Please help a Southerner survive a snowy vacation!

[elgerber]

Just so you know what it will be like

 

[goofballs]

@rnorwo1 Those are actual temperatures, not wind chills. Please be careful with your outdoor activities.

 

[elgerber]

@rnorwo1 Those are actual temperatures, not wind chills. Please be careful with your outdoor activities.

Yes, please. Mother nature is not very happy with MN right now. We have had a pretty mild winter overall, until now, and it's back with a vengeance. I woke to -24 this morning, and I am not in the northern part of the state. I would be sure to find some indoor activity options also.

 

[momof2gr8kids]

I'm not sure when your Mardi Gras break is, but if it's this coming weekend, bundle up!! It's always colder on the lake with the wind.

That area is one of my favourite places to go. We're just north of the border in Canada and miss our trips there. You really should plan a trip back in the summer!

You'll be between two great state parks - Gooseberry Falls and Tettegouche. They have awesome scenic trails that overlook lake superior to hike and they rent snow shoes (at least they did pre-covid - not sure now). Something like yak tracks are good for walking the trails there as they do get icey. They used to have them there as well, but walmart, etc would have something similar. Maybe your cabin rental supplies those kinds of things? They also have nice visitor centres with fire places and washrooms to warm up if it's cold.

The snowmobile trails in MN connect to lots of places to stop and have something to eat or drink, so you can plan that to pop in and warm up somewhere.

Betty's pies, about half hour before you get to Silver Bay is famous for it's pies. Sven and Ole's in Grand Marais is famous for pizza. (I'm not a pizza fan so can't vouch for it personally). I think a lot of places might be closed for the winter. I don't know because it's been a year since I've been over there!

Hope you enjoy your trip.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

In those extreme cold temps remember if you have pierced ears don't wear any earrings. Metal freezes more quickly than skin. It's best to remove metal earrings and facial piercings when you're doing winter sports - or even going for a walk on colder days. This way you won't get frostbite on your earlobes or nose. An interesting story. I have a cousin who lives in Orlando. Several years ago she and a few of her coworkers planned a trip to MN to do some skiing and teambuilding, they were all Managers of a bank in Orlando. The only problem was when they got there the temperatures where extremely cold. They landed got in the rental cars and off they went to the cabin they rented. When they got there the owner of the cabin advised them that with these extreme cold temps it is not advisable to go skiing and that you should take shifts to go out to start the rental cars and let it run for a bit to keep the car from freezing. They never stepped foot outside of the cabin to do any skiing.

 

[Jaime C]

Personally, it's about layers. Stay away from a cotton base layer.
If you will be somewhere near a thrift shop when you are in MN I'd look there. It's cheap and inexpensive to buy winter items.
We moved to VT from TN about 2 years ago, we've both lived in winter environments before, me more than my husband. Wear warm socks and insulated boots. I'd almost see about hitting up a Walmart or something like that.

Be careful on Lake Superior. It's an amazing lake that can change quickly so being safe on the lake with people who are knowledgeable about how to navigate the changing conditions is very important.

Ask some of your friends as well who may have some stuff you could borrow.

 

[EACarlson]

I know I'm late to the party but if you are still in need of cold weather gear find a Mill's Fleet Farm. They have everything you need at much more reasonable prices than you will find at REI or Cabela's. If you have time, stop in at Grandma's Saloon for a bowl of the best chicken wild rice soup I've ever had. You just had bad luck with finding the only cold weekend we've had in these parts all winter.

 

[rnorwo1]

I stopped receiving emails with updates, so I apologize for not responding to these last few posts! We got back yesterday and thought I'd give you all a shout out for your amazing advice.

First of all, I was watching the weather like a hawk, and it just kept going lower and lower. I was starting to get deliriously nervous. In fact, my youngest injured his wrist the Saturday before we left, and, when the dr. said, "He fractured his growth plate," my VERY FIRST thought was, "Whoo-hoo, we can use the trip insurance to get our cabin rental back now!" (I am telling you that only to communicate how little I wanted to go. And, I'm anonymous and you can't call child protection on me- I know that was not my finest parenting moment.)

However, the dr and the husband teamed up against me and said there was no reason to cancel. So, off we went. At this point, the polar-arctic-vortex thingy was starting to cool us down here in LA, so it was in the 50s the day we left (had been high 70s all week). So, we arrived in Minneapolis with our light jackets and jeans, and I thought I was going to start crying when we found out that we had to wait for a train that was outside of the airport to get to the next terminal. By the time we got to our destination, my husband had profusely apologized a dozen times. I just smiled and said nothing.

