55 WINTER 2022 ISSUE 02 / VOL . 03
SNOWGOER . COM 56 and Civil Air Patrol . Because of its size , immaculate terrain and long winters , Camp Ripley is also used as a game refuge and winter warfare training center .
Trail 258 took us west , between lakes Shamineau and Alexander , and we then rode south to the village of Cushing , then westward again into one of the most rural stretches in the region . Endless farm fields were pockmarked by wind-breaking stands of trees , hunting shacks and occasional groups of the whitetail deer that knew they were safe until fall .
Trails were clearly signed and well groomed , however , almost every trail from this point forward was either numbered 258 , 283 or 284 — for miles and miles . Somebody at the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has a sick sense of humor or bad sense of direction . Rather than relying solely on numbers , we paid close attention to geographic landmarks and had no trouble .
Wooded trails morphed into long , athletic stretches of ditch banging , which is an acquired taste for those who ’ ve never tried it . Once you get the hang of rid-
Near Rose City , we stopped at the family cabin of contributing writer Jeff Oberg . Aside from the many deer mounts inside , he also showed us around his private network of trails .