Northwoods 600

I’m still basking in the incredible sense of accomplishment and pride in completing the Northwoods 600 – a 600+ mile bikepacking route that circumnavigates the western portion of Lake Superior through Minnesota, Michigan, and Wisconsin. It was nothing short of an epic journey and a test of mental and physical grit.

The Northwoods 600 was created by Bikepacking Roots, a non-profit dedicated to promoting responsible bikepacking and welcoming bikepackers of all races, genders, sexual orientations, and abilities. The route showcases the stunning, rugged beauty of the Northwoods and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and traverses the traditional lands of the Anishinabewaki people.

Buckle up – this is a long post!

Prologue

Shortly after my friend Jess and I completed the Green Mountain Gravel Growler in Vermont, we started thinking about the Northwoods 600. The original plan was to look at 2022 but the timing didn’t work out so we shifted the plan to 2023. We settled on the last two weeks of August to capitalize on the long Labor Day weekend, cooling temps, and hopefully, fewer bugs. We decided camping would keep costs low and give us more flexibility given some sections were in very remote areas.

Over about 9 months, we collaborated on planning in a Google Sheet – breaking the states down into reasonable mileage days, mapping out campgrounds and resupply locations, and other interesting things to look for. We donated to Bikepacking Roots to get the physical guidebook and the PDF version, which we brought with us on the trip for on-the-fly information gathering.

To be sure, this 2- week adventure was out of our collective comfort zones. Neither of us has done a bikepacking trip of this length, much less with most of the accomodations as camping. Camping adds a layer of stress above the usual miles and load – survival is at stake. Setting up camp, making a meal, cleaning up after the meal, making sure everything is bear proof/bear safe … it’s a lot of psychological stress.

I assumed we would be without cell coverage for at least part of the route, but there were a surprising amount of times I didn’t have cell service. I picked up a Garmin Messenger tracking device, which was really helpful in letting friends and family see where we were, we could message them through the device to let them know we were OK, and even get weather forecasts.

Two weeks before our scheduled departure, my youngest adult-aged kid, who lives at home, contacted Covid, which, fortunately, my husband and I did not contract (she isolated in her room and had her own bathroom) but made for a bit of anxiety around how quickly illness could change all our planning. It might have been overkill, but I rapid-tested daily until departure day to be sure.

I made a playlist of the songs that ran through my head over the course of the 2 weeks, in order of the days. Most of these were used as names for my Strava uploads. Mental music helps the miles tick off faster whe we weren’t talking.

Minnesota (Days 1-4)

While Duluth has a regional airport, it was cheaper to fly into Minneapolis/St Paul and rent a car to drive north. We had timed our flights to arrive within an hour of each other, but ultimately my flight was delayed 4 hours – which wasn’t a great way to start the trip but was a bellwether for things to come.

The next morning we had to get our bike bags and suitcases stored. We had arranged with the local bike shop, Twin Ports Cyclery, so we walked our bike bags up to the shop (Denis, the owner, was there and had spent time living in Colorado Springs, which we all bonded over) and then walked to Whole Foods Co-Op to pick up last minute snacks and lunch. All this meant we got a much later start than intended. And …. it was hot.

In the late morning, we set our way through Duluth on the Cross-City Trail, which led us to the heavily populated Canal Park. The bike path was lovely other than the multi-use path over I-35, which was absolutely terrifying to ride across.

Then we began to climb out of the Duluth area and the ride started to feel real. The roads were fairly exposed with little tree cover, so we stopped a few times to cool off, drink water, and eat snacks. The climbs overall were never onerous – relatively nice 2-3% grades for no more than a few miles – but when hauling 40 pounds of gear on your bike, it is more of a marathon than a sprint.

highlights from Minnesota

• Exposed Roads that made the heat of the first two days tough. Lots of taking breaks in the shade to cool off, drink fluids, and have a snack
• Routing into Two Harbors for food and more water, as we’d already drank the gallon each we were carrying
• Finding a selfie station on a trail around a tunnel, and of course we had to take a jumping picture. It took several tries to get it right.
• Rolling into Gooseberry Falls State Park 7 minutes before the ranger station closed and scoring the only available place to put us, which happened to be the best spot in the campground. (Minnesota, Michigan, and Wisconsin have a No Turn Away policy for bicycle travelers who need accommodations at campgrounds even if they are full.)
• I break one of my tent poles. Thankfully, Big Agnes includes a pole splint.

