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This is my very first time mountain biking in Duluth, MN. Mission Creek is on the southern side of Duluth and has a fairly popular trail system with a few different routes.
I’ve been looking at riding in Duluth for a while now. When most people talk about mountain biking in Minnesota, Duluth is the place people most mention. I’ve been meaning to head up to Duluth for a while but have never taken the time to drive up there for riding. Duluth is only about two hours away from the Twin Cities so there is no reason can’t ride there as a day trip.
On this day I drove up to ride the trails at Mission Creek. Mission Creek was features a couple years back in a Bike Magazine article and they talked up the Ninja Beaver, Loki and Lower Cathedral trails. I’m saving those trails for the next Mission Creek video.
On this day I rode the Duluth Traverse on my way to the Indigenous Land trail. I parked in the lot at the bottom of Mission Creek and climbed up Duluth Traverse trail. The climb is is fairly easy and really pretty fast. There are plenty of dips to help keep the climb fun with some little descents. At the very top the trail is very beautiful with tall trees that will make you forget you’re riding in Minnesota.
You’ll get some fun descents as you make your way to Indigenous Land trail. The Indigenous Land trail it pretty much a nice XC trail with some scenic views. The trail takes it’s time descending back down and will not drop you off at the Mission Creek trailhead. The trail ends close to the trailhead but you’ll need to ride some fire road and city street to get back.
The best parts of Indigenous Land are the very end of the trail. The descent all of a sudden changes and the attention to the trail has to go up. The trail takes more of a bench cut feel and leads to some fun switchbacks before ending on a pretty cool boardwalk.
Overall this was a good ride but not what I was expecting from Duluth. There was plenty of elevation and climbing but the trails were pretty easy to ride. There was a distinct lack of technical features and the trails were pretty much smooth hard pack. I was expecting a little more rock and technical riding but I didn’t find it on this day.
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