had literally rained on the parade of the MN ATV Riders Ride the Shore event a few weeks back. The downpour of rain had damaged some of the trails, but work had already been done to get the trail back in order and we were not waylaid outside of some weather.
The skies were blue ahead of us and behind us, but somehow it started drizzling on us and it didn’t stop. We paused at shelters alongside the trails more than once to see if it would pass over. The shelters were well-maintained and contained maps that kept us sure we were going the right way. We didn’t linger too long, however. The mosquitoes sought out the shelters, too.
It was when the drizzle got to be larger drops that we hit a point in our journey where we could’ve ridden into Silver Bay, or we could’ve ridden on to Finland. We no longer wanted our PB&Js or our pop. We wanted something warm to eat, someplace dry to eat it, and an adult beverage to go along with the meal.
“I really want to see if we can make it to Finland on one tank of gas,” my husband said. I told him he sure better hope the bar was open when we got there.
We popped out on HWY 1 and spotted the Four Seasons Bar and Restaurant across the way. We worried a bit about bringing our muddy selves into their establishment. My husband, the driver, had mud caked on his left side, and I, as the passenger, was pretty muddy on my right. But we weren’t turned away. It was $5 burger night, and we took advantage. Someone I will not name inhaled his burger and was looking at mine leeringly. The cheese curds were good, the bartender friendly, and a patron indulged us as we bragged about how far we had come.
It had taken 6 hours to get to Finland. My husband teased me that we probably wouldn’t be home until after midnight. Not wanting to get stuck in the woods in the dark I told him it better not take that long.
It didn’t. The scenery whizzed by, and we did not pause on bridges, we did not stop at shelters, and we certainly did not slow down for all the mud puddles. We were wet and muddy anyway! We made it home in half the time. Despite the rain, the bug bites, and thinking we may be lost here and there, I had the best time out on the trails. We put about 100 miles on our machine. I can’t wait to return to put on more.
The MN ATV Club’s Ride the Shore 2024 has been rescheduled for July 19th and 20th in Silver Bay and I’m excited others will get to enjoy the ride as much as we did. Thank you to those who maintain the trail systems and for making sure everything is marked for us all to have a great and safe time out on our toys!
