Going to be traveling this route for the first time in June. Anything to look out for, or must-stop places along the way? Any concerns towing a trailer on this highway? Thanks!

Check out the Greenwood Lake fire along Hwy 1, a better view will be a few miles south of hwy 1 on county 2 where it burned hot and on both sides of that road.

I'm gonna head down that way when we're up there.
I want to go south of Ely to fish Dumbbell lake.

Hwy 1 is plenty twisty in those parts, lots of slow tight corners. But last time I recall that stretch has quite new blacktop and the road surface was very nice. Hwy 2 on the other hand that goes south towards the big lake has some very lumpy areas that are rough on a trailer on the northern end closest to Hwy 1.

Very cool large old pines in a little roadside preserve on Hwy 2 if you're looking for little stops to make though.

Thanks for the thoughts folks. Thankfully we are not going down hwy 2, I have read it's not great with a trailer. We are taking hwy 1 all the way to 61 and then heading north to the gunflint trail for the 2nd half of a two-part trip.

On the way home (GFT to twin cities) we are also considering bumping west on hwy 11 at silver bay to get over to US 53 south. We'll be coming home on a Sunday. I've been thru Two Harbors enough times on a Sunday afternoon to make this little detour seem well worth it. Google Maps has it adding about 30 minutes to the total trip.

thegildedgopher: "Thanks for the thoughts folks. Thankfully we are not going down hwy 2, I have read it's not great with a trailer. We are taking hwy 1 all the way to 61 and then heading north to the gunflint trail for the 2nd half of a two-part trip.


On the way home (GFT to twin cities) we are also considering bumping west on hwy 11 at silver bay to get over to US 53 south. We'll be coming home on a Sunday. I've been thru Two Harbors enough times on a Sunday afternoon to make this little detour seem well worth it. Google Maps has it adding about 30 minutes to the total trip."

If you go that route you will be very close to the Paul Wellstone memorial site where the plane he was riding on crashed, it is very pretty site .

Paul Wellstone memorial.

thegildedgopher: "Thanks for the thoughts folks. Thankfully we are not going down hwy 2, I have read it's not great with a trailer. We are taking hwy 1 all the way to 61 and then heading north to the gunflint trail for the 2nd half of a two-part trip.


On the way home (GFT to twin cities) we are also considering bumping west on hwy 11 at silver bay to get over to US 53 south. We'll be coming home on a Sunday. I've been thru Two Harbors enough times on a Sunday afternoon to make this little detour seem well worth it. Google Maps has it adding about 30 minutes to the total trip."

You ain't gonna like this news. ;-)

The detour down 53 to I35 is rather short and painless.

tumblehome: "The detour down 53 to I35 is rather short and painless. "

I'm actually expecting that he won't be anywhere near it. But driving past Gordy's without stopping might be a challenge ...

I'll be missing Duluth entirely this time around. The biggest bummer is our annual shopping spree at Marine General is off. And it's taken 3 trips to different stores so far to gather what I'd typically take care of in one stop at MG.

made the run up and down 2 a few weeks ago, no trailer. from Two harbors to 11, 2 is good, from 11 to 1 generally rough with some pretty bad sections where it felt like the pickup was bouncing its way towards the ditch. 1, surface is fine, just the normal twisting and turning to get around the water. Going the other way (Ely to Two Harbors) was better. Saw 2 moose standing on 2 about 15 miles north of Two harbors.

Don't think I'd want to do it with a trailer, mostly as it would seem painfully slow running through the rough sections.

Wanted to report back that the trip from Ely to Finland on hwy 1 was a breeze. What a beautiful drive through the pines.

Also on the way home we stuck to 61 all the way south to 35. On a Sunday afternoon at 1230 we rolled through two harbors with 2 brief stops at the red lights. No backup whatsoever. Scratching my head on that but certainly not complaining.