The hiking path at the Minnesota Valley State Recreation area winds through woods and prairie, yielding close-up looks at birds, butterflies, dragonflies, plus an assortment of hardwood trees and healthy clumps of sumac, dogwood, and cattails.
Nerstrand Big Woods, with its multiple shady paths, is the perfect day hike on a hot summer’s day.
The charming old town of Grand Marais, with its many unique Minnesota characteristics, makes a great base for exploring the North Shore of Lake Superior, the Gunflint Trail, and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
The North Shore of Lake Superior is fed by dozens of Minnesota rivers, most of which have waterfalls you can easily reach on foot. It’s the best place to start your tour of Minnesota waterfalls.
The hike at Charles A. Lindbergh State Park will take you to a spot on the Lindbergh farm where Charles landed his first plane.
Some of the most dramatic landscapes in Minnesota are along the St. Louis River in Jay Cooke State Park.
The waterfall of the Cascade River State Park is a short hike from the North Shore’s Highway 61. A beautiful contrast to the black basalt stone of the gorge.
A walk around the Oberg Mountain Trail near Tofte will give you great views of the North Shore fall colors below.
The Grand Portage National Monument is an entertaining and informative journey back into the history of the earliest trading economy of Minnesota. Costume clad docents will lead your through the reconstructed trading outpost and enlighten you on the earliest encounters between the Ojibwe, the French Canadian Voyageurs, and the English North West Trading Company.
A short walk gets you to the High Falls on the Pigeon River, at the U.S.-Canada border. It’s the highest waterfall in Minnesota.