• the Gitchi-Gami Trail is a GEM of a paved bikepath from Gooseberry Falls to Silver Bay
• Stopping in Beaver Bay for snacks and more water, relaxing in the shade by a giant beaver statue
• More exposed paved roads = so hot
• Stopping a few feet into a driveway to rest, eat, and drink in a small spot of shade. A little old woman comes out of her house – we think she will offer us water or some other comfort in the heat – but she yells “PICK UP YOUR SHIT AND MOVE ALONG.”
• Stopping a mile or so later at the Lax Lake Resort to rest in their driveway and chat with the proprietors, who assured us that woman was like that to everyone
• Getting to Finland, MN and buying a lot of food because it was our last resupply for 70 miles (we were still 30 miles from our intended campsite)
• watching a beaver play in a pond full of lily pads
• getting the last open campsite!!

• RAIN overnight. The first of a few days where temps were getting cooler and every night was soggy. Fortunately, our tents kept us warm and dry; although I realized I had neglected to re-waterproof my rainfly before the trip.
• Roads are two-tracks and trails are roads. It didn’t make sense. Regardless, there were a ton of mosquitos. BUGGINS Performance insect repellent kept them at bay (mostly)
• Shorter day but no resupply until we get to Grand Marais for the night
• OK lunch at Fisherman’s Daughter, then off to our campsite, dinner at Voyageur Brewery

• RAIN AGAIN. The forecast looked super gloomy with severe weather overnight. We opt to have breakfast in town (Java Moose), and skip the “most remote and rustic” part of Minnesota to ride up the coast on MN61.
• Wonderful views of Lake Superior as we ride on the wide shoulder
• Entering Grand Portage Reservation
• Picking up supplies at the Grand Portage Trading Post
• Setting up camp at the Grand Portage Marina, which feels like the edge of the world, especially with the strong winds coming off the bay
• Someone giving us fish caught earlier in the day. They didn’t know we don’t eat fish, especially from strangers. We ate in the casino restaurant instead.
• No severe weather overnight, but the WIND was so intense

Isle Royale National Park (Days 5-6)

Early the next morning, we packed up our stuff and rode over to the ferry to Isle Royale National Park. We booked our spots on the Voyageur II, a US Mail Boat specifically designed for operation on the Great Lakes. We pre-gamed with Dramamine because the weather has been so iffy.

Sure enough, Lake Superior was in a fine mood and we both felt nauseated despite the anti-motion sickenss meds. A steady stream of Gin Gin hard candies kept things down for us (but others were “feeding the fishes” off the back). Two hours later, we pull into Windigo dock for our park orientation.

Back on the boat for the 6 hour trip around the island to Rock Harbor, where we would be staying overnight.

The first 5 hours of this portion were lovely – calm waters as we sailed the smooth water along the western coastline of Isle Royale. We had a pick up at one of the remote docks and sailing in McCargoe Cove was absolutely magical. (Excuse the noise – we were sitting in or directly behind the engine room)

As we rounded the northern end of the island, things got … interesting. The waves were getting larger, the boat listing a bit more from side to side. Then the doors to the engine room where we were sitting started banging open and closed. The boat listed so hard at one point it felt like it was at a 45* angle and everyone was bracing themselves against what was surely going to be a rollover.

In that half-second, my brain calculated that there wasn’t enough time to grab life jackets and that our bikes were surely headed to the bottom of the lake.

Fortunately, our captain was All Pro and navigated us safely around the island and into the calm waters of Rock Harbor with a jovial “Well, THAT was fun!” Jess chatted with him as our bikes were being unloaded – he said the 10-foot waves we were in were relatively mild compared to how it can get on Lake Superior. Yikes.