The next day, we drove the 3.5ish hours to Silver Bay, where the temp dropped drastically. We unloaded the rental, ran around the yard and took pics/touched the snow, and, within 5 minutes, our skin was burning so we had a nice evening inside the cabin. All I could think about was, "What sort of conditions would force people to live here?!"

The next day, we awoke to -25 temps with a wind chill warning of "up to -47." Again... why.would.people.live.here?!"

The ski resort we wanted to use that was not far from the cabin was in Lutsen, so I called to see if humans were expected to exit buildings that day. They said they would open at noon to let it warm some, but they did not have cross country skiing since they had not received enough snowfall this year. I don't know how snow much is required, but I had stepped off of a plowed trail and sank up to my mid-thigh, but, whatever, we decided to try this downhill skiing thing.

We spent 30 minutes getting dressed in our Disboards-approved under-and-outer wear, and then, when we got there, we spent another 15 minutes or so putting the outer most layers and ski boots on. I do not know how anyone gets anywhere on time with that much effort to dress. (Side note: the ski boots caused my youngest to have what may have been a mild panic attack. I have to agree, they are quite the devices o' torture.) At this point, it was a beautiful, sunny day and a balmy -12 or so, perhaps still closer to -25. I just stopped caring at that point. We hit the slopes, and the clothing suggestions were spot-on. The tips of our toes got a tiny bit chilly if we stayed still for any period of time, but we were working out quite a bit the whole time and stayed pretty comfortable. I personally spent a good bit of time in- and- on- the snow, and the clothing still did very well. (Skiing is a lot of fun, but stopping was a lot harder than it looks.) We actually closed the ski resort down that day and were fairly comfortable most of it. I was the only one that did not have a gaiter on, so re-wrapping my scarf around my face constantly was a huge pain. I did better with that the next day, because the wind on those cheeks was vicious!

The next day was even colder. (How is that even possible?) So, we drove about two hours north-ish to Gunflint, where I had rented snowmobiles. They were extremely pricey, and this was my husband's #1 wish-list activity, so off we went, despite the temps. We added yet another layer to prepare for the wind chill while riding, but we got very nervous as we were driving up and the temp started showing -39. I couldn't even look to see what the wind chill was. When we arrived at 8:30 am, the guy offered a full refund or to knock a few hundred off to switch to a half day ("I ride all the time, and I would not ride in these temps!" he said. Great.), so we opted to wait a few hours and see if it warmed any. During this wait, my avid-off-roader husband terrorized us all with driving the rented jeep up and down un-plowed roads in the woods. I threatened to leave if he drove on the lakes, but we did see tons of vehicles out there throughout our stay (we seemed to have the entire world to ourselves that morning, though. I just knew we would be in the headlines at some point.). We got out at a few places and looked around, fell into waist deep snow a few times, my 11-y.o. (who really never cries!) had another crying spell because he thought his fingers had frozen solid- literally- after he took his glove off for about 30 seconds. But, we generally felt pretty comfortable! My husband's eye froze shut once, and breathing through our noses was really interesting, but we were generally warm enough.

So, we went on and rode the snow mobiles. When you were on the back of one, our toes got a little cold. On the front, you can kind of stick them next to the motor and that helped. We had helmets on so that helped with the frozen cheeks, and I kept thinking I was going to stop and put a second pair of gloves on, but I never did. My fingers were chilly, but not horribly so. The clothes kept us comfortable while riding. (And during the three different times we had to dig ourselves out of snow- those machines do not like to go off the trail! We initially thought it was going to be impossible to get them out given how heavy they are, but the thought of being stuck out there in the woods many, many miles away from anywhere was pretty motivating.)

Our last full day, the highs crept into the positive range, I think somewhere around 1, maybe 2 deg. So, we went hiking! We went to Tettegouche State Park, Palisade Head/Hellacious Overlook, Illgen Falls, and Split Rock Lighthouse. Given the heat wave, we only wore two layers under our snow pants, and, again, we were very comfortable. We slowed down and took our time playing in the snow and such. The frozen waterfalls, rivers, lakes, the ice cracking on Lake Superior, the Evergreen trees covered in snow- it was all so beautiful!

Although I did not see this post, I had discovered Betty's Pies and we were going to stop there for lunch on our way back to the airport, but it was closed. Most places were; not sure if that was covid or winter related.

So, you all did excellent in preparing us; I would have never imagined needing as much clothing as we did, and I would have been so under-prepared if I had not rec'd your advice. Although this may sound like a PTSD-like processing report, I really just wanted to thank all of you. And.... drumroll please.... I would absolutely do this again! I can imagine it would have been better if it was it's normal-cold instead of colder-than-Russia-cold, but we had such a good time, regardless.

