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SUPERIOR HIKING TRAIL |
| 2011
is the 25th Anniversary of the Superior Hiking Trail. The trail was
first conceived of in the mid 1980's. The Superior Hiking Trail
Association (SHTA) was incorporated in 1986 and made their first request for
state funding for trail construction. Countless hours of construction
has been provided by volunteers. The trail was officially opened in
July of 1987 at Britton Peak, and in 1990 a Halfway Celebration was
held at Gooseberry Falls State Park with the completion of 140
miles of trail. Currently 62% of the money to run the SHTA comes from
memberships and private donations, 18% from the SHTA's store sales, 15%
from Grants and 5% from other sources. Currently 245 miles of trail is completed from near the Canadian Border to about halfway between Two Harbors and Duluth. Another 40 miles of trail is complete from Jay Cooke State Park through Duluth. Yet to be completed is to connect the main section of trail with the trail in Duluth, and about 5 miles of trail in Jay Cooke State Park to the Wisconsin border. The North Country Trail, a 4600 mile trail (not yet completed) from eastern New York into North Dakota was designated by Congress to go from Jay Cooke State Park west toward Reemer MN. The problem is that this section contains a lot of swampy land that would require a lot of boardwalk to be built. People involved with the trail have already decided that they'd like to reroute the trail up the Superior Hiking Trail, then east to Ely MN via the Border Route and the Kekekabic Trails. From Ely MN a route for the trail would be needed to Grand Rapids MN. This will lengthen the trail but the route is scenic and already has a large base of volunteers that maintain it. Since the North Country Trail was designated by Congress, Congress needs to approve the reroute of the trail. The trail falls under the National Park system and they're maps already show the trail along this route. One of the nice things about the trail is that there is a good shuttle system in place, as well as some private people that provide transportation. The Superior Shuttle is in operation from the middle of May till the Middle of October and covers most of the trail on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and holidays. There are also private individuals running taxi service in Grand Marais and Two Harbors that can do shuttles. There are also a number of hikers that might be willing to help out if they're headed that way. The Superior Hiking Trail Assn. has a Facebook page and there is a Yahoo Group site for the trail called Hiker. If you wish to join the Hiker Group site make sure you mention something about hiking the trail. They do this to keep out people that might try spamming the site. On either site you can leave messages, and ask questions. The Hiker group also has a number of files created by members that are helpful. I use the SHT Reference Sheet for my hikes. I like to print it out and laminate it. I take it and the 5 map set you can purchase from the SHTA's store. The Shuttle bus also carrys these maps if you need to buy one. Members are always willing to share info on Post Offices along the route as well as where to buy grocieries etc. If you'd like information on current conditions you can often find someone that was on the trail recently. Often you can have an answer within an hour. Since the trail is not complete maybe you'd like to help out? The Superior Hiking Trail Assn maintains a list of maintenance that is going on. In 2010 a bridge was replaced. A high school class built the bridge, then volunteers hauled the bridge in and assembled it. In 2010 275 volunteers contributed 3500 hours in trail and campsite maintenace and construction. For the 5 miles of trail built in 2010 there was 2000 volunteer hours, with 500 of that to put a bridge over the Sucker River. There was also considerable time from the Conservation Corps used in trail construction. |
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