Weekend Window: Gunflint Trail, Minn.

Discover the cross-country skiing, trekking and snow beauty of Gunflint.

ByABC News via logo
February 16, 2008, 9:21 PM

Feb. 17, 2008— -- Gunflint Trail, Minn., offers visitors an idyllic winter retreat. Whether you're craving cross-country skiing, looking for a trekking adventure or just hoping to relax and spend some time with your family, there's something in the Gunflint area for you.

Here residents and regulars share why they love the snowy, quiet beauty of Gunflint.

"Lake Superior in the morning is especially beautiful because of the steam on the lake as the sun is rising. The colors are amazing and it's just dancing around, all the snow crystals," says Kelly Dupre, from nearby Grand Marais.

"People come to the Gunflint Trail to get away from roads and everything else. It really is a remote, quaint area," says Mark Patten, whose family owns and operates Patten Family Sleigh Rides.

"If you like outdoor activities, it's really the place to be," says cross-country skier Barbara Jean Meyers.

"Snowshoeing is really fun because you can go in and out of the trees, look at the trails, look at the tracks. It's just really fun being connected to nature," says Dupre.

"This is a great place to cross-country ski. There's not a lot of noise besides the wind blowing and just the sounds of your skis and your poles hitting the snow," says Meyers.

"A yurt is a canvas structure that came out of the Mongolian plateau. Mongolians were nomadic people and they had to move their structure from place to place. Most people will ski in. Some people will snowshoe in … In the winter, that's the only way," explains Ted Young, a yurt chef with Boundary Country Trekking.

"In a Mongolian fire pot dinner we have two platters: one platter of meat, and one platter of different vegetables that are cooked in a chicken broth on the table."

"Sleigh riding on the Gunflint Trail has that magical feeling," says Patten. "When people get off the road it's like they stepped into a different era. There's no other place in my life that I'd rather spend it."