pitz0022
New member
Long... read the bold font for the cliff notes version.
5 of us left the Twin Cities Thursday at about 5 pm with 4 skidoos, a polaris and a Viper. 2 skidoos have new top ends over the summer and the Viper was rebuilt from the bottom up. All but the polaris were new to us so we were a little skeptical.
Stopped at Blackbear Casino in Carlton, MN for the seafood buffet on the way up. We pulled into Hurley about 10:30 after buying our trail passes and got checked in to the hotel. This was our first time in the area so being more exicted than intelligent when it was -12 at 11:00pm when we left for Saxon.
A couple of us fogged up our helmets and were hoping to get into a bar to thaw them out and start over. All establishments were closed so we used those little hand warmer packets to defrost our shields. Able to see clearly again we headed back towards Hurley. A bar called Squeeks was open so we stopped in to warm up and have a beer. After one drink we were warmed up and headed back to the hotel. We returned after 1am I think having logged 47 miles and it was -18 so we went for a soak in the hot tub.
The trails on Thursday night were a rough and icy in the corners.
Since it was so cold on Friday AM, we slept in a little, had some b-fast and got organized. We filled with gas and oil and headed towards Mercer down the west side of the Gile flowage.
Trail 13 I think down south to Mercer was very good to excellent. This was my favorite leg of the trip because it was twisty with some good roller coaster stuff and was very smooth with good snow in the corners.
We stopped at a bar in Mercer and had lunch. I dont' remember the name of it, but they had a steak sandwich special and BBQ ribs. Both were very good.
After leaving Mercer we headed to the Beaver Lodge becasue the guys liked the advertisement on the map. The were disappointed but it wasn't busy and we got service with a smile. I began to worry about this group - we rode somethign like 2.6 miles from where we had lunch to the next bar and I'm not much for drinking while riding.
We left and came back up trails 10 and 8 and 17, kind of weaving our way back to Hurley. With the excpetion of trail 17, these were all very good. I'm probably a little biased because I don't like RR grades.
We logged about 100 miles on Friday. I was not very happy with the Viper. It was steering hard, and rode VERY rough, but it was cold and I was convinced that I couldn't make any trailside adjustments.
We had dinner in Hurley. Had an awesome Pulled Pork Sandwich at the Iron Horse Inn.
We took a cab downtown Hurley to visit some of the establishments. All were well run and what you'd expect. I was running a little low on cash so when I bought a round at the Full Moon Saloon, the bartender told me it was a $5 charge to use my card, but I could get cash back if I wanted. So I bought 4 beers which came to $18 and asked for $100 in cash. So i'm expecting my bill to be about $123 and have $100 in cash. She put $125 on the card, and came back with 4 $20's and 2 $1s. I argued with her for a few minutes before finally giving up. My blood pressure was rising and $20 wasn't worth getting thrown in jail. I refused to spend another dime there though and just waited for my buddies to get their fill. On our next tirp I won't be going back there. We took a cab back to the hotel.
On Saturday we go up an packed our stuff. -18 again so we took our time. We checked out about 11 and it was only -4. We weaved our way down to the Beaver lodge again for lunch. I couldn't keep up on the Viper. I was getting bucked around too much as the trails were very icy in the corners and I was pushing a lot, and the trails overall were getting rough. I'd call the conditions Fair. I decided to try to move my FRA from the middle position to the softest setting. The lunch was good.
From the Beaver lodge we headed back up towards Upson. The trails were still rough and not getting any better, but now I could keep up after making my suspension adjustments. It rode much softer, had more weight transfer and steered easier. I would have said the ride was excellent, but I have to call it very good after riding a REV and then jumping back on the Viper. I was completely happy and wished I'd just done it a day earlier.
From Upson we headed back towards Pence and Hurley. I'd have to say this is the most beautiful trail we were on all weekend. It was twisty through the woods and along the bluffs with a lot of long steep hills. The trails were a bit rough and I was getting Nervous because 18 miles from any marked (on the GPS) gas station my fuel light came on.
I ended up getting 10.5 mpg on Saturday, about 8 on Friday. The 500ss and 600 SDI averaged 14 - 17 and the Fusion 900 got about 14. I've got a little homework to do since I think I can do better than I did. I'll probably have to put my needles back to stock. I had them raised one position because I wanted to run rich for my break in.
