Outside in MN

No experience required. From Minnesota Public Radio and MPR News, Outside in MN provides timely weather updates, events and how-to guides to prepare you for your next outdoor adventure. Download the app and get outside!

Have an event you’d like added to our calendar? Share it with us! Already use the app? We’re working on updating and improving the experience there. Help us by giving your feedback here!

As mountain biking booms in Minnesota, pro builders help meet the demand for trails
Minnesota is in the midst of a mountain bike trail-building boom. In just the past few years, more than 100 miles of single-track trails have been built in the northeastern corner of the state. And as the trail mileage has grown, so have the number of niche companies that have sprouted up to build them.
Red means go! Minnesota's fall colors start to burst
It’s not even October but Minnesota’s landscape is already flashing some big color. Corners of far northern Minnesota are already approaching their peak or are close to it. Here’s the latest from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
Rugged terrain lures mountain bikers to northeastern Minnesota's booming trails
The Split Rock Wilds mountain bike trail officially opens this weekend, traversing about 20 miles of rugged terrain along the North Shore of Lake Superior. It’s just the latest among a burgeoning network of 250 miles of trails in northeastern Minnesota that’s transforming the region into a mountain biking destination.
The Minnesota fall bucket list
The fall season in Minnesota is spectacular but fleeting! Here’s a list of all the things you should see and do before the leaves fly and the lakes freeze.
Orange you happy it's leaf-peeping season? Where to find fall colors this weekend
It's still too early to see the most vibrant shades, according to the state Department of Natural Resources. But portions of northwestern Minnesota are between 25 percent and 50 percent peak.
Adventure sports like mountain biking and climbing are all the rage right now. In Duluth, the city has invested in new bike and ski trails and an ice climbing park. Even as the state grows more diverse, however, those sports remain overwhelmingly white. But groups in Duluth are working to change that. 
A summer tradition changes with the climate
Climate change is affecting everything from campers’ schedules to infrastructure needs to the kinds of trees on the property at Camp Mishawaka in Grand Rapids, Minn. And it isn’t alone; a major insurer of summer camps has pulled out of the business as camps on the coasts lose property to wildfires and hurricanes.
Can the BWCA survive its own popularity?
More people are visiting the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in northern Minnesota than ever before while development, fires and other climate change agents are getting closer every year.