I first discovered the Levis Trow trail system around the year 2000. I was attending school at Winona State and a friend, and I took a road trip up to the area to try out the trails. Ever since then I've been trying to get back at least once a year as the trails are fun and their distance from any major metropolitan area keep them a little more rugged than the buffed-out trails of a metro area.
The first 10 miles of the day were all through the system: Snodgrass > Switchback > Toads Road > Clarence > North Face > Upper Glen > Lower Glen > Lower Hermosa > Wolf Run > Upper Hermosa > Sidewinder > Goat Dance before exiting . The official route doesn't have Sidewinder in the plans, but I couldn’t resist adding a loop. I took plenty of stops, setting up the camera at the Plumbers Crack and flying the drone at the very top of the mound to catch some of the fall colors.
After exiting the singletrack I was popped out onto more churned up UTV trails that left me gritting it out, struggling to keep a straight line in the deep sand, wishing I had my fat bike. After a bit of hike a bike, I found solid gravel and stopped for lunch at Wildcat Mound. I tried to get the football game on my phone but didn't have any luck, so I ate in silence
It had settled into being another gray and cold day and any bit of sunlight was a welcome sight. At about mile 24 I found signs saying the trail was closed due to a tornado that had passed through. I took that to mean closed to ATV/UTVs and decided to try my luck. I'm glad I did because it was a scenic piece of the route, with the trail winding along Wedges Creek.
The last bit of the mileage I rode in a wet snow. I was growing colder every minute and I neared my destination I began to get nervous that the small, not even really a town, I was rolling into only had one bar/restaurant and I was really banking on hot food that wasn't a backpackers pantry meal. All was right in the world as AKA Lakeside was open, serving food (bacon cheeseburger #4) and had Sunday Night Football playing. I struck up a conversation about why I was out riding in the snow with the owner and her regulars while putting back a few Spotted Cows. I knew I had overstayed my time, but it felt good to sit on the bar stool. Finally, I pushed off to venture to the campground just down the street. It was a ghost town, so I opted to setup my tent immediately behind the shower room to stay out of the wind
