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| The bluff at Frontenac State Park offers a majestic view of Lake Pepin. Photo courtesy of Minnesota DNR. |
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| Frontenac State Park trail map. Click for larger version. Map courtesy of MNDNR. |
To reach the park, from Red Wing, Minn., take U.S. Hwy 61 south. In Frontenac Station, turn left/northeast onto County Road 2 and follow the road into the park.
Some of the park’s must-do trails include:
• Bluff Side Loop Trail – Hikers can traverse the top and the base of a bluff looming 430 feet above Lake Pepin and see a natural limestone arch, a rare sight in the Midwest, along the way. The 2.6-mile trail offers impressive views as it heads up and down the steep bluff with a series of wooden stairs and switchbacks. Yan Teopa Rock, one of Minnesota’s few arches, is nearly halfway through the hike.
• Eagle Point Trail – Made up of a few shorter linked trails (this is not an official trail on state park maps), the route heads to Eagle Point, which offers a great view of Lake Pepin and the historic Old Frontenac village to the east. The hike runs 2.2-miles round trip from trail intersection F to L to K to J and then to the point.
• Hiking Club Trail – A collection of small connecting trails, this route serves as a sampler plate of Frontenac’s best sights, including Lake Pepin views, hardwood forest, prairie, and steps up and down small portions of the bluff. The trail is a 2.6-miles loop and marked in yellow on park maps.
• Pine Loop Trail – The 0.5-miles loop overlooks Old Frontenac and Lake Pepin has heading through an old pine plantation. It must be reached by taking a set of other unnamed trails from Trail Intersection F to H to M for a 1.3-miles round trip.
• Prairie Loop Trail – A mowed trail heads through prairie grasses and wildflowers common to the Great Plains and then alongside the north shore of Pleasant Valley Lakelet. The 3-miles round trip hike includes a short spur to a wildlife observation blind on Wells Creek that is excellent for observing migrating birds.
• Riverview Trail – Hikers can explore the blufftop woodlands without ever being far from civilization on this 0.8-miles one-way trail. Paved and wheelchair accessible, it also boasts three fantastic overlooks of Lake Pepin.
• Sand Point Trail – You can take in a great view of Lake Pepin and maybe glimpse a sea monster while doing so on the Sand Point. Reports of Pepie – as the monster locally has come to be known – date to before pioneer times and have occurred as recently as a couple of years ago. The 1.4-mile round trip trail leads to the lake’s shore while heading through a swampy area perfect for creatures of the deep to hide.
• Self-guided Interpretive Trail – The 0.7-mile loop heads from an overlook of Lake Pepin to partway down the bluff through a limestone rock quarry from the 1880s. Though steep with stairs and some gravel surfaces, the route offers awesome views of the blufflands and the lake the entire way. It is marked green on state park maps.
• Sliding Hill Trail – You can enjoy a walk through a meadow to a hilltop with a view on this 0.6-miles round trip trail. The Sliding Hill Trail (not its official name but used here for convenience’s sake) is an easy walk near the park’s entry. While most come to the state park for the views of Lake Pepin, this trail offers glimpses of what lies just a few miles west of the hilly Mississippi River Valley, where a flat prairie stretches to South Dakota.
• Trail Intersection Z Loop – The easy 0.4-miles loop runs through a small woodlands at the bottom of a bluff off of Hwy. 61. Park in the lot for the Sand Point Trail trailhead and from the gravel end of County Road 2 carefully cross the highway to the loop.
• Villa Marie Trail – The 0.7-miles loop is a side trail off the Prairie Loop Trail that heads through more prairie and alongside a small wooded area. Take a segment of the Prairie loop starting at trail intersection T to the Villa Marie for a 2.3-miles round trip lollipop trail.
Learn about trail guidebooks available in the Hittin’ the Trail series.
