Sometimes it seems as if Winter will never end in Minnesota. The only thing you can do when Winter drags out into what should be Spring is to go snow 'wheelin.
Despite the weather, several of us made the trek from the Twin Cites to Grand Rapids. Dan Olson even drove all the way from Rochester in South East Minnesota. We were met by Kevin, Rob and Jason from the Grizzlys. Rob's CJ7 was down for upgrades, so he was in his daily driver grand Cherokee. This was supposed to be a spring run, on the Saturday before Easter. The weather didn't cooperate though, dropping snow a few days before the run and snowing on and off during the day on Saturday. On the plus side, the snow did make some of the obstacles more challenging and fun.
The area where we were four wheeling that day is old mining land that the Minnesota DNR had aquired through tax forfeits. The Grizzlys work closley with the DNR to ensure that the site is used wisely and stays open for OHV use. The Mn DNR will be opening an offical OHV park on abandoned iron mining land in Gilbert Minnesota in a few months, and you can expect to find similar terrain there and well marked trails. The trails are not marked in the Grand Rapids area, so don't bother trying to find them on your own.
The mining opperations left behind beautiful terrain. While a strip mine may not be everyon'e favorite thing to view while opperational, the remants look like rolling hills and valleys with rocky out croppings after being idle for a few years. The piles of boulders, tall pea gravel hills and the moguls make excellent play areas for OHVs equipped for rock crawling.
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