Gravel rides around Northfield MN (south of MSP)

Bruce Anderson posted this 5/23/2021 on the Cannon Valley Velo Club Facebook Group. I'm just republishing here:

Want to ride gravel in the Northfield area? Look no further! Here’s a growing list of gravel routes of all lengths and levels of difficulty.

Rides are categorized below as:

• Easy (less than 20 miles, any amount of climbing*)

• Moderate (20 to 40 miles, any amount of climbing)

• Moderately Hard (30 to 40 miles with more than 1500 feet of climbing)

• Hard but Relatively Flat (more than 40 miles and less than an average of 30 feet of climbing per mile)

• Hard and Moderately Hilly (more than 40 miles and an average of 30 to 40 feet of climbing per mile)

• Hard and Hilly (more than 40 miles and an average of more than 40 feet of climbing per mile)

• Killer but You’re Gonna Love It Anyway (more than 100 miles and plenty of climbing)

*Climbing elevations are generally as reported by the RideWithGPS mapping tool. In the author’s experience, actual climbing as recorded on these routes by GPS is often significantly higher than the RWGPS estimates. 

You can, of course, double your options by riding any of these routes in reverse. If you would like to add your favorite route(s) to the list, please comment on this post and a moderator will edit the original post to include the route if it is deemed a good addition. 

Most routes start and end at Bridge Square in the heart of historic downtown Northfield. If they start or end elsewhere, there’s likely a brewery or something else inviting involved! (Three excellent breweries and a cidery are within a few blocks or miles of Bridge Square for post-ride refreshments: Imminent Brewing (two blocks away), Tanzenwald Brewing Company (0.3 miles), Chapel Brewing (3.1 miles), and Keepsake Cidery (6.1 miles).

Ride on!

Northfield Gravel Rides

Easy (less than 20 miles, any amount of climbing)

• Southwest, Return on East Cannon River Trail (14.3 miles, 406’ of climbing) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/27224078

• Cannon River Ramble 15-miler (15 miles, 438’ of climbing) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/27220502

• Northeast and Back on Sciota Trail (16 miles, 584’ of climbing) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/36130634 

• Isaacson Trail Quickie (16.8 miles, 606’ of climbing) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/27223989

• Cold Moon Howl (18.8 miles, 560’ of climbing) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/31572631

• Patrick L-Approved Loop (18.8 miles, 826’ of climbing, including a couple of challenging climbs) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/36132368

• Crow Moon Howl 20-miler (19.8 miles, 478’ of climbing) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/26943822

Moderate (20 to 40 miles with less than 1500’ of climbing)

• McKnight Prairie Fly-By (21.6 miles, 553’ of climbing) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/36130160

• Chub Lake Super Blue Moon Howl (24.3 miles, 650’ of climbing) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/26788958

• Easy Like Sunday Afternoon (27.7 miles, 633’ of climbing) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/26513582

• Burma Passage and Ghost Nike Missile Site (28.9 miles, 796’ of climbing) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/22064188

• Randolph -- Strachan Farm Loop (30.1 miles, 648’ of climbing) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/20009046

• Farmer Trail – Big Woods – Dennison (30.2 miles, 1078’ of climbing) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/36141468

• Western Gravel Staying East of I-35 (30.7 miles, 677’ of climbing) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/20830839

• Chub Lake Howl (30.7 miles, 792’ of climbing) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/25865282

• Burma Passage – Randolph (31.2 miles, 638’ of climbing) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/26439954

• Chub Lake – Burma Passage (31.4 miles, 765’ of climbing) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/26343685

• Boy Scout Camp Loop with Cherry Valley Descent (31.4 miles, 956’ of climbing) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/36138847

• Farmer Trail – Eiler Ave – Rice County Wilderness Area (32.3 miles, 1361’ of climbing) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/25382894

• 20th Ave Rollers (32.4 miles, 1496’ of climbing) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/36084642

• Beware Falling Mergansers (33.0 miles, 911’ of climbing) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/21606223

• Burma Passage – Chub Lake (33.5 miles, 893’ of climbing) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/25146470

• Lewiston Boulevard – Passage to Burma (34.3 miles, 726’ of climbing) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/32501103

• Circle Lake 36-Miler (36.2 miles, 1358’ of climbing) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/33841395

• Wilderness Park – Cannon City – Farmer Trail – Isaacson Trail (37.1 miles, 1308’ of climbing) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/32565532

Moderately Hard (30 to 40 miles with more than 1500’ of climbing)

• Westerly to Union Lake Trail and Baseline Road (30.4 miles, 1534’ of climbing) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/21780917