The only words on my mind are RESPECT. Respect for our captain and crew and for the raw power of nature.

(we learned MUCH later about the folklore that Lake Superior never gives up her dead)

We got our camping permit, locked our bikes to the racks at the docks, and walked our bags to a campsite to set up and eat some food before retiring early.

I had to walk back to our bikes to get some items we left and on my way back on the trail to our campsite, I noticed a medium sized black dog with pointy ears trotting towards me. My first thought was “oh, someone’s dog is loose!” – but immediately recalled that dogs are not allowed on the island. This is a fox. I stopped; the black fox stopped to observe me, decided I wasn’t a threat, and trotted off into the brush.

No photos, but it did happen! I felt so lucky!

The next morning we slept in late, as our next ferry wasn’t until afternoon, and we had a relaxed breakfast before packing everything up and reloading our bikes. We wandered around the dock, had lunch on the restaurant porch, bought souvenirs and snacks, and then spent a few hours just looking out over the lake. It was nice to not do anything for a bit. We took a short hike to the America Dock and saw the ferry we would take coming in. It was at least three times as large as our previous ferry, which relieved us that the trip to Michigan would be much smoother.

When it was time for the Queen IV ferry to load our bikes up, the crew was astonished to learn we were carrying a gallon of water each on our bikes. We did – every day. While we had water filters, Minnesota is marshland and we opted to just fill up in the morning and as needed along the way. They made us remove some gear so they could get the bikes up and secured on the roof.

The 3.5 hour ferry to Copper Harbor, Michigan was smooth and uneventful. We chatted with a few couples who had been stranded on Isle Royale for a few days because they had come over on the sea planes, which weren’t flying due to weather/fog. Sea plane visitors are at the mercy of the ferries back to the mainlands having space.

Lake Superior Moods

Let’s Talk about Copper Harbor

We landed at the dock and got our bicycles and gear from the ferry. Somehow my fork had been loosened and it wasn’t lining up with my handlebars – but we were only two blocks from our cabin at the Minnetonka Resort for the night so we walked up there, got the keys, and tightened up the fork.

After taking a shower, we decided to walk down to Mariner North to get a pizza and cheese curds.

While waiting for our pizza to be done, a woman walked up to the bar where we were standing and told one of the servers “I can’t figure out how to make my television work.” (the restaurant is also a lodge). The server excused themselves and soon an older man who appeared to be the manager came over. She explained she couldn’t figure out the TV and quipped “This is the strangest place I’ve ever been.” to which he replied, in the most Wisconsin accent ever, “Oh-KEY” You could see his brain working on how to respond to this woman’s issue when he blurted out “Right now. We can do it right now. Right now, or in an hour and a half.” The poor woman was bewildered and agreed to go now to get her TV set up. We left with our pizza and cheese curds laughing the whole walk back to the cabin.

That night as we chatted in the softest, most cloud-like beds ever slept in, we started a list of all the catch phrases so far:

• … but did you die on a boat?
• Then pick up your shit and move along!
• This is the strangest place I’ve ever been – Oh-KEY.

Michigan (Days 7-10)

Copper Harbor is a tiny tourist town at the very tip of the Keweenah Peninsula (which, isn’t actually a peninsula; it’s an island because the canal in Houghton is natural) that is home to some of the best mountain biking trails in the Midwest. It’s also home to an extensive network of ATV trails, which we learned very quickly. Michigan was a tough state, and we adjusted the route almost every day for various reasons (mostly, the ATV roads were rocky and sandy, which sucks energy and speed).

highlights from Michigan

• Tightening every bolt on our bikes before leaving town
• Climbing out of Copper Harbor on quiet, gorgeous dirt roads
• Turning left and seeing “Extremely Rough Road Ahead”
• Ending up on very rugged, rocky ATV roads – making another turn and it’s been freshly graded with a few inches of loamy red dirt. For the next several miles. We pushed our bikes a lot up hills

