All Play and No Work

Not that I was fed up with skiing in circles—heading down a cross-country trail only to come back to the same place a couple of hours later. But when I called recently about a lodge-to-lodge ski trip in northeastern Minnesota, I was taken with the idea of going somewhere, of skiing to a destination, a new place everyday, as if I were some ancient Norseman traveling village to village through the Scandinavian countryside. I wanted to set out each morning with a destination in mind and arrive at a snug cabin with glowing light as the gray afternoon turns to winter night.

Apparently, I’m not the only one. Barbara Young, who co-owns Boundary Country Trekking with her husband, Ted, the outfit that arranges such trips, says her customers have expressed plenty of reasons to try lodge-to-lodge skiing in Minnesota’s Arrowhead. “First of all, darn good ski trails,” says Young. “They like the variety of the lodges. On the Gunflint Trail, they like the idea of not having to monkey with their cars and luggage. On the North Shore, they like the North Shore—if they can ski and see the lake from time to time, that’s a thrill.”

Exactly. I had plenty of possibilities to consider. I could take a trip as short as two nights, as long as seven. A night in a “ski-in cabin,” other nights at modern resorts. I could even ski from yurt to yurt. But first I had to make the big choice: Did I want to ski the Gunflint or the North Shore?

Most of her customers, Young explains, ski the trails along the Gunflint, a network known as the Gunflint Nordic Trails. This is the real northwoods, a land of balsam, pine, and birch, where you stand a good chance of spotting a pine marten or moose. And you may even hear a wolf. The 176-kilometer trails along the Gunflint include the upper system near Gunflint Lake and the lower system east of Poplar Lake. The two are joined by the Banadad Trail, which cuts through the Boundary Waters Canoe Area.

Tempting.

My other choice was the North Shore Mountain Trail. Like the Gunflint system, it isn’t a single route but a network of linked loop trails totaling 196 kilometers. The trails run from Schroeder north along the shore nearly to Grand Marais. Much of this is wild country as well, with extensive trails through Cascade River State Park, Lutsen Woods, and Superior National Forest. Scaling the craggy slopes along Superior, the trails offer the possibility of frequent overlooks above the lake, which at this time of year is rimmed with ice.

Since childhood visits to the big lake, I have been a fan of the shore, and recent heavy snow had made a ski trip possible. So I chose the North Shore. A few days later, after time on the phone, Young sent our itinerary.

My wife, Susan, and I started with a late-night arrival at Cascade Lodge. Located near its namesake river and state park, Cascade is one of the grand old lodges of northeastern Minnesota, a landmark along Highway 61. I think of it as high-end Northwoods Traditional, with French doors facing the highway and the lake, old wolf pelts hanging on a wall, a caribou head mounted over the stairway, and a stuffed otter slithering under the baby grand in the corner.

The lodge has played a key role in the boom of North Shore Nordic ski trails since the mid-1970s when its owners began working with Cascade River State Park to maintain and expand a challenging network of trails. Nowadays, more than fifty kilometers of groomed routes run through the park and surrounding area.