• Farmer Trail – Big Woods – Isaacson Trail (32.3 miles, 1786’ of climbing) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/30953952

• Beautiful Barn Loop; (37.9 miles, 1679’ of climbing) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/30207821

Hard but Relatively Flat (more than 40 miles and less than an average of 30 feet of climbing per mile)

• Camp Winona Trail – Union Lake Trail (52.1 miles, 1354’ of climbing) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/33318702

• Vermillion Highlands – Chimney Rock (63.2 miles, 1472’ of climbing) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/32497739

• Montgomery Calling (55.6 miles, 1580’ of climbing) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/29133208

Hard and Moderately Hilly (more than 40 miles and an average of 30 to 40 feet of climbing per mile)

• Full Strawberry Moon 42-Miler (42.5 miles, 1595’ of climbing) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/21924422

• Falls Trail – Union Lake Trail (43.0 miles, 1349’ of climbing) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/33318802

• Shady Lane Trail Pronto (44.7 miles, 1597’ of climbing) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/21733748

• Small Taste o’ the DAMn (48.1 miles, 1757’ of climbing) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/33586778

• Union Lake Trail – Cody Lake Trail – Lake Ave (49.7 miles, 1677’ of climbing) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/26519007

• Full Strawberry Moon Howl 50-miler (50.4 miles, 1875’ of climbing) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/21892498

• Clark Valley Trail – Byllesby Dam (52.5 miles, 1848’ of climbing) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/32424296

• Heywood 55 (53.3 miles, 1932’ of climbing) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/31947123

• Camp Winona Trail – Cody Trail – Union Lake Trail (57.2 miles, 1931’ of climbing) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/21082907

• Randolph – Chub Lake – Union Lake Trail Meander (58.9 miles, 2192’ of climbing) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/35721667

• Wilderness Park – Faribault – Monkey Valley (61.2 miles, 2215’ of climbing) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/32565083

• Shady Lane Trail – Monkey Valley 100k (62.3 miles, 2386’ of climbing) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/22740727

• Skunk Hollow – Clark Valley Metric Century (63.4 miles, 2311’ of climbing) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/32783148

• Shady Lane Trail – Wanamingo – Scenic Barn (63.7 miles, 2347’ of climbing) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/33676439

• Welch – Miesville Ravine – Randolph (78.0 miles, 2812’ of climbing) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/21505746

• Clark Valley Trail – Sunset Trail – Welch Trail – Miesville Ravine – Chimney Rock Loop (88.6 miles, 3171’ of climbing) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/21454059

Hard and Hilly (more than 40 miles and an average of more than 40 feet of climbing per mile)

• Monkey Valley – Nerstrand Big Woods (42.7 miles, 2037’ of climbing) 

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/33224111

• Shady Lane Trail – Scenic Barn (45.5 miles, 1833’ of climbing) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/28597969

• Earth Day Gravel Grinder (52.4 miles, 3048’ of climbing) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/32398440

• Wanamingo, No Foolin’ Around (57.5 miles, 2363’ of climbing) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/31466963

• Chimney Rock or Bust! (59.3 miles, 2492’ of climbing) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/31203805

• White Rock Trail – Oxford Mill Road (61.0 miles, 2890’ of climbing) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/30986263

• (Bit Longer) Taste o’ the DAMn (61.5 miles, 2468’ of climbing) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/33586723

• Area 57 with Return via Monkey Valley (66.0 miles, 2908’ of climbing) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/33223964

• Sunset Trail – Welch – Miesville Ravine – Byllesby Dam (71.9 miles, 3068’ of climbing) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/30727348

• Heywoodish Lite (76.9 miles, 3697’ of climbing) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/30136462

• Angry Catfish Comes to Town (82.6 miles, 3748’ of climbing) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/29263087

Killer but You’re Gonna Love It Anyway (more than 100 miles and plenty of climbing)

• Skunk Hollow -- Clark Valley -- White Rock – Vasa – Welch -- Miesville Ravine -- Chimney Rock Century (100.8 miles, 3894’ of climbing) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/32782960

• Camp Winona Trail-LeSueur-Montgomery Gravel Century (103.9 miles, 3103’ of climbing) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/20316984

• Thunder Moon Howl: Good Stuff to the West and East (105.5 miles, 5844’ of climbing) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/36141829

• Heywood 110 (109.9 miles, 5024’ of climbing) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/31947274

• It Ain’t Paradise but It Used to Be (127.6 miles, 5903’ of climbing) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/36141945

• Heywood 165 (163.8 miles, 7298’ of climbing) https://ridewithgps.com/routes/31948826