Northland Off Road

[craig]

For those living in the "northlands" (northern MN and WI) we have 1000s of miles of off road trails. Many of these are former railroad beds, making for a flat wide trail. Most are rock, ballast, or "pea gravel" altho some in MN are "paved" with tarmack.  Examples I've travel: The Gandy Dancer Trail between St. Criox WI and Superior WI
and the Tri County Corridor between Superior WI and Ashland WI. Wide tires with lowered air pressure and a mountain bike make a for great ride. The Tri County trail ride can be connected with a few miles of paved road to various old railroad beds crossing to Sault Ste Marie in the U.P. of MI.  Some portions look more like double tracks mountain bike trails. Some are in open prairies , others in deep woods. 1000s of miles of former railroad tracks nationwide have been removed making lots of possible off road touring rides.

Pedal plenty
craig

[ScottM]

It would sure be cool to get some of these routes mapped out on GPS.  Do you run into many obstructions (e.g. signs and gates claiming private property, whether rightful or not)?

[sean salach]

the katy trail across missouri was one of the highlights of my coast to coast trip. i'm a big fan of rail trails and tried to incoorporate them into my pedal powered travels in the lower 48 as much as possible.