Taconite State Trail

Last updated

The Taconite State Trail extends 165 miles from Grand Rapids, Minnesota to Ely, Minnesota and intersects the Arrowhead State Trail west of Lake Vermilion. On the Grand Rapids end, the trail is paved for the first 6 miles for in-line skating and biking. The rest of the trail is natural surface used primarily in the winter months for snowmobiling. In the summer, several areas contain standing water, but some areas are suitable for horseback riding, hiking, and mountain biking [1]

Grand Rapids, Minnesota City in Minnesota, United States

Grand Rapids is a city in Itasca County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 10,869 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Itasca County.

Ely, Minnesota City in Minnesota, United States

Ely is a city in Saint Louis County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 3,460 at the 2010 census. It is located on the Vermilion Iron Range, and is historically home to several iron ore mines.

Contents

Taconite State Trail is a scenic experience twisting through aspen, birch, and pine forest leading to many isolated lakes and streams. Exploring the trail from Grand Rapids and heading north depicts the previous impact of the iron ore mining industry. As the trail goes north, the terrain becomes rolling and winding through thick forests. The Taconite Trail leads through State and National Forest land as well. [1]

Along the Taconite Trail there are eight trail waysides and picnic areas which provide views of scenic vistas, rivers, and lakes. The trail links three state parks: McCarthy Beach, Soudan Underground Mine, and Bear Head Lake. [1]

McCarthy Beach State Park

McCarthy Beach State Park is a state park of Minnesota, USA, on the Sturgeon Lake chain near Hibbing. It is located in French Township, Saint Louis County.

Soudan Underground Mine State Park United States historic place

The Soudan Underground Mine State Park is a Minnesota state park at the site of the Soudan Underground Mine, on the south shore of Lake Vermilion, in the Vermilion Range (Minnesota). The mine is known as Minnesota's oldest, deepest, and richest iron mine, and now hosts the Soudan Underground Laboratory. As the Soudan Iron Mine, it has been designated a U.S. National Historic Landmark.

Bear Head Lake State Park State park of Minnesota, United States

Bear Head Lake State Park is a state park of Minnesota, United States, providing ready access to outdoor recreation in the Boundary Waters region. It boasts scenery similar to the nearby Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, with the added conveniences of road access, modern facilities, and motorboating. The most popular visitor activities are boating, fishing, swimming, and hiking. The park entirely surrounds 670-acre (270 ha) Bear Head Lake and three other fishing lakes. It was established in 1961 in Saint Louis County near Ely, Minnesota. The park also contains the woodlands surrounding the lakes, which gives an entire total of about 5,540 acres. The park also shares a large border with Bear Island State Forest.

Recreation

Nearby Minnesota Department of Natural Resources recreational areas include:

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is the agency of the U.S. state of Minnesota charged with conserving and managing the state's natural resources. The agency maintains areas such as state parks, state forests, recreational trails, and recreation areas as well as managing minerals, wildlife, and forestry throughout the state. The agency is divided into six divisions - Ecological & Water Resources, Enforcement, Fish & Wildlife, Forestry, Lands & Minerals, and Parks & Trails.

The Taconite Trail is most popular as a snowmobile route in the winter. Regularly groomed, the trail provides snowmobile riders with a scenic view of pristine lakes and forests across Minnesota's arrowhead region.

Snowmobile season lasts from December 1 through March 31. Winter conditions vary each year, however best conditions are between late December and mid March. [2]

Related Research Articles

Kugler Township, St. Louis County, Minnesota Township in Minnesota, United States

Kugler Township is a township in Saint Louis County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 175 at the 2010 census.

Iron Range

Iron Range refers collectively or individually to a number of elongated iron-ore mining districts around Lake Superior in the United States and Canada. Despite the word "range", the iron ranges are not mountain chains, but outcrops of Precambrian sedimentary formations containing high percentages of iron. These cherty iron ore deposits are Precambrian in age for the Vermilion Range, while middle Precambrian in age for the Mesabi and Cuyuna ranges, all in Minnesota. The Gogebic Range in Wisconsin and the Marquette Iron Range and Menominee Range in Michigan have similar characteristics and are of similar age. Natural ores and concentrates were produced from 1848 until the mid 1950s, when taconites and jaspers were concentrated and pelletized, and started to become the major source of iron production.

