BIKE PARK TOUR OF THE NORTHWOODS GEMS: Spirit Mountain to Bayfield to Little Switzerland

Growing up in the Midwest, and experiencing the struggle we had to find "Downhill" mountain biking, where the only uplift was a beefed up F-350 with tow ropes on the back, I always love having the opportunity to come back and see how far lift-accessed biking has progressed in the upper Midwest. We made a trip in early September to sample some of the bike parks offered on our MTBParks Pass. We would first drive up to Duluth, MN, stopping in Red Wing first to sample some trails, then up the south shore of Lake Superior to Bayfield, WI. Lastly, we would shoot South to Little Switzerland just outside of Milwaukee.

We left my hometown of Cedar Falls, IA and embarked north towards Red Wing, MN. Red Wing is just south of the Twin Cities and offers about 400 - 500 feet of vertical loss from the top of Soldier Memorial Park down to Highway 61 and the Mississippi River. The crew over at RAMBO (Red Wing Area Mountain Bike Organization) have done a great job of building and maintaining some XC and gravity oriented trails within the park. The summit road also offers a great option for shuttling or an easier pedal back to the top.

Red Wing was the closest place to ride big bikes when I was growing up and offers stunning views of the Mississippi River. We hit the Blue loop and then jumped up to the Black loop with a spur down to the river. The runs are never super long in the Midwest, but it still gave us a brief sensation of speed and gravity. As I reminisced about prior shred sessions, we headed north through the cities and up to Spirit Mountain Resort in Duluth, MN.

Spirit Mountain is everything we were looking for as gravity groms growing up in the flatlands. Over 700 feet of elevation change, large rocks, and dark dirt to offer summer-long riding. Spirit has a number of trails with diverse levels of difficulty, as well as a mini bike park with progressing jump lines at the bottom of the park.

The new downhill trail "Calculated Risk" is a true test of skill and definitely worthy of a downhill bike. Chunky rock gardens, large rock rolls, and sizeable doubles are similar to what you would see in a place such as Whistler Mountain Bike Park. It took me the entire day to discover the best lines through this gnarly track that gave me fits on multiple runs.

My favorite trail on the mountain was a run on the South side of the mountain named "BossHogg." This trail consists of 5 large doubles sending you through the aspens. These jumps do not offer a ride around, and are a mandatory air set of doubles, giving the expert riders an exclusive trail.

Smorgasbord is a blue trail that offers something to challenge novice riders with steeper chutes and smaller, flatter rock rolls. This trail was a very good challenge for those who have mastered the flow trails in the bike parks.

Spirit also gives you the option of being in the town of Duluth within minutes of leaving the resort. At one time, Duluth had the largest amount of millionaires per capita in the United States, relying heavily on the supple amounts of Iron in the area surrounding Lake Superior, and the close proximity to a port that could access the Atlantic Ocean. At the end of the last century, however, they were in one of the largest economic slumps in US history and the fate of the town was in question.

In the past decade, the town has seen a resurgence, largely because of the spark in mountain biking and trail building. With over 100 miles of mountain bike trails in the surrounding area, including the Duluth Traverse, a 40-mile trail connecting the Spirit Mountain and trails south of Duluth, all the way up through town and to trail systems north of Duluth. Any trail you are on in Duluth also offers spectacular views of Lake Superior. Views unlike any I have ever seen before. Lake Superior is the largest freshwater body of water in the world, and it truly feels like you are looking across an ocean.


From here we traveled across the Blatnik Bridge on I-535 and into Wisconsin. The sports apparel and team flags quickly change from Purple and Yellow to Green and Yellow as we made our way up and around to the Apostle Island National Lakeshore, a beautiful array of small off-shore islands with numerous sea caves. The area is a sea kayakers delight and offers more stunning beauty provided by Lake Superior.

We got the bikes out in the little town of Bayfield, WI. This town plays host to the famous "Hidden Gem of the North" race, which offers 3 events: Dual Slalom, Enduro, and Downhill on public and private trails. We were able to gain access to some of the private trails after first asking permission of the landowner and trail builder. These trails are not long, but pack a real punch with huge berms and large jumps. The Dual Slalom course has recently been extended and offers a course about twice as long as years prior. They are expertly built and provide great flow as you wind your way down to the lake shore. The road gap at the bottom of the downhill course is the most publicized feature and provides a spectacular end to this short downhill course. It was awesome to find a true gem in the middle of the small towns of northern Wisconsin. Everybody was super nice and willing to show us around all of the trails. Keep an eye out in 2018 for this event going off in mid-September.


Our last stop on the trip was Little Switzerland in Slinger, WI. We drove into the center of Slinger, where our GPS led us and pulled into the resort in the middle of town across from a dirt track with races going on. I have definitely never heard engines roaring like that as I went up the lift.

Looking at the hill for the first time, you may be a bit disappointed, but don't judge a book by it's cover. Though this hill only has a couple hundred feet of vertical drop, it pumps a ton of trails and trail features out of the small area it has, including a number of sizeable drops and doubles. I haven't seen features of this magnitude at any bike park this year, and it was pretty rad to see how many of the local riders have mastered these technical obstacles.


"The Badlands" has the largest features of the park and they are not for the faint of heart, almost bordering on slopestyle-esque features. "PBR" offers a number of drops and doubles, and "Jammer" offers a flow jump line for riders of all abilities.

The lift actually runs up and over the hill and can be accessed from both sides to double the terrain. This bike park was by far the biggest surprise of the trip, and although the runs are only 20 to 30 seconds, there are enough trails to keep you busy all day, as well as a well-supplied patio to help you refuel after a long day of riding. This bike park was also the busiest we have seen all summer, and in talking with Bike Park Manager and Co-Owner, Mike Schmitz, it sounds like the selection of about a dozen and a half days open really brings people out for when they are spinning lifts at the bike park. Having specific days makes it so riders clear their calendars for those days.

I can tell you that if this bike park had been spinning when I was here, I would not have missed a day.


We hit up Jim's Place right in downtown Slinger, which had a number of awesome pizzas outdoor seating, and the cherry on top, Ice Cream. An enormous chocolate-dipped cone was the icing on the cake of a great extended weekend of bike riding and exploring. That and the fact that the growth of more diverse mountain biking in the Midwest has been enormous.

Gone are the days of riding gravel on your 29er hardtail and calling it mountain biking, and here are the days of ripping hundreds of feet of elevation requiring longer travel bikes. Places like Spirit Mountain in Duluth, Little Switzerland in Slinger, and even the trails recently built in Copper Harbor, MI have given Midwest gravity riders an option besides Colorado or the East Coast. This will mean more skilled gravity riders coming out of the Midwest, and more parks as riders voice their need for more terrain.

Keep an eye out for more trails at the existing bike parks in the Midwest, as well as for more and more resorts to add bike parks to their summer operations. The Heartland may not be where most people would choose to take their big bike, but with these additions, those assumptions may soon be coming to an end.

A huge thanks goes out to MTBparks.com for making this whole trip a possibility! The MTBparks Pass gives riders a free day of riding at tons of bike parks all over North America!