During the middle of winter, Checkpoint Minnesota inspires hundreds of outdoors enthusiasts hungry for prizes to explore. Ski packages, fat bikes and winter gear fuel the hunt.
It was minus-2 degrees on the Greenway Bike Path last week in Minneapolis. An arctic chill had settled over Minnesota, yet the man with the big leathers mitts would not give up. “I see the checkpoint way down there,” he said.
He was pointing off a bridge toward a sign topped with a blue arrowhead, one of 10 checkpoints he planned to visit. Before the week was done he would reach all 10 on the list, some of them hundreds of miles apart around the state of Minnesota.
The man is one of hundreds of people now in Minnesota braving the cold to get outdoors and search for these unique signs in the inaugural Checkpoint MN event. It launched last month and runs through February 7, 2014.
More than 800 check-ins so far have been recorded, from Grand Portage National Monument at the tip of Minnesota’s Arrowhead on Lake Superior, to the urban Greenway checkpoint, which is near the GearJunkie main office.