Oh, and while we were there, the polar-storm thingy shut all of LA and TX down, so, that's been fun coming back to. At least Minnesota can keep their electricity on in these temps! Ugh!
Thanks again, Everyone!

 

[EACarlson]

At least now you have the clothes to get through your current cold snap. Glad you had a good time, it is supposed to be 40 in Duluth on Monday.

 

[elgerber]

I stopped receiving emails with updates, so I apologize for not responding to these last few posts! We got back yesterday and thought I'd give you all a shout out for your amazing advice.

First of all, I was watching the weather like a hawk, and it just kept going lower and lower. I was starting to get deliriously nervous. In fact, my youngest injured his wrist the Saturday before we left, and, when the dr. said, "He fractured his growth plate," my VERY FIRST thought was, "Whoo-hoo, we can use the trip insurance to get our cabin rental back now!" (I am telling you that only to communicate how little I wanted to go. And, I'm anonymous and you can't call child protection on me- I know that was not my finest parenting moment.)

However, the dr and the husband teamed up against me and said there was no reason to cancel. So, off we went. At this point, the polar-arctic-vortex thingy was starting to cool us down here in LA, so it was in the 50s the day we left (had been high 70s all week). So, we arrived in Minneapolis with our light jackets and jeans, and I thought I was going to start crying when we found out that we had to wait for a train that was outside of the airport to get to the next terminal. By the time we got to our destination, my husband had profusely apologized a dozen times. I just smiled and said nothing.

The next day, we drove the 3.5ish hours to Silver Bay, where the temp dropped drastically. We unloaded the rental, ran around the yard and took pics/touched the snow, and, within 5 minutes, our skin was burning so we had a nice evening inside the cabin. All I could think about was, "What sort of conditions would force people to live here?!"

The next day, we awoke to -25 temps with a wind chill warning of "up to -47." Again... why.would.people.live.here?!"

The ski resort we wanted to use that was not far from the cabin was in Lutsen, so I called to see if humans were expected to exit buildings that day. They said they would open at noon to let it warm some, but they did not have cross country skiing since they had not received enough snowfall this year. I don't know how snow much is required, but I had stepped off of a plowed trail and sank up to my mid-thigh, but, whatever, we decided to try this downhill skiing thing.

We spent 30 minutes getting dressed in our Disboards-approved under-and-outer wear, and then, when we got there, we spent another 15 minutes or so putting the outer most layers and ski boots on. I do not know how anyone gets anywhere on time with that much effort to dress. (Side note: the ski boots caused my youngest to have what may have been a mild panic attack. I have to agree, they are quite the devices o' torture.) At this point, it was a beautiful, sunny day and a balmy -12 or so, perhaps still closer to -25. I just stopped caring at that point. We hit the slopes, and the clothing suggestions were spot-on. The tips of our toes got a tiny bit chilly if we stayed still for any period of time, but we were working out quite a bit the whole time and stayed pretty comfortable. I personally spent a good bit of time in- and- on- the snow, and the clothing still did very well. (Skiing is a lot of fun, but stopping was a lot harder than it looks.) We actually closed the ski resort down that day and were fairly comfortable most of it. I was the only one that did not have a gaiter on, so re-wrapping my scarf around my face constantly was a huge pain. I did better with that the next day, because the wind on those cheeks was vicious!

The next day was even colder. (How is that even possible?) So, we drove about two hours north-ish to Gunflint, where I had rented snowmobiles. They were extremely pricey, and this was my husband's #1 wish-list activity, so off we went, despite the temps. We added yet another layer to prepare for the wind chill while riding, but we got very nervous as we were driving up and the temp started showing -39. I couldn't even look to see what the wind chill was. When we arrived at 8:30 am, the guy offered a full refund or to knock a few hundred off to switch to a half day ("I ride all the time, and I would not ride in these temps!" he said. Great.), so we opted to wait a few hours and see if it warmed any. During this wait, my avid-off-roader husband terrorized us all with driving the rented jeep up and down un-plowed roads in the woods. I threatened to leave if he drove on the lakes, but we did see tons of vehicles out there throughout our stay (we seemed to have the entire world to ourselves that morning, though. I just knew we would be in the headlines at some point.). We got out at a few places and looked around, fell into waist deep snow a few times, my 11-y.o. (who really never cries!) had another crying spell because he thought his fingers had frozen solid- literally- after he took his glove off for about 30 seconds. But, we generally felt pretty comfortable! My husband's eye froze shut once, and breathing through our noses was really interesting, but we were generally warm enough.

