Rock-Climb
TRAVEL: 90 MILES
Smear and jam up the 70-to-90-foot walls of Sandstone, Minnesota's Robinson Park on one of about 50 established routes with St. Paul-based climbing outfit Vertical Endeavors Guided Adventures (lessons from $99; verticalendeavors.com). Later, pitch a tent at nearby Banning State Park (campsites from $18; dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks/banning).
Paddle
TRAVEL: 135 MILES
Learn to spin, squirt, and run Class II–IV whitewater on Carlton's St. Louis River, with lessons from the University of Minnesota Duluth's Kayak and Canoe Institute (from $235; 218-726-6533). Weekend sessions prep you for dropping through gorges and running rapids like the aptly named Twisted Sister. Dry off and bed down at the new, 116-room Canal Park Lodge (doubles from $170; canalparklodge.com), on the North Shore of Lake Superior.
Mountain-Bike
TRAVEL: 138 MILES
Ride the Upper Midwest's newest singletrack, the Hatchery Creek Trail, in Wisconsin's north woods, near Hayward. This challenging eight-mile loop dips down alongside moraines while zigzagging through white and red pines. The Chequamegon Area Mountain Bike Association (cambatrails.org) adds an average of one new trail a year to this 300-mile-plus network, which weaves in and out of the Chequamegon National Forest. When exhaustion hits, head 15 minutes northwest to the Garmisch Inn. Before calling it a night in one of the recently renovated rooms with wood-burning fireplaces, try a draft Berghoff beer in the Bierstube Lounge, overlooking Namekagon Lake (doubles from $120; garmischresort.com).
Learn
TRAVEL: 264 MILES
Discover Minnesota's Scandinavian roots at Grand Marais's ten-year-old North House Folk School (northhousefolkschool.com). Students learn to build Norwegian prams, tie flies, or construct hand-forged, birch- or antler-handled Swedish knives. Come evening, let waves breaking against a basalt shore lull you to sleep at the new Inn at Terrace Point (doubles from $259; innatterracepoint.com), a Grand Marais auberge featuring stone fireplaces, cedar decks, and Finnish saunas.