We got back to the trucks and neither one would start. the F250 diesel wouldn't fire and the 2500HD wouldn't turn over. Luckily they were parked next to each other so we used the Ford's batteries to jump the Chevy, then we got the Ford to start after letting the glow plugs get good and hot. I was getting nervous, with a 1 month old baby and a 2 year old at home with my wife I don't think she would have been too excited about me spending another night!
All in all It was an excellent trip. We Rode 260 miles. All sleds ran perfect. The only problems we had were my suspension and my brother lost the nuts on that hold the front of the skid into the tunnel. Good thing our extra sled was also a REV so he just stole the nuts from that and we were all able to ride our own sleds.
The conditions are not perfect but way better than the dusting of snow we have here. We wouldn't think twice about going again.
Yamaha was WELL represented in the area. I couldn't believe how many Yamaha's were in the area. I think there was one in every pack and we saw one pack that was almost exclusively Yamaha. They were parked on the side of the trail and when I came out of the woods behind all the doos I was riding with I got a nice applause. I took up the rear a lot because why not put the most reliable sled at the rear in case someone breaks down right?
We did see one rider who was not exactly a credit to the brand. a nice Apex parked cross-wise in the trail sitting all kittywhompas. We thought he wrecked, but that wasn't the case. Somehow he drove off the edge of the groomed trail at a 90 degree angle, then thought he was going to get stuck so tried to back up. He got his right ski hooked under about 12" of packed trail and was just digging a hole in reverse. we made him pull ahead a couple of feet, lifted the right side of the sled and told him to back it up. He gave it gas (in forward) and spun his track as we pushed him backwards. We got him back on his way. Glad to see him doing his best but I hope he has some friends he can ride with to get a little more comfortable with the sport and his machine. I was real tempted to ask if he wanted me to drive it out for him and take it for a little test drive after it was out, but thought better of it.
5 of us left the Twin Cities Thursday at about 5 pm with 4 skidoos, a polaris and a Viper. 2 skidoos have new top ends over the summer and the Viper was rebuilt from the bottom up. All but the polaris were new to us so we were a little skeptical.
Stopped at Blackbear Casino in Carlton, MN for the seafood buffet on the way up. We pulled into Hurley about 10:30 after buying our trail passes and got checked in to the hotel. This was our first time in the area so being more exicted than intelligent when it was -12 at 11:00pm when we left for Saxon.
A couple of us fogged up our helmets and were hoping to get into a bar to thaw them out and start over. All establishments were closed so we used those little hand warmer packets to defrost our shields. Able to see clearly again we headed back towards Hurley. A bar called Squeeks was open so we stopped in to warm up and have a beer. After one drink we were warmed up and headed back to the hotel. We returned after 1am I think having logged 47 miles and it was -18 so we went for a soak in the hot tub.
The trails on Thursday night were a rough and icy in the corners.
Since it was so cold on Friday AM, we slept in a little, had some b-fast and got organized. We filled with gas and oil and headed towards Mercer down the west side of the Gile flowage.
Trail 13 I think down south to Mercer was very good to excellent. This was my favorite leg of the trip because it was twisty with some good roller coaster stuff and was very smooth with good snow in the corners.
We stopped at a bar in Mercer and had lunch. I dont' remember the name of it, but they had a steak sandwich special and BBQ ribs. Both were very good.
After leaving Mercer we headed to the Beaver Lodge becasue the guys liked the advertisement on the map. The were disappointed but it wasn't busy and we got service with a smile. I began to worry about this group - we rode somethign like 2.6 miles from where we had lunch to the next bar and I'm not much for drinking while riding.
We left and came back up trails 10 and 8 and 17, kind of weaving our way back to Hurley. With the excpetion of trail 17, these were all very good. I'm probably a little biased because I don't like RR grades.
We logged about 100 miles on Friday. I was not very happy with the Viper. It was steering hard, and rode VERY rough, but it was cold and I was convinced that I couldn't make any trailside adjustments.
We had dinner in Hurley. Had an awesome Pulled Pork Sandwich at the Iron Horse Inn.