Lake Vermilion large lake in St. Louis County, Minnetsota, USA

Lake Vermilion is a freshwater lake in northeastern Minnesota, United States. The Ojibwe originally called the lake Nee-Man-Nee, which means “the evening sun tinting the water a reddish color”. French fur traders translated this to the Latin word Vermilion, which is a red pigment. Lake Vermilion is located between the towns of Tower on the east and Cook on the west, in the heart of Minnesota's Arrowhead Region at Vermilion Iron Range. The area was mined from the late 19th century until the 1960s, and the Soudan Mine operated just south of the lake.

Arrowhead Region

The Arrowhead Region is located in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Minnesota, so called because of its pointed shape. The predominantly rural region encompasses 10,635.26 square miles (27,545.2 km2) of land area and includes Carlton, Cook, Lake and Saint Louis counties. Its population at the 2000 census was 248,425 residents. Aitkin, Itasca, and Koochiching counties are also sometimes considered as part of the region. This would increase the land area to 18,221.97 square miles (47,194.7 km2) and the population to 322,073 residents.

Cuyuna Range

The Cuyuna Range is an iron range to the southwest of the Mesabi Range, largely within Crow Wing County, Minnesota. It lies along a 68-mile-long (109 km) line between Brainerd, Minnesota, and Aitkin, Minnesota. The width ranges from 1 to 10 miles.

North Shore (Lake Superior) Shore on the north side of Lake Superior in Canada and the United States

The North Shore of Lake Superior runs from Duluth, Minnesota, United States, at the southwestern end of the lake, to Thunder Bay and Nipigon, Ontario, Canada, in the north to Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, in the east. The shore is characterized by alternating rocky cliffs and cobblestone beaches, with forested hills and ridges through which scenic rivers and waterfalls descend as they flow to Lake Superior.

Tettegouche State Park United States historic place

Tettegouche State Park, in the United States, is a Minnesota state park on the north shore of Lake Superior 58 miles (93 km) northeast of Duluth in Lake County on scenic Minnesota Highway 61. The park's name stems from the Tettegouche Club, an association of local businessmen which purchased the park in 1910 from the Alger-Smith Lumber Company. The club's members protected the area until its sale in 1971 to the deLaittres family. In 1979, the state of Minnesota acquired 3,400 acres (1,400 ha) from the Nature Conservancy, including Tettegouche Camp. The land was added to Baptism River State Park, which was renamed Tettegouche State Park.

Grand Portage State Park

Grand Portage State Park is a state park at the northeastern tip of Minnesota, USA, on the Canada–United States border. It contains a 120-foot (37 m) waterfall, the tallest in the state, on the Pigeon River. The High Falls and other waterfalls and rapids upstream necessitated a historically important portage on a fur trade route between the Great Lakes and inland Canada. This 8.5-mile (13.7 km) path plus the site of forts on either end are preserved in nearby Grand Portage National Monument. The state park, held by the surrounding Grand Portage Indian Reservation and leased to the state of Minnesota for $1 a year, is the only U.S. state park jointly managed by a state and a Native American band. It is also the only Minnesota state park not owned by the state.

Saint Croix State Park United States historic place

St. Croix State Park is a state park in Pine County, Minnesota, USA. The park follows the shore of the St. Croix River for 21 miles (34 km) and contains the last 7 miles (11 km) of the Kettle River. At 33,895 acres (13,717 ha) it is the largest Minnesota state park. It was developed as a Recreational Demonstration Area in the 1930s, and is one of the finest surviving properties of this type in the nation. 164 structures built by the Civilian Conservation Corps and the Works Progress Administration survive, the largest collection of New Deal projects in Minnesota. As a historic district they were listed on the National Register of Historic Places and proclaimed a National Historic Landmark in 1997.

Kettle Moraine State Forest

The Kettle Moraine State Forest is a state forest in southeastern Wisconsin. The chief feature of the reserve is the Kettle Moraine, a highly glaciated area. The area contains very hilly terrain and glacial landforms, such as kettles, kames and eskers. The 56,000-acre (23,000 ha) forest is divided into two large and three small units, which are spread across a hundred miles.

The Willard Munger State Trail is a system of recreational trails between Hinckley, Minnesota and Duluth, Minnesota. There are three segments to the trail, Hinckley to Duluth Segment, Alex Laveau Memorial Trail, and Matthew Lourey State Trail.

