Frank’s Gravel Routes: Part 2

Frank is our gravel expert Ride the Range Trail Ambassador. His favorite northern Minnesota gravel routes can be yours, too. Just follow his tips and download the route on Ride With GPS.

McCarthy Beach Gravel

This route starts at McCarthy Beach State Park. There is ample room for parking, bathrooms and one of the best beaches in the entire state for when you are through with your ride. The town of Side Lake is also close by with offerings for delicious pizza at Bimbo’s Octagon, food and drink at Riverside Inn and more.

This route goes through some great areas of forest. Large red pines line the forest roads that you will be riding and the route curves along on the Snake Trail into Itasca County and then back on the Link Lake Trail. These roads are not heavily traveled hence the “Trail” names. This ride offers rolling terrain, the chance to be in the middle nowhere and a mix of large forests along with some swampy areas typical of Northern Minnesota.

This is one of my favorite areas to ride in because of the large red pines and the state park. You will be coming back to the parking area on road called Ski Trail Road. This road is an XC Ski trail in the winter. It is a bit rougher but offers that adventure feeling that I love about gravel. There are numerous old school MTB trails off the ski trail road also if that’s something you are looking for. Red Top is a great one. Y

ou will have to pedal some pavement on this route as there are quite a few lake homes in the area and to the west, there isn’t much out there other than Hwy 65 and dead-end logging roads. Enjoy this one, it’s a great ride.

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/53762226

Pfeiffer Lake Gravel

This route is Pfeiffer Lake out and back. This is usually my first go to route after the roads have dried up in the Spring. This ride Begins in the Big Aspen Parking lot. Big Aspen is an XC ski area and four-wheeler trail eight miles north of Virginia, MN. There is signage on Hwy 53 to guide you. There is a large parking lot area with Ample room and a pit toilet maintained by the Forest Service.

You could head back into Virginia after the ride and stop by the Copper Nickel at the Golf Course for refreshments, The Freeze for ice cream or the Sugar Shack downtown for a baked treat.

This route is deceiving as thebBeginning portion is mainly downhill and will fool you into thinking it will be a cakewalk of a ride. You will have quite a bit of climbing on the way back and at the end of the out portion as well.

This is a great early season ride of 20 miles of gravel.

Head north on the Pfeiffer Lake Forest Rd. The route is hilly and challenging in areas and offers some good vistas as well as the chance to check out the Rice River, Big Rice Lake and Pfeiffer lake. Pfeiffer lake has water available as it is a public campground as well as a public beach and pit toilets. There is a good mix of forests that you pedal through, including some large red and white pines toward Hwy one offering a good chance to see wildlife. This is a great trainer for the early season legs.

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/53689012