Wild River SP trails cross oak forest, prairie

Windfall Trail. Photo courtesy Minnesota DNR.

A diverse array of trails await day hikers at Minnesota's Wild River State Park.

The state park is located along the St. Croix River. Originally called St. Croix Wild River State Park – and it still appears on various maps that way – it’s now just Wild River State Park.

To reach the trail, from North Branch, Minn., take Minn. Hwy. 95 to County Road 12. Drive it to the park entrance, and follow the main park road to your trailhead’s parking lot.

Among the best day hiking trails at the state park are:
g Amador Prairie Loops – Day hikers can choose between a 1-mile or a 2-mile loop that heads through an open area of tall prairie grasses. The loops begin at the park’s Trail Center.
g Amik’s Pond Trail – Brochures for the nature trail can be picked up at its trailhead next to the visitor center. It runs one mile.
g Deer Creek Loop – Part of the pretty trail runs along the historic Old Military Road that once connected what is now the south end of the scenic riverway with Lake Superior. Including the stem trail from either the visitor center or the River Access, the trail runs 4-miles round trip.
g Mitigwaki Loop – The 1-mile loop heads through an oak woods overlooking Dry Creek. The trailhead is at the visitor center.
g Pioneer Trail – Day hikers can experience three ecosystems – on oak woods, a savanna, and a prairie – on this loop that leaves from the Trail Center. Including an access trial, the walk is 3.1-miles round trip.
g River Terrace Loop – The 1.5-mile loop and its stem trail circles through a bottomland forest. It offers views of the Old Nevers Dam site on the river.
g Windfall Trail – Like the Amik's Pond Trail, a brochure for the nature trail is located at its visitor center trailhead. It is 1-mile long.

Read more about day hiking the scenic riverway in my guidebook Hittin’ the Trail: Day Hiking the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway.

Follow pioneers on Swedish Immigrant Trail

During 1800s, rail line helped settle Minnesota interior

Day hikers can follow some of the same footpaths and rail lines that the region’s first Swedish immigrants used to settle Minnesota’s Chisago County on the Swedish Immigrant Trail.

A work in progress, plans call for constructing a 22-mile trail running roughly east-west across the county, linking Taylors Falls, Shafer, Center City, Lindstrom, Chisago City and Wyoming, ultimately meeting the Sunrise Prairie Trail. Sections already have been completed west of Shafer, between Center City and eastern Lindstrom, and from western Lindstrom to Chisago City.

Shafer Segment
During the late 1800s, many Swedish immigrants took the ferry across the St. Croix River and then footpaths to their destinations. A spur off the St. Paul-Duluth rail route to Wyoming opened during 1880, helping speed the immigration inland. Today, Lindstrom rightly proclaims itself “America’s Little Sweden” (Chisago City meanwhile appropriately calls itself the “Gateway to the Lakes,” as Chisago County is the border area between the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area and the Minnesota Northwoods).

Perhaps the best of the trail’s completed portions is the Shafer Segment, which runs roughly west of the hamlet through wooded areas and past bucolic landscapes. Park on the street in downtown Shafer, off of Redwing Avenue near 303rd Street.

The trailhead is near 303rd and heads for about two miles east of Redwing. Look for the white signs with the trail logo in the blue and yellow colors of Sweden’s flag.

A wide, paved trail, part of the trail follows the historic railroad route, which was abandoned in 1948. Along the way, you’ll pass a pasture for a herd of privately-owned American bison.

More trail coming
Birch trees dominate in some sections, but the trail is mainly lined by mixed hardwoods that leave the path and its grass shoulders covered in an array of colorful leaves during autumn.

This demonstration segment opened in October 2007. A joint effort of the Chisago County Parks Department and the Chisago County Parks and Trails Foundation, the trail is slowly being put together as grant money is garnered, right-of-ways are negotiated, and land purchases made.

As of this posting, efforts focus on connecting the Shafer Segment to Taylors Falls in the east.

Other great trails near Lindstrom-Chisago City-Shafer include:
• Deer Creek Loop – You can hike a segment of the historic Point Douglas to Superior Military Road (aka the Old Military Road) on this three-mile loop in Wild River State Park north of Lindstrom. Access the loop via a 0.5-mile trail from the Visitor Center for a four-mile round trip.
• Ojiketa Regional Park walking trails – Several short walking trails ramble across Ojiketa Regional Park in Chisago City. Located along Green Lake, it’s the county’s newest (and now the city’s largest) park.

Read more about day hiking Northeast Minnesota in my Headin’ to the Cabin: Day Hiking Trails of Northeast Minnesota guidebook.