__________PRESS RELEASE________

Boundary Country Trekking, 173 Little Ollie Road, Grand Marais, MN 55604

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE DATE: March 17, 2003

CONTACT: Barbara Young

          218-388-4487 / 800-322-832

Lodge to Lodge Bicycling Comes to the Mesabi Trail

Mesabi Trail, MN- Starting this spring bicyclists will be able to bike northeast Minnesota's paved Mesabi Trail Lodge to Lodge. Boundary Country Trekking has expanded its Lodge to Lodge programs to include lodging, meals, and shuttle service for cyclists touring the Mesabi Trail. The Mesabi, Minnesota's premiere paved bicycle trail, traverses the Iron Range and Superior National Forest from Grand Rapids to Ely. While most of the trail is completed there are some sections along the trail where bicyclists will have to pedal alternate highway routes or be shuttled. The Trail, unlike most paved trails located on abandoned railroad beds that are flat and straight, meanders and curves and runs up and down hills, through forests, fields, streams, past the "great canyons of the north" and into twenty-eight historic Iron Range communities along its path.

According to Ted Young, president of Boundary Country Trekking, "We are working with nine lodging properties along the Mesabi Trail to provide a variety of lodging accommodations from bed and breakfast to hotels to full-service resorts and lodges." Young adds, " And we have an excellent shuttle partner in Northern Lights Sports who will operate under the name of the Mesabi Trail Shuttle." Young continues, "The Mesabi Trail is a spectacular trail for biking with great scenery and exciting overlooks. And then of course the Range also has some outstanding ethnic restaurants and other attractions the bicyclist will be able to take-in." Young went on to state that "This new lodge to lodge program will enable bicyclists to truly enjoy the trail and the many things the Range has to offer. To schedule a trip, bicyclists need only to go to the program's new web pages at http://www.boundarycountry.com/mesabi_bike.html, fill out the requested information and we will take it from there."

Cyclists can choose from the Mesabi Venture, a two-night package ($160 per person), Mesabi Quest, three nights ($239 per person), or Mesabi Challenge, four nights ($315 per person). All packages include lodging, breakfast, a packed trail lunch, luggage shuttle, Trail Wheel Pass, shuttle service to the car, and expert route planning help. Value season discount offered in the spring and late fall;  weekend and holiday rates are slightly higher.

Boundary Country Trekking, a northern Minnesota based adventure travel business, also offers lodge to lodge hiking along the Superior Hiking Trail and lodge to lodge cross country skiing on the North Shore and the Gunflint Trail, and yurt to yurt skiing along with a variety of other northern Minnesota adventures. For complete information on all Boundary Country Trekking programs, visit www.boundarycountry.com or call 800-322-8327.

Just a note about the Trail-by this July 2003, 85 miles of the planned 132-mile bituminous paved Mesabi Trail will be complete. When finished the Mesabi Trail will be one of the longest paved trails in North America.

Photo images of the Mesabi Trail available from Minnesota Office of Tourism contact Paul Stafford