We took a cab downtown Hurley to visit some of the establishments. All were well run and what you'd expect. I was running a little low on cash so when I bought a round at the Full Moon Saloon, the bartender told me it was a $5 charge to use my card, but I could get cash back if I wanted. So I bought 4 beers which came to $18 and asked for $100 in cash. So i'm expecting my bill to be about $123 and have $100 in cash. She put $125 on the card, and came back with 4 $20's and 2 $1s. I argued with her for a few minutes before finally giving up. My blood pressure was rising and $20 wasn't worth getting thrown in jail. I refused to spend another dime there though and just waited for my buddies to get their fill. On our next tirp I won't be going back there. We took a cab back to the hotel.
On Saturday we go up an packed our stuff. -18 again so we took our time. We checked out about 11 and it was only -4. We weaved our way down to the Beaver lodge again for lunch. I couldn't keep up on the Viper. I was getting bucked around too much as the trails were very icy in the corners and I was pushing a lot, and the trails overall were getting rough. I'd call the conditions Fair. I decided to try to move my FRA from the middle position to the softest setting. The lunch was good.
From the Beaver lodge we headed back up towards Upson. The trails were still rough and not getting any better, but now I could keep up after making my suspension adjustments. It rode much softer, had more weight transfer and steered easier. I would have said the ride was excellent, but I have to call it very good after riding a REV and then jumping back on the Viper. I was completely happy and wished I'd just done it a day earlier.
From Upson we headed back towards Pence and Hurley. I'd have to say this is the most beautiful trail we were on all weekend. It was twisty through the woods and along the bluffs with a lot of long steep hills. The trails were a bit rough and I was getting Nervous because 18 miles from any marked (on the GPS) gas station my fuel light came on.
I ended up getting 10.5 mpg on Saturday, about 8 on Friday. The 500ss and 600 SDI averaged 14 - 17 and the Fusion 900 got about 14. I've got a little homework to do since I think I can do better than I did. I'll probably have to put my needles back to stock. I had them raised one position because I wanted to run rich for my break in.
We got back to the trucks and neither one would start. the F250 diesel wouldn't fire and the 2500HD wouldn't turn over. Luckily they were parked next to each other so we used the Ford's batteries to jump the Chevy, then we got the Ford to start after letting the glow plugs get good and hot. I was getting nervous, with a 1 month old baby and a 2 year old at home with my wife I don't think she would have been too excited about me spending another night!
All in all It was an excellent trip. We Rode 260 miles. All sleds ran perfect. The only problems we had were my suspension and my brother lost the nuts on that hold the front of the skid into the tunnel. Good thing our extra sled was also a REV so he just stole the nuts from that and we were all able to ride our own sleds.
The conditions are not perfect but way better than the dusting of snow we have here. We wouldn't think twice about going again.
Yamaha was WELL represented in the area. I couldn't believe how many Yamaha's were in the area. I think there was one in every pack and we saw one pack that was almost exclusively Yamaha. They were parked on the side of the trail and when I came out of the woods behind all the doos I was riding with I got a nice applause. I took up the rear a lot because why not put the most reliable sled at the rear in case someone breaks down right?
We did see one rider who was not exactly a credit to the brand. a nice Apex parked cross-wise in the trail sitting all kittywhompas. We thought he wrecked, but that wasn't the case. Somehow he drove off the edge of the groomed trail at a 90 degree angle, then thought he was going to get stuck so tried to back up. He got his right ski hooked under about 12" of packed trail and was just digging a hole in reverse. we made him pull ahead a couple of feet, lifted the right side of the sled and told him to back it up. He gave it gas (in forward) and spun his track as we pushed him backwards. We got him back on his way. Glad to see him doing his best but I hope he has some friends he can ride with to get a little more comfortable with the sport and his machine. I was real tempted to ask if he wanted me to drive it out for him and take it for a little test drive after it was out, but thought better of it.
thunderjet440
New member
- Joined
- Oct 30, 2005
- Messages
- 114
the strip joints in hurley charge 5 bucks a beer,alot of them charge locals 3.50 a beer.illegal if you ask me.
i live right off the iron horse trail outside of saxon.as 0f 2/4 trails are junk
i live right off the iron horse trail outside of saxon.as 0f 2/4 trails are junk