• Putting too much power through my pedals to get up a technical uphill trail when I hear a ka-CHUNK. Get the chain back on the cogs – but Jess notices the smaller front ring is loose. She tries to tighten the bolts but they won’t tighten. And two of them are missing. We put it the chain on the big chainring and I delicately pedal (and walk) the last few miles to the road.
• We stop in a parking lot of a marina before deciding to ride back to Copper Harbor’s bike shop. We’re in 15 miles, it’s been 3 hours, and we have a 15-mile ride back on the paved roads. I pedal as gently as I can. US41 is beautiful.
• Losing the two spacers we had at some point, Eric at Keweenaw Adventure Company McGuyver’s my small chainring together so I can finish the ride. I am eternally thankful.
• As soon as my bike is fixed and recombobulated, we get a Squall Warning and take shelter under the bike barn to wait out the rain
• We decide to just ride US41 to where we would have picked up the trail and take that in to camp.
• The ATV trail is chunky and rocky and eats up more time and energy, but we make it to an abandoned copper mine converted to a camp.

• Feeling a bit tired from the extra long day, we decided to reroute to a more direct way to our next campground. We found some nice quiet dirt backroads, spent some time on US41, crossed the bridge at Houghton, and enjoyed lunch by the canal before climbing out and making our way to the Bill Nichols Trail. It has moments of hardpack but far more chunky loose gravel, random sand pits, and abundant shade.
• Champion Mine was a nice surprise to check out before continuing on.
• We originally planned to camp at a dispersed campground, but as we passed Twin Lakes State Park, we noticed it was open. We scored an amazing site with lake views.

We settled in for the night, thrilled with our luck at finding a site that had bathrooms, showers, and an electric hookup to charge our devices. As the night wore on, it felt colder than it had been at any point in the trip. we piled on more layers in our sleeping bags, and cinched the hood over our faces to keep warm.

My alarm goes off at 7am and it’s cold. We pop out of our tents to agree that 36* F is not something we want to try to do anything in – and went back to sleep in our sleeping bags until 8:30am, when it was in the 40s.

• We pre-rerouted Day 3 in Michgan because the intended route would have been 70 miles and we’re starting to feel tired from hauling 40 pounds of stuff on unforgiving chunky roads. We followed the route until Mass City, which we then jumped on the road and headed up to Ontonagon, along Lake Superior, and into the Porcupine Mountain Wilderness Area.
• Mass City is the poster child for poverty in rural, small towns. The market didn’t have much food so we went to the gas station for lunch. Two kids on dirt bikes were brapping around; an older guy was providing alcohol to younger girls; the gas station ladies were smoking pot in the bathroom. It was a bit depressing to be in a depressed area.
• The Porkies were great! We had a site with ample distance between our tents and our cooking area. We stashed our bear bags in the bear-proof trash container for the night.

• Pedaling out of the Porkies the next morning and making our way to our layover in Ironwood.
• A really big hill that we had to take a break at the top. Our legs are definitely feeling the previous days now.
• Overgrown two-tracks that had us dodging babyhead rocks and tree branches – and a culvert crossing with super steep banks
• Beautiful scenery into Bessemer
• Iron Bell Bike Path was a welcome respite.

Layover in Ironwood, MI (Days 10-11)

We deeply craved a day off to rest, shower, do laundry (last time we cleaned our clothing was in Grand Portage), and eat. We walked a mile to the laundromat and then had lunch next door while we waited for the washer. Real food tastes so good now, and we ordered the World’s Smallest Sundae each to celebrate how far we’d come.

The next day we took a taxi to Walmart to pick up everything we would need for our final four days across Wisconsin, as all four days would be mostly without any resupply options. It felt good to sleep in a bed again.

With access to cell service and internet, we were able to connect with out families and started to really miss them. The weight of being gone for so long was hitting hard.

Wisconsin (Days 12-15)

We knew this state was the least amount of total miles but the most remote. The route doesn’t pass through many towns, so it was important to have what we needed each day. Our lunches have consisted of BumbleBee Chicken Salad To Go kits on the side of the road, supplemented with whatever beverage we bought at the last gas station we saw and maybe chips or a ClifBar. We basically eat like college kids again – and eat a lot, all the time.

