Mainstreet Radio’s Rachel Reabe reports from the Paul Bunyon Trail north of Brainerd. There are numerous paved bike trails now traversing areas of northern Minnesota, all routed along old railroad tracks. The development of the scenic recreation trails is a boon to both local cyclists and those visiting.
Another path, The Heartland State Trail, was one of the first rail-to-trail projects in the country. It is a 49 mile multiple-use trail between Park Rapids and Cass Lake.
SPEAKER 1: Right here, I think, is one of the more spectacular points of the trail or this rock you cut that we're riding through. I think this is spectacular, and this is one of the more scenic bike routes that I've ridden in Minnesota.
SPEAKER 2: Harold Larson of Stillwater and his eight-year-old son, Jacob, are traveling on the latest edition to Minnesota's bike trail system, a 14-mile ribbon of blacktop that cuts through the woods from the town of Carlton, northeast, to Duluth. On the way, it crosses a river, skirts a state park, slices through rock cliffs, and eventually overlooks the city of Duluth and Lake Superior. On a recent Saturday, there were all ages of bikers using the trail, from a 77-year-old man on a single speed bike to a newborn baby riding in a buggy behind his dad's racing bicycle. Serious bicyclists were in black knee-length racing shorts and helmets on multi-speed bikes.
Bicycling is now the number one recreation sport in the state and in the country. Minnesota's seven-paved bike trails, all developed in the last 10 years, total 150 miles. Another 200 miles of trails are in the planning stages, all routed along old railroad tracks.
One of the state's first paved bike trails stretches the 27 miles between Walker and Park Rapids in North Central Minnesota. The Heartland trail was built 10 years ago. 41,000 bicyclists and walkers used the Heartland trail last summer. 70,000 snowmobilers rode it over the winter.
The trail runs right by Bob Price's cafe in Dorset, five miles north of Park Rapids. He says the trail has been a big boost for business, despite its low profile.
SPEAKER 3: We have not told enough of the world about the Heartland trail. There's a lot of people that discover it when they're in the Lakes area. I think the heartland trail should be just as well-known as the lakes are.
SPEAKER 2: Communities from Brainerd, 100 miles north to Bemidji, are already gearing up for what could be the state's longest paved bike trail now in the planning stages. The railroad abandoned this Brainerd to Bemidji stretch five years ago. Now the tracks are pulled up, leaving a wide dirt and gravel path that stretches through the woods. Terry McGahee of Brainerd is one of the volunteers working to promote the Paul Bunyan trail.
SPEAKER 4: The trail is probably best described as an economic development issue, and most of the communities along the way are looking at it and embracing it as such. The unique thing is that we have hundreds miles of contiguous right of way here that will link these towns together and create an opportunity for them to work together for a common goal, which has been hard for some of these towns to do. You look down the trail here right now and you see someone hiking along the trail with their dog, and people are already finding this trail a scenic wonderment.
Hi.
SPEAKER 5: Hi.
Come on, Brandy.
Yeah, it'll be great. I said, I can't wait until it's all paved, and we don't have to go up and down on big rocks and big boulders and worry about poison ivy.
SPEAKER 2: On the Paul Bunyan trail, north of Brainerd, I'm Rachel [INAUDIBLE].
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