Upcoming Events

We have been doing this for a while now. Over the last 5 years, co-conspirators have ridden over 1,100 miles of gravel road in the arrowhead region of MN. With no embellishment, I can tell you that there not many roads in Lake or Cook County that I have not had the opportunity to explore in developing these routes. Each year I try to bring people parts of the Superior National Forest that they would otherwise, never encounter. In an age where there are slick, glossy productions of bike adventures in foreign locales, I still believe that the best stuff is (unpolished, in plain sight) right here in Minnesota.

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“I was not born here, but I got here as quick as I could”.  

 

My first experience of the Arrowhead was 10 months after I got married (to an honorary Minnesotan). I had just gotten my first real job (and paid vacation), after working as a guide for years on several Appalachian rivers. Wife was all like, “lets go to the boundary waters”.  I thought Minnesota was going to be like Illinois.  Half a six-pack after I landed in MSP (all passenger travel is measured in 6-packs), wife drove me down the hill into Duluth, I saw the lake, in the golden light, and my head exploded.

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“I gotsta get me some of this”.

 

Water is the best way to explore the BWCA, but there is so much more to the Arrowhead than the BWCA. National forests like Superior are rarely fully explored, and I think that this is a crying shame. If my life is measured only by the number of people I have exposed to the glory of Ringo/Otter Lake, I still have much to do. So I would like to invite you to join me and 73 other knuckleheads at the 2017 Gravel Conspiracy.

 

“dadgumit Stamper! I never know where we are going. This scares me.”

 

If you want everything polished, scheduled, scripted and to win you age group, I would refer you to an event like the Lutsen 99er. Gravel Conspiracy simply provides a starting point, lodging options, a route, and a cooler of drinks. Your life needs less scripting more exploring. If you are the first person to finish, everyone else will know it. In 2017 we are setting up shop on East Bearskin Lake just off the Gunflint trail. Bearskin Lodge has graciously offered to host us at their lodge and NFS campground. Our route is a series of clover leafs over the best parts of the Arrowhead region. Once you make your reservation and register, you will get the information sent to you via email

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“So how do I get in?”

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Make your reservations at Bearskin Lodge or at the Bearskin Campgroundfor September 8-10, and then click on the RSVP button. You will be asked for your lodging info, when you RSVP. This is so I know that you are serious. Later this summer I will send you the ride with GPS links, .GPX files, and cue sheets along with route updates.