4 Snowmobile Crashes Leave 4 Injured In Cass County Over Presidents Day Weekend

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Authorities in Cass County say four people were injured in separate snowmobile crashes over the holiday weekend.

The first crash occurred Thursday around 9:20 p.m. on Paul Bunyan Trail near Backus, the Cass County Sheriff's Office said. A 66-year-old Sauk Rapids man rolled his snowmobile and left the trail. He was hospitalized.

On Friday just after 11 a.m., a 33-year-old man from St. James left the path on Old Grade Trail Northeast near Pine River. He was injured and taken to a hospital.

A Saturday morning crash on Bull Moose Trail near State Highway 87 left a 54-year-old Zumbrota woman with serious injuries. She was airlifted to a hospital in St. Cloud after hitting a large tree.

Later that day, a 43-year-old Elk River Man went off a trail in Fairview Township, near Brainerd. He, too, was hospitalized.

The sheriff said that "in many of these incidents, speed was the main factor." He asked riders to "know and understand their machine," and to be aware of an upcoming race in Nisswa this weekend that would add "significant snowmobile traffic" in the area.