Explore Minnesota More

Send us Fan Mail Reaching a park’s parking lot isn’t the same as reaching its waterfall. This episode looks at how Minnesota became a national leader in outdoor accessibility and what’s next. Why it matters: For visitors with mobility disabilities, many trails, beaches and overlooks have been out of reach while friends and family head out without them. New equipment and new funding are changing th...

Send us Fan Mail The Cannon Valley Trail turns 40 this year. In this episode, we look at how a stretch of the old Chicago Great Western rail line along the Cannon River became one of southeastern Minnesota's favorite outdoor destinations. Neighbors who once worried about trail users crossing their land now list "next to the Cannon Valley Trail" as a selling point when they sell thei...

Send us Fan Mail Detroit Mountain has been a ski area in Detroit Lakes since the 1940s — and when it went dark in 2004, the community had a hole it couldn't ignore. Roughly a decade later, about a thousand donors helped raise $12 million to rebuild it from the ground up: a new lodge, new lifts, cleaned-up runs, and a year-round operation with mountain biking in the summer. The finished mounta...

Send us Fan Mail After thirty years of construction, the Mesabi Trail is complete — 165 paved, traffic-separated miles from the Mississippi River in Grand Rapids to the edge of the Boundary Waters in Ely. We talk with two people who helped build it about what it took, what it means for the twenty-eight towns along the way, and why it's a far harder ride than "rail trail" suggests. ...

Send us Fan Mail Sugar Lake Lodge sits in the Sugar Hills near Grand Rapids, Minnesota — a property Abby Oxborough's family rebuilt from bankruptcy and rubble in the early '90s, drawing on generations of Minnesota hospitality roots. Today, Abby runs Leadership Lodge, an experiential leadership program that takes teams out of the conference room and into the elements to figure out how the...

Send us Fan Mail You're on island time now. It just feels different. The Northwest Angle is a geographic oddity — the only place in the contiguous U.S. you can't reach without crossing an international border — and one of the most story-dense square miles in Minnesota. In this episode, host Randolph Briley sits down with Joe Henry (Executive Director, Lake of the Woods Tourism) and Joe L...

Send us Fan Mail In a town of about 9,000 people in Minnesota's northwest corner, one company has shared space with the place for more than 60 years. This episode tells the story of Arctic Cat and Thief River Falls — a restless founder, a bankruptcy that impacted the town, and not one but two resurrections, the second sealed on a date almost too perfect to be true. Host Randolph Briley sits d...

Send us Fan Mail What does it take to walk a thousand miles across Alaska in winter — and finish wishing you could keep going? In this episode, we sit down with Kari Gibbons , a North Minneapolis artist, winter ultra athlete, and founder of Wild Winter Women . Kari made history in February 2025 as the fourth woman ever to complete the Iditarod Trail Invitational 1000 — 1,000 miles on foot from Kni...

Send us Fan Mail Guests: Lisa Luokkala , Executive Director, Superior Hiking Trail Association John Storkamp , Trail runner, race Director/owner of Rocksteady Running and volunteer crew leader on the SHT since 1995 Episode Summary The Superior Hiking Trail — 300 miles of ridgeline bluffs, river valleys, eight state parks, and some of the most dramatic views of Lake Superior on the planet — turns 4...

Send us Fan Mail For the first time, Outdoor Retailer — the outdoor industry's signature national gathering — is coming to Minneapolis. Running August 19–21, 2026 at the Minneapolis Convention Center, the show marks a major shift for an event that has long lived in the Mountain West. In this episode, host Randolph Briley sits down with three guests who bring complementary vantage points: a Mi...

Send us Fan Mail What happens when a major regional newspaper decides the outdoors deserves its own seat at the table? Randolph sits down with Mark Baumgarten, outdoors editor at the Minnesota Star Tribune, Travis Tufte from business development, and Lauren Pahl from brand and events marketing to talk outdoor journalism, community building, and the return of Star Tribune Unbound on May 9th. What w...

Send us Fan Mail This episode is for the wonks out there. Outdoor recreation is a massive economic powerhouse in MN . It eclipses a number of traditional industries and yet few people (except for those of us who are rec nerds) understand the scale of the impact.  Every year the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis r eleases data quantifying the impact of the outdoor recreation industry .  The 2025 rel...

