MN 371 has become a heavily traveled arterial route that was once a two-lane roadway over almost all of its length, but has been widened to four lanes across most of its southern half.

MN 115 serves the military base to the west; a large tank used as a monument is on the east side of the interchange.

It quickly leaves Fort Ripley and continues north as the landscape steadily becomes less farm-oriented and more forested.

After Fort Ripley the highway turns northeast for several miles and clips the southeast corner of Crow Wing State Park.

MN 371 itself turns back to the north and crosses the Mississippi River before entering Baxter, a smaller city just west of Brainerd.

MN 371 heads north through Baxter's business district, then enters the Gull Lake area, a popular tourist destination.

Several miles north of Pequot Lakes and after passing through the town of Jenkins, MN 371 enters Cass County.

Meanwhile, the landscape becomes less treelined and hillier as the route progresses toward Cass Lake, the final city on MN 371.

In 1994, US 371 was recycled and reassigned to a concatenation of state highways in Arkansas and Louisiana to form a new US 371 that has no relationship to the old US  (now MN 371) other than being associated with US 71 as the parent number.

Because of increases in traffic, especially during times of peak recreational demand, MN 371 has been the focus of many upgrades in the area: Business Trunk Highway 371 (Bus.

Due to the addition of new highway mileage from the new bypass, the old route of MN 371 was a candidate for turnback to local jurisdiction.