The Mesabi Trail brochure shows the elevation changes so we knew that if we rode any direction from Gilbert it would be downhill. That meant a tough uphill at the end of our ride. That's not our favorite plan, so we packed up the bikes and drove to Mountain Iron. The trail map nicely displays all the trailheads, so a quick programming of the gps and we were off. What the gps didn't tell us was that if you don't merge left fast enough, you end up in the middle of Virginia with road construction blocking all of Nuvi's attempts to get us back on track. It gets really annoying to hear that voice saying, "Recalculating..." The trailheads for the Mesabi Trail have kiosks with maps, and instructions on how to pay for the Wheel Pass. It was $5.00 each for two days, well worth the investment to have such trails developed. However, there seems to be no enforcement. Hmm. This trailhead had a NICE blue port-a-potty, clean with no odor and even waterless hand sanitizer.
We headed west with plans of visiting Ironworld in Chisolm. According to the map we would have one hill of up to 8% but lots of other ups and downs for about 15 miles. It was cool with a light wind and blue sky. We rode through aspen groves with abundant flowers along the trail. The trail is often within sight of the highway but with enough trees, flowers, and hills that that the highway is not noticed often. 
After about nine+ miles we arrived at Buhl, the town with the unacceptable campground. We rode to the swimming lake and discovered the locked bathrooms and no water. Good thing we DIDN'T stay there! We rode on, including up the 8% hill and came to a junction. The town of Chisolm to the right and Ironworld 2.5 miles to the left. We turned left and rode downhill with a pleasant tailwind. At another junction after crossing under the highway we followed the signs that said 1.5 miles to Ironworld. Now we were riding uphill into a headwind, it was past lunch time and when the odometer passed that 1.5 miles, there was no museum in sight. We slogged on up, then through the fairgrounds and finally into a big parking lot for the Minnesota Discovery Center but no visible entry. Huh? We rode around a bit, took a picture of the miner sculpture, and finally found an employee who told us we had to ride way around the to the south to find the entrance. Okay, off we went, knowing that the museum had a restaurant and bathrooms! By the way, between the printing of the trail map and our visit, the museum had changed its name. 
The museum was interesting, especially the special exhibit on animal poop! However, the BLTs and fries and homemade potato chips were excellent. There were outside exhibits of a Sami house (think Lapplanders) and homesteads. However, we both felt the need to get back on the trail, especially if the return ride was to be as much work as the first part. 
As we began to ride through the fairgrounds, we realized that the gentle wind of the morning was now much stronger and would be a TAILWIND most of the ride back. Wahoo! We had one stretch back into the wind and that 8% grade hill along with quite a few other smaller hills, but that tailwind was a gift. It was a great ride back. Oh, we saw exactly 10 other cyclists on what ended up being a 38 mile ride.
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