Send us Fan Mail What do New Mexico sand dunes, a snowmobile trail in International Falls, and single track in Cuyuna have in common? They're all part of the wild origin story of fat tire biking — and Minnesota is at the center of all of it. In this episode we trace the fat tire bike from its scrappy beginnings as a 60-pound Franken-bike prototype to a legitimate winter sport that's resh...

Send us Fan Mail Episode Overview What separates a community that has outdoor recreation from one that is defined by it? That's the question at the heart of this special episode, recorded live at world famous Explore Minnesota Tourism Conference 2026. Host Randolph Briley — Director of Minnesota's Outdoor Recreation Industry Partnership (ORIP) — facilitates a conversation with three prac...

Send us Fan Mail Episode Summary What does it take to resurrect a ski hill that's been dormant for 15 years? In this episode, we sit down with the owner of Steeplechase Ski Area — a Rochester native who grew up racing snowmobiles on this very property, walked away from a career in roofing and real estate, and quietly turned an overgrown, animal-inhabited building on 172 acres into one of Sout...

Send us Fan Mail What happens when a group of underground ice climbers — who spent decades wondering if their next visit to an abandoned quarry might be their last — decide to stop waiting and start organizing? You get one of the most remarkable outdoor recreation comeback stories in Minnesota.  In this episode, we head to Duluth to explore Quarry Park (also known as Casket Quarry), a former grave...

Send us Fan Mail Winter in Minnesota isn’t something to survive—it’s something to explore. In this first-ever Listener Questions episode of Explore Minnesota More , host Randolph Briley, Deputy Director at Explore Minnesota, answers questions from listeners across the state who are curious about trying new winter activities for the first time. From ice climbing and ice fishing to Nordic skiing, co...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we sit down with the inspiring team behind She Ascends , a fast-growing women’s hiking and wellness community that started right here in Minnesota and has already expanded across the Upper Midwest. Founder Mindi Jenson and Central Region Lead Jamie Broll share the origin story of She Ascends, how a few solo hikes sparked a thriving movement, and why building commu...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of Explore Minnesota More we sit down with Brad Gausman and Julia Schrenkler from the Minnesota Conservation Federation to explore the Women in Conservation Leadership Program . The initiative is designed to give women a welcoming entry point into hunting, outdoor recreation, and conservation leadership — combining classroom learning with hands-on field experiences...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we head to Lake City —where it all began—to explore the invention and evolution of waterskiing in Minnesota. Host Randolph Briley sits down with Betsy Anderson Gilman , competitive barefoot skier and board member of the USA Water Ski & Wake Sports Foundation , to discuss how one Minnesotan’s curiosity forever changed recreation on the water. From Ralph Samuels...

Send us Fan Mail What happens when you bring the spirit of Minnesota’s outdoors to the middle of the State Fair? In this special episode of Explore Minnesota More , hosts Sarah Strommen and Lauren Bennett McGinty set up at the DNR booth to capture real stories from fairgoers about their most memorable outdoor moments. From magical sunsets on the St. Croix and close encounters with wolves in Voyage...

Send us Fan Mail This special field episode of Explore Minnesota More takes you to the banks of the Mississippi River at Fort Snelling, where hosts Sarah Strommen and Randolph Briley join Tyler Winter of Native Fish for Tomorrow for an afternoon of fishing and conversation. Instead of the usual studio setup, rods were in the water—and bending fast. In just 35 minutes, the crew landed seven differe...

Send us Fan Mail For over four decades, Game Fair has been a can’t-miss event for Minnesota’s hunting, conservation, and outdoor communities. In this episode of Explore Minnesota More , hosts Sarah Strommen, Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, and Lauren Bennett McGinty, Executive Director of Explore Minnesota, sit down with Game Fair co-creator Chuck Delaney and long-ti...

Send us Fan Mail In this special episode, we dive deep into the newly released 2025 Minnesota Outdoor Recreation Economic Impact Report. This isn’t just a conversation about lakes, trails, and gear—it’s about jobs, GDP, and the powerful ripple effect outdoor recreation has on every corner of Minnesota’s economy and culture. Key Topics Covered: Why Minnesota commissioned its first comprehensive out...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Lauren Bennett McGinty (Explore Minnesota) and Sarah Strommen (MN Department of Natural Resources) head into the whimsical woods of Becker County to uncover the story behind one of Minnesota’s most magical attractions: the Thomas Dambo trolls. Joined by Amy Stearns of Project 412, Mitch Lundeen, and Steve Skoog from Becker County, we explore how a bold idea, a glo...