This Marvelous 8.5-Mile Trail In Minnesota Leads Adventurers To A Little-Known Historic Site and Overlook
Trent Jonas
Author
A trek along the 8.5-mile Grand Portage Trail in Minnesota is a marvelous hiking adventure that rewards you with both stunning natural beauty and a trip back in time to the area’s human history. The trail is the namesake of the national monument, a state park, and the community of the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa whose land the portage trail bisects. This is definitely one of our favorite Minnesota trails, and its fascinating history elevates it above many other hikes in Minnesota.
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Be sure to spend some time at the national monument visitor center to learn more about the area’s history. Afterward, head up toward Grand Portage State Park, and hike to the Pigeon River’s High Falls to get a glimpse of what the Grand Portage sought to avoid. Cell phone service is spotty at best in this part of the world, so I definitely recommend downloading or printing a trail map from AllTrails Plus for back up and offline navigation.
Have you hiked the Grand Portage Trail in Minnesota? What other trails make for marvelous Minnesota hiking adventures?
Be sure to take advantage of your time in this part of the Land of 10,000 Lakes and set aside a day to explore the incredible Gunflint Trail. It’s an amazing adventure any time of year!
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Best Hikes In Minnesota
The Land of 10,000 Lakes is blessed with many incredible hiking trails of all lengths and difficulty levels, so it's never easy pinning down the best hikes in Minnesota. Having said that, if you're searching for the "best Minnesota hikes near me" - and I mean you - we're happy to make some suggestions. To that end, here are a couple of what we consider the best trails in Minnesota.
- Mound Loop Trail at Blue Mounds State Park. This trail is a relatively easy loop crosses the park's tallgrass prairie, as well as its wooded ridge line along the Sioux quartzite outcropping that creates the signature geologic feature at Blue Mounds.
- Split Rock Loop Trail at Split Rock Lighthouse State Park. The trailhead for this incredibly scenic hike is located right on Highway 61 on the North Shore, where the Split Rock River flows into Lake Superior. The trail is somewhat rugged, with more than 650 feet of elevation gain. It climbs from the trailhead to the large monolith that gives the river its name, as it leaves the state park and approaches the Superior Hiking Trail in the Superior National Forest.