So, we went on and rode the snow mobiles. When you were on the back of one, our toes got a little cold. On the front, you can kind of stick them next to the motor and that helped. We had helmets on so that helped with the frozen cheeks, and I kept thinking I was going to stop and put a second pair of gloves on, but I never did. My fingers were chilly, but not horribly so. The clothes kept us comfortable while riding. (And during the three different times we had to dig ourselves out of snow- those machines do not like to go off the trail! We initially thought it was going to be impossible to get them out given how heavy they are, but the thought of being stuck out there in the woods many, many miles away from anywhere was pretty motivating.)

Our last full day, the highs crept into the positive range, I think somewhere around 1, maybe 2 deg. So, we went hiking! We went to Tettegouche State Park, Palisade Head/Hellacious Overlook, Illgen Falls, and Split Rock Lighthouse. Given the heat wave, we only wore two layers under our snow pants, and, again, we were very comfortable. We slowed down and took our time playing in the snow and such. The frozen waterfalls, rivers, lakes, the ice cracking on Lake Superior, the Evergreen trees covered in snow- it was all so beautiful!

Although I did not see this post, I had discovered Betty's Pies and we were going to stop there for lunch on our way back to the airport, but it was closed. Most places were; not sure if that was covid or winter related.

So, you all did excellent in preparing us; I would have never imagined needing as much clothing as we did, and I would have been so under-prepared if I had not rec'd your advice. Although this may sound like a PTSD-like processing report, I really just wanted to thank all of you. And.... drumroll please.... I would absolutely do this again! I can imagine it would have been better if it was it's normal-cold instead of colder-than-Russia-cold, but we had such a good time, regardless.

Oh, and while we were there, the polar-storm thingy shut all of LA and TX down, so, that's been fun coming back to. At least Minnesota can keep their electricity on in these temps! Ugh!
Thanks again, Everyone!

I'm so glad you posted, I have been wondering how it all went. I don't know why I live here, because I was born here, and now my kids are here. But I intend to get the heck out eventually!!!
You hit a lot of great areas, I am glad you had a good time, despite the weather disaster.
And in my opinion, Betty's pies is really over rated, so that might help

 

[rnorwo1]

It really was a beautiful area; we definitely see ourselves going back!

 

[elgerber]

It really was a beautiful area; we definitely see ourselves going back!

Come back in the summer!!! It’s even more beautiful then.

 

[CdnCarrie]

Glad to hear you enjoyed it!
As for your comment about how anyone gets anywhere on time when getting dressed in winter clothing
- people don’t wear all those layers unless going out on a really cold day to ski or other activities like you did.
For example I live just north of North Dakota and during the recent cold snap of -40 I walked the dog daily at the dog park.
Just wore jeans, T-shirt, regular Walmart socks, old jacket from Sears, cheap boots from discount store and some gloves.
No fancy winter gear or ski pants, etc.
But if i was going out snowmobiling for the day I would dress appropriately.

 

[Judique]

I stopped receiving emails with updates, so I apologize for not responding to these last few posts! We got back yesterday and thought I'd give you all a shout out for your amazing advice.

First of all, I was watching the weather like a hawk, and it just kept going lower and lower. I was starting to get deliriously nervous. In fact, my youngest injured his wrist the Saturday before we left, and, when the dr. said, "He fractured his growth plate," my VERY FIRST thought was, "Whoo-hoo, we can use the trip insurance to get our cabin rental back now!" (I am telling you that only to communicate how little I wanted to go. And, I'm anonymous and you can't call child protection on me- I know that was not my finest parenting moment.)

However, the dr and the husband teamed up against me and said there was no reason to cancel. So, off we went. At this point, the polar-arctic-vortex thingy was starting to cool us down here in LA, so it was in the 50s the day we left (had been high 70s all week). So, we arrived in Minneapolis with our light jackets and jeans, and I thought I was going to start crying when we found out that we had to wait for a train that was outside of the airport to get to the next terminal. By the time we got to our destination, my husband had profusely apologized a dozen times. I just smiled and said nothing.

The next day, we drove the 3.5ish hours to Silver Bay, where the temp dropped drastically. We unloaded the rental, ran around the yard and took pics/touched the snow, and, within 5 minutes, our skin was burning so we had a nice evening inside the cabin. All I could think about was, "What sort of conditions would force people to live here?!"

The next day, we awoke to -25 temps with a wind chill warning of "up to -47." Again... why.would.people.live.here?!"

The ski resort we wanted to use that was not far from the cabin was in Lutsen, so I called to see if humans were expected to exit buildings that day. They said they would open at noon to let it warm some, but they did not have cross country skiing since they had not received enough snowfall this year. I don't know how snow much is required, but I had stepped off of a plowed trail and sank up to my mid-thigh, but, whatever, we decided to try this downhill skiing thing.