Unfortunately, the route maps indicated most of the roads were paved; we discovered quickly that most of the roads were loose gravel or worse, sand. This was incredibly disheartening as we labored through another 20-miles-in-three-hours day.

highlights from Wisconsin

• Leaving Ironwood, we stop at the Hiawatha statue in a town park
• Within a few miles we are in Wisconsin without fanfare – no sign or obelisk to denote the passage.
• We are missing our families, tired, and annoyed at every small incline on loose gravel. It’s a mentally tough day.
• But Wisconsin is a different kind of beauty than Minnesota or Michigan – and we enjoy the changing landscape – even if we are on ATV roads for the rest of the route.
• We get to our Forest Service campground and have the most magical site

• The next morning we go out little too fast because I just want to get to the next campsite and relax again. By lunch, Jess is chugging a RedBull and I’m realizing I haven’t eaten enough and don’t have anything with caffeine to fuel the afternoon. OPE
• Getting to a turn onto singletrack and NOPE’ing it. We ride the rustic road up the the County Road and head west on the pavement.
• We see a sign for the campground we’re looking for and take the shortcut.
• We score another great lakeside spot and refuel before turning it in early. The next few days are expected to be hot.

• It’s the final two days! I want to tell you that there was some poetic moment of bittersweet emotion about this, but the reality is we were super ready to finish, finish strong, and go home.
• We stocked up at the local General Store and headed to Solon Springs on quiet dirt and loose gravel roads.
• At some point we popped out of the forest and found ourselves on an exposed, loose gravel road that was a series of rollers. It was hot and we stopped in the shade for a bit and chat with two hunters who had just finished setting up their stands.
• Back on ATV “roads” what were mostly sand. Deep sand. Jess floated through it while I struggled to keep my bike upright. We both nearly crashed several times though – the deepest sand would grab the wheels and pull them in whatever direction it wanted.
• We get to our final camping site in a town park after what felt like the longest day of our lives.
• It’s hot, we’re sweaty, and gross. So we shower in the bathhouse, but the water is sulfered, so now everything smells vaguely like rotten eggs.
• It’s 80*F when we crawl into bed at 8pm.

• Our last day and it’s going to be a scorcher so we get up early and head out by 8:30am to get water from the grocery store.
• Oh look, more loose gravel backroads!
• We were chased or approached by aggressive dogs three times before we decided to reroute to more main roads for a bit.
• Soon the forest gave way to open farmland
• We saw a flock of turkeys and they scattered as we rolled up – some flew away, some ran under the fence. But one smaller turkey was near a part of the fence that didn’t have an easy way to duck under – and the poor thing just kept running into the bottom of the fence frantically, trying to get to the other side.
• Superior, WI is remarkably flat
• One mile before we get to the bike path on the bridge to Duluth, a woman stops at a stop sign and then proceeds even though we were entering the intersection and have the right of way. Her passenger is yelling at her to “stop, bikes!” She does, in the middle of the intersection, but then starts slowly rolling towards us as we pass in front of her. I yell at her “YOU CAN STOP NOW. YOU CAN STOP.” Literally 2 miles from the end of our epic adventure and we are almost hit by a careless driver. We were certainly in more danger in towns and cities than we were out on the country roads.

Epilogue

When we rolled up to our hotel in Duluth, an undenyable sense of accomplishment and pride engulfed us. The sheer intensity of biking and camping and adjusting on the fly; broken bikes and flat tires; creepy campgrounds and freezing temperatures; WE DID IT.

We celebrated with a restaurant meal, doing two loads of laundry, repacking our bikes and bags, and going to sleep in a bed again. The next morning I had Dwarf King taxi take me to the airport to pick up the rental car.

Upon sitting in the driver’s seat I had to think for a minute about how to drive.

We loaded up our bike bags, hit the road to Minneapolis, and eventually our flights to our respective homes.

Overall, I would definitely do this route again with a friend. Jess and I were exceptionally well-matched as adventure partners, making the whole trip so enjoyable. Our focus was to have fun, and we certainly did despite challenges along the way.

See you on the road!