Pipestone MN to Two Harbors MN

[Wildwood Danny]

What is the best route from Pipestone MN to Two Harbors and can I make it in 8 hours +/-? I drive about 62MPH when road conditions allow.

Thanks

[Rsgtivr6]

This is google maps best option at about 7hrs (6 if you get some good traffic and 5 over

Pipestone, MN to Two Harbors, MN - Google Maps

I used to take the First part of the trip for work all the time. Cuts a lot of time out from going I-90 to I-35

Taking this route via I-494 and I-694 will bypass the cities, though, and might save some downtown traffic headache;

Pipestone, MN to Two Harbors, MN - Google Maps

Good luck!

[Wildwood Danny]

Thanks for the reply Rsgtivr6, do you know if SH 23 is a good trailer friendly road thru St Cloud to Hinckley? That is the way TL Navigator has this segment of our trip routed, it is about 40 miles shorter than the Google route.

Thanks again for the info.

[Rsgtivr6]

That will take you downtown St. Cloud and depending on time of day, that could get hairy. The second route I posted takes you around the TCs and should not be too bad most times of the day. Just don't try to get through 494N between 4p-7p on a weekday. If Friday, avoid at all costs! lol Everyone is trying to go north that day.

I see the route you mentioned, and if you go at the right time of day, it might not be bad, but the speed limits are going to be 55-60 max a lot of the time until Hinckley. The fuel savings alone might be worth it, though!

[Rsgtivr6]

Oh, and remember that small State/County hwys will have a lot of small towns to go through which means a lot of 30-45mph speed limits and stop lights. We used to drive from up north by Brainerd to the TCs regularly. It was only about 175 miles, but it always took about 3 hrs even though hwy 10 is a 4-lane, 65mph limit most of the way. Lots of small town slow downs.

[Wildwood Danny]

Thanks for the update. we will be traveling on a Sunday so we should miss a lot of the going to work traffic (we hope). You are right about State/County hwys being a lot of towns with lower speed limits and stoplights, we have done them on some shorter legs before, sometimes you get a more scenic view. This leg of our trip is about what we travel on most days, around 350 to 400 miles and try to be in our site by 5:00.

Thanks again for your help and info, will let you know what we take and how it went, will be traveling around the end of June.

[Wildwood Danny]

Just completed the trip from Pipestone to Two Harbors yesterday. About 342 miles averaging 51 mph moving and 47 mph for the total trip, which includes fuel stops and one making a wrong turn and one construction detour. Most of the small towns were bypassed with no or little speed limit reduction. A lot of the route had 55 mph speed limit. All but about 20 miles of the road was great (even that was better than most of the Iowa road we traveled a couple of days earlier). We followed MN 23 all the way to I-35. Was an easy drive and didn't have any large cities other than St Cloud and it was not bad. Raised my mpg by about 1 mpg going the lower speed.

Thanks all who provided info for this leg of our route. This was a good route for us and a very easy day of travel, with the roads all marked very well with no major differences with the DW.

Setting here in a severe thunderstorm at this time.

[Rsgtivr6]

Yeah, I heard that there was some bad weather up there. After a 100F day, I would kind of expect a cold front to move in and do that.

Glad to hear you had a good trip!