We spent 30 minutes getting dressed in our Disboards-approved under-and-outer wear, and then, when we got there, we spent another 15 minutes or so putting the outer most layers and ski boots on. I do not know how anyone gets anywhere on time with that much effort to dress. (Side note: the ski boots caused my youngest to have what may have been a mild panic attack. I have to agree, they are quite the devices o' torture.) At this point, it was a beautiful, sunny day and a balmy -12 or so, perhaps still closer to -25. I just stopped caring at that point. We hit the slopes, and the clothing suggestions were spot-on. The tips of our toes got a tiny bit chilly if we stayed still for any period of time, but we were working out quite a bit the whole time and stayed pretty comfortable. I personally spent a good bit of time in- and- on- the snow, and the clothing still did very well. (Skiing is a lot of fun, but stopping was a lot harder than it looks.) We actually closed the ski resort down that day and were fairly comfortable most of it. I was the only one that did not have a gaiter on, so re-wrapping my scarf around my face constantly was a huge pain. I did better with that the next day, because the wind on those cheeks was vicious!

The next day was even colder. (How is that even possible?) So, we drove about two hours north-ish to Gunflint, where I had rented snowmobiles. They were extremely pricey, and this was my husband's #1 wish-list activity, so off we went, despite the temps. We added yet another layer to prepare for the wind chill while riding, but we got very nervous as we were driving up and the temp started showing -39. I couldn't even look to see what the wind chill was. When we arrived at 8:30 am, the guy offered a full refund or to knock a few hundred off to switch to a half day ("I ride all the time, and I would not ride in these temps!" he said. Great.), so we opted to wait a few hours and see if it warmed any. During this wait, my avid-off-roader husband terrorized us all with driving the rented jeep up and down un-plowed roads in the woods. I threatened to leave if he drove on the lakes, but we did see tons of vehicles out there throughout our stay (we seemed to have the entire world to ourselves that morning, though. I just knew we would be in the headlines at some point.). We got out at a few places and looked around, fell into waist deep snow a few times, my 11-y.o. (who really never cries!) had another crying spell because he thought his fingers had frozen solid- literally- after he took his glove off for about 30 seconds. But, we generally felt pretty comfortable! My husband's eye froze shut once, and breathing through our noses was really interesting, but we were generally warm enough.

So, we went on and rode the snow mobiles. When you were on the back of one, our toes got a little cold. On the front, you can kind of stick them next to the motor and that helped. We had helmets on so that helped with the frozen cheeks, and I kept thinking I was going to stop and put a second pair of gloves on, but I never did. My fingers were chilly, but not horribly so. The clothes kept us comfortable while riding. (And during the three different times we had to dig ourselves out of snow- those machines do not like to go off the trail! We initially thought it was going to be impossible to get them out given how heavy they are, but the thought of being stuck out there in the woods many, many miles away from anywhere was pretty motivating.)

Our last full day, the highs crept into the positive range, I think somewhere around 1, maybe 2 deg. So, we went hiking! We went to Tettegouche State Park, Palisade Head/Hellacious Overlook, Illgen Falls, and Split Rock Lighthouse. Given the heat wave, we only wore two layers under our snow pants, and, again, we were very comfortable. We slowed down and took our time playing in the snow and such. The frozen waterfalls, rivers, lakes, the ice cracking on Lake Superior, the Evergreen trees covered in snow- it was all so beautiful!

Although I did not see this post, I had discovered Betty's Pies and we were going to stop there for lunch on our way back to the airport, but it was closed. Most places were; not sure if that was covid or winter related.

So, you all did excellent in preparing us; I would have never imagined needing as much clothing as we did, and I would have been so under-prepared if I had not rec'd your advice. Although this may sound like a PTSD-like processing report, I really just wanted to thank all of you. And.... drumroll please.... I would absolutely do this again! I can imagine it would have been better if it was it's normal-cold instead of colder-than-Russia-cold, but we had such a good time, regardless.

Oh, and while we were there, the polar-storm thingy shut all of LA and TX down, so, that's been fun coming back to. At least Minnesota can keep their electricity on in these temps! Ugh!
Thanks again, Everyone!

Awesome report! Thanks for posting.

 

[stout]

We live in southern MN. When you first posted about the trip, I would give thread updates to my kids and DH. Your trip report made me laugh so hard while reading it to DH, that I had tears running down my cheeks. I’m so happy you were well-prepared and had a good time. I, too, want to make it up to the Gunflint Trail, but I think maybe we’ll do that in July or August!