Lake Vermilion State Park state park in Minnesota, United States

Lake Vermilion State Park is a state park under development in the U.S. State of Minnesota in central North America. The park began with the purchase of about 3,000 acres from U.S. Steel in 2010. It is on the southeast shore of Lake Vermilion, adjoining and to the east of Soudan Underground Mine State Park.

Gogebic Range iron ore region in Michigan and Wisconsin

The Gogebic Range is an elongated area of iron ore deposits located within a range of hills in northern Michigan and Wisconsin just south of Lake Superior. It extends from Lake Namakagon in Wisconsin eastward to Lake Gogebic in Michigan, or almost 80 miles. Though long, it is only about a half mile wide and forms a crescent concave to the southeast. The Gogebic Range includes the communities of Ironwood in Michigan, plus Mellen and Hurley in Wisconsin.

Bear Island State Forest

The Bear Island State Forest is a state forest in Minnesota bordered by the towns of Ely, Babbitt, and Tower in Lake and Saint Louis counties. It is adjacent to the Burntside State Forest and the federally managed Superior National Forest and Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. It is managed primarily by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and the counties.

George Washington State Forest

The George Washington State Forest is a state forest located in Itasca, Koochiching, and Saint Louis counties, Minnesota. The forest was established and named after George Washington in 1931, the first President of the United States, to commemorate the bicentennial of his birth. The forest borders the Chippewa National Forest and completely environs the Scenic State Park to the west, and borders the Sturgeon River State Forest and McCarthy Beach State Park to the east. The Taconite State Trail passes through the forest.

Grand Portage State Forest

The Grand Portage State Forest is a state forest located near the community of Hovland in Cook County, in extreme northeastern Minnesota. The forest encloses Judge C. R. Magney State Park, Swamp River Wildlife Management Area, Hovland Woods Scientific and Natural Area, and Spring Beauty Hardwoods Scientific and Natural Area. It borders the Grand Portage Indian Reservation to the east, the Superior National Forest to the west, and Ontario to the north. The forest is named after the Grand Portage, a historic trade route between the Great Lakes and the Northwest.

Kabetogama State Forest

The Kabetogama State Forest is a state forest located in Koochiching and Saint Louis counties, Minnesota. The forest borders the Superior National Forest and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness to the east, the Sturgeon River State Forest to the south, the Nett Lake Indian Reservation to the west, and Voyageurs National Park to the north. The forest is managed by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

The Arrowhead State Trail is a recreational trail in the Arrowhead Region of northern Minnesota, USA, geared primarily for winter snowmobile use. It runs 135 miles (217 km) from an intersection with the Taconite State Trail 10 miles (16 km) west of Tower to an intersection with the Blue Ox Trail 3 miles (4.8 km) south of International Falls. In summer about 69 miles (111 km) are suitable for hiking, horseback riding, and mountain biking, while the northern section is blocked by areas of wetness and standing water.

The North Shore State Trail is a multi-use recreational trail in the Arrowhead Region of Minnesota, USA. The 146-mile (235 km) unpaved trail passes through the largely undeveloped backcountry inland from the North Shore of Lake Superior, between the cities of Duluth and Grand Marais. It serves primarily as a winter snowmobile route, though the 70 miles (110 km) from the community of Finland to Grand Marais are suitable for hiking, horseback riding, and mountain biking in summer. In contrast, the southwestern half of the trail is interrupted by many areas of wetness or standing water. The North Shore State Trail was established by an act of the Minnesota Legislature in 1975.

The Heartland State Trail is a multi-use recreational rail trail in north-central Minnesota, USA. It runs 49 miles (79 km) between Park Rapids and Cass Lake, intersecting with the Paul Bunyan State Trail around Walker. The entire route is paved, with a parallel grass trackway along the southern half for horseback riding and mountain biking. The northern half of the trail has some parallel trackway for snowmobiles. A 4-mile (6.4 km) segment north of Walker traverses very hilly terrain to appeal to snowmobilers; other users can follow a marked alternate route on paved road shoulders.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Taconite State Trail". USA: Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Retrieved 3 December 2009.
  2. "Taconite State Trail". USA: Explore Minnesota. Retrieved 3 December 2009.

Coordinates: 47°45′07″N92°30′00″W / 47.75194°N 92.50000°W / 47.75194; -92.50000