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| Autumn colors spread across the forest around Skibo Vista Overlook. |
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| Skibo Vista Overlook map. |
Located on Iron Range, the overlook is an easy stroll, consisting of a mere 250 feet of sidewalk. It is located along the 78-mile Superior National Forest Scenic Byway, which connects the Iron Range to the North Shore.
To reach the overlook, from Hoyt Lakes take Lake County 15 (aka Skibo Outlook Road, Forest Route 110 and Forest Route 128) south. After passing Lake County 129, the lookout is on the left/east.
Located 20 stories above the terrain below, the overlook sits on the Laurentian Divide. One of the continent’s great watershed divides, water on the north side of the Laurentian makes its way toward Hudson Bay while that to the south heads either to the Gulf of Mexico or the Atlantic Ocean. The divide stretches from Triple Divide Peak in northwestern Montana, cuts through Minnesota’s Iron Range, and ends on the Labrador Peninsula at the 60th parallel.
Glacier-shaped terrain
Surrounding the overlook are the Toimi Drumlins. Formed during the last Ice Age, viewed from above the drumlin field looks somewhat like a basket of eggs. Drumlins are a series of elongated, teardropped-shaped hills. Around Skibo Vista, each drumlin ridge is about a mile long, a quarter-mile wide, and 30-50 feet high.
Exactly how the drumlins formed is debated among geologists, but all agree that they were shaped by the glacier’s direction – the ridge’s tapered end points the way the glacier was flowing. Here the drumlins run in a southwest-northeast direction.
Quaking aspen dominates the drumlins’ tops. Their flat leaves easily flutter in the wind, in autumn giving the appearance of moving yellow seas below the overlook. Surrounding them is evergreen balsam fir.
In the distance to the west and southwest are tamarack lowlands. Tamarack is among 20 species of trees in the world that are “deciduous conifers,” meaning they grow cones and sprout needles like conifers but each autumn their needles change colors and fall, just as deciduous trees lose their leaves. Each September, the tall tamaracks – they usually grow between 33-66 high with a trunk two feet in diameter – turn a brilliant gold.
Changes
Mixed amid the aspens and tamaracks are pockets of hardwood forests. Sugar maple, basswood, American elm, and oak populate these enclaves, offering hues of orange, red, yellow and brown.
On a clear fall day, it’s quite a view, with multiple Iron Range towns nestled amid the harvest colors. Soaring eagles and migrating hawks often can be spotted overhead.
Not surprisingly, an observation tower for the Superior National Forest used to stand at the overlook, as it’s a perfect spot to watch for forest fires. A concrete foundation is all that remains of the tower.
Collectively called the Laurentian Mixed Forest, the view didn’t look like this during Minnesota’s early days as a state. When this was Native American land Euro-American settlers arrived, this area was much more like the boreal forests to the north. Red and white pine dominated, with aspen, paper birch, spruce, and balsam fir finding niches. After the pine was cut, aspen and paper birch took over. More change likely is to come in the decades ahead, as global warming allows the the hardwood forest pockets to gain a foothold.
