Mountain Bike

Border Bash

 

August 2024

Mike and Dave spent 3 days riding trails at Lake Metigoshe, Adam Lake, and Williams Lake. As most North Dakotans know, Lake Metigoshe State Park, in the Turtle Mountains, is one of our state's best 4-season parks. Adam Lake is nearby and just a few miles into Manitoba, north of the US/Canadian border at the Peace Gardens in the Turtle Mountain Provincial Park. Williams Lake Provincial park is just a handful of miles west of Adam Lake, but the best route to get there takes you farther north, before you head west, then south again. 

Here are a few pics from our rides at each location. 

Lake Metigoshe State Park

 

1. Map of our ride route

2. We affectionately call this area "Bob's Knob".. it's a long story

3. The Osprey Cabin

4. A trail loop called Boyd's Meadows. 

There were a lot of leaves on the trails, sunset at the lake shore was beautiful and we rented a park cabin. It was really nice!

Turtle Mountain Provincial Park, Adam Lake

The last time we were at Adam Lake was prior to COVID. We would frequently stay in the James Lake Cabin on xc ski outings, or when hiking or mountain biking overnight. Our goal for this foray was to just ride to the James Lake Cabin and back. We had heard from the office staff at Lake Metigoshe that Lake Williams had some decent single track going all the way around the lake, and also a spur that went up to the "Turtles back", a high point of the Turtle Mountains. We met a rider on the trail, at the James Lake Cabin from Boissivain, who confirmed this. He was riding the trails there picking up sticks and branches blown off of trees during the high winds recently. One thing that really impressed us was the excellent signage on the trails complete with "you are here" maps with great detail that were very easy to read. Make sure to check out the ride video below the pics.

Dave, Adam Lake Trail main Info, Turtle Mountain Adventure Huts

Typical trail sign, Mike, leaf carpet!

 

James Lake cabin, James Lake

 

 

 

Williams Lake Provincial Park

This was our first visit to Williams Lake and it was late in the day, so it was going to be short, but we have some beautiful pictures late in the day. 

 

 

 

The "Turtle's Back" is the high point of the area and the summit for this trail. Needless to say we rode uphill for quite a while. Some of the climbs were pretty steep, but they came in short segments. We stopped a ways further up the trail when we got to a fence, which we knew we had to cross, but the sun was getting lower and even though we had lights with, we did not relish the thought of riding down at night. As it was we got back to the car with enough daylight left to load the bikes and head back across the border.  Williams Lake Provincial Park is definitely on our "must return" list!

[A big thanks to Dave for all the great pictures]