21 WINTER 2020 ISSUE 02 / VOL . 01 SNOWGOER . COM

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Vestiges of the industrious past in the U . P . can be found througout the region , like this lonely smoke stack . bay was open and huge waves were crashing along the rocky shoreline . The rest of the afternoon was spent on fabulous trails on the east side of the peninsula . Trail 134 ( also called the Mandan Trail ) quickly scoots riders inland , then a left on Trail 132 leads riders to the incredibly picturesque hamlet of Lac La Belle ( in French , it means “ Lake Beautiful ”). It is a beautiful beach community surrounded by high rocky bluffs , including the local Mount Bohemia ski area with its 900 foot vertical drop .

Next we hopped on Trail 133 , which delightfully twists , turns and weaves through the mixed-wood forest before dropping right down onto a broad beach along Lake Superior in a couple of places for a fascinating ride on the way to the city of Gay . Normally , a turn onto Trail 122 would take us down to Lake Linden , but it was closed that winter due to logging in the area , so the also-entertaining Trail 124 – called the Snow Gauge Trail – brought us up over some steep hills and through a very rugged backcountry region , then twisted back down to Trail 3 . That ’ s the rail tail that would take us back across the big blue bridge and to Twin Lakes with 226 miles added to the odometers .

Dinner and drinks came that night at the Parkview – the meal was good and the company was spectacular , as we mingled with hardcore riders and snowmobile club members from the Lake Geveva , Wisconsin , area .

In what may seem like a boring plan to some , on day two we essentially repeated what we did on day one ; because we were doing gas and oil mileage tests on the demo sleds , we wanted to run in the same conditions on different sleds .

It was not boring to us , though – not in the slightest . Conditions were rock-hard again when we started , but over the course of the two days of late-season riding , we met groomers five times ; they were still taking the very best care of the trails . Because it was a Friday – and because it was about the only place in the Upper Midwest with snow – sled traffic was starting to pick up , so despite the groomers ’ best efforts some trails started to get quite stutter-bumpy / choppy . That was fine with us – all the better for suspension testing !

This time we caught lunch in Lac La Belle at the Bear Belly Bar & Grill . We had heard of the place , and it has made our 101 Great Snowmobile Pitstops list several times based on multiple reader suggestions , but it looked rather non-descript from the parking lot – like a simple convenience store with fuel pumps in front . Once around the side of the building , however , we saw a classy restaurant with a wondrous view overlooking the lake below . After a hearty soup-and-sandwich combination lunch , we were back on the throttle .

Well after dark we returned to our tow vehicle and , with no more available hotel