Thursday late morning I had dental in Park Rapids so I left a little earlier to check out a area I had never been to before. I have driven by the Smoky Hills 100's of times but never thought there was much trail action until I looked closer on google maps off my phone earlier this Spring. About 25-30 minutes from Maplelag to the point I parked.
I pulled off of the winding 225 and parked. Headed west up the north smoky hills rd.
The deer flies were absolutely brutal. Earlier in the week I rode a couple hours on the gravel and forest roads around Maplelag, mainly the Mary Yellowhead trail, and the deer flies were bad but not biting. Here they were biting. Hard. I was going to stick to the road in Smoky but when I saw some sweet quad trails off to the side, I could not resist.
The atv's have made some natural berms and the downhills were fun and pretty technical with washouts.
I explored some other more open non forest road trails and on mud hole saw fresh bear track.
Another sweeping downhill. There is some pretty good elevation change.
From the Ponsford prairie, you can see the hills and fire tower nicely from 225. After the ride I stopped by Osage beach and jumped in the Straight lake. Water bit cooler than other lakes and felt good to take the edge off the 50 or so bites. Couple left quarter size bruises. Hopefully a cold snap comes to slow those things down as travel in the woods is interesting right now. Anyways, definitely will head back here when the bugs clear out knowing there are a lot more trails to check out and how close it is.
I pulled off of the winding 225 and parked. Headed west up the north smoky hills rd.
The deer flies were absolutely brutal. Earlier in the week I rode a couple hours on the gravel and forest roads around Maplelag, mainly the Mary Yellowhead trail, and the deer flies were bad but not biting. Here they were biting. Hard. I was going to stick to the road in Smoky but when I saw some sweet quad trails off to the side, I could not resist.
The atv's have made some natural berms and the downhills were fun and pretty technical with washouts.
I explored some other more open non forest road trails and on mud hole saw fresh bear track.
Another sweeping downhill. There is some pretty good elevation change.
From the Ponsford prairie, you can see the hills and fire tower nicely from 225. After the ride I stopped by Osage beach and jumped in the Straight lake. Water bit cooler than other lakes and felt good to take the edge off the 50 or so bites. Couple left quarter size bruises. Hopefully a cold snap comes to slow those things down as travel in the woods is interesting right now. Anyways, definitely will head back here when the bugs clear out knowing there are a lot more trails to check out and how close it is.
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