County Road 12

So we would go up to the North Shore.

There's a city up there called Grand Marais, which is a gateway to what's called the Gunflint Trail.

And you go up there and you can portage for two weeks and, you know, live off the land.

And we did two, three trips a year, my father and I, from the time I was probably six or seven years old until I was 18.

Well, here we are in Grand Marais, Lake Superior behind us.

I'm with Mark Hennessey, friend of the podcast, and somebody that's involved with YMCA Camp Minojan up the Gunflint Trail.

You're a board member for Minojan, Mark? Yes.

That's right.

Yeah, it was cool.

And then when we filmed up on the Gunflint Trail with Jessica Berg Coleman, that took a second place.

And honestly, the Gunflint, one of my favorite places in the state.

Yeah, it's such a such a cool spot.

I also love up north.

I mean, you have everything from the Gunflint Trail to other great hiking trails that are up there, but there's plenty of great hiking options.

And we have a lot of great resources on our website on exploreminnesota.com if people are looking for other hiking options and places to go visit.

But yeah, that's just a few of my favorites.

The Great River Road follows the Mississippi from its humble beginning at Itasca State Park, tracing the river through forest and farmland before it grows into the massive waterway most people picture.

The Gunflint Trail winds deep into the Boundary Waters region, offering genuinely remote forest scenery most travelers never expect this far into the Midwest.

And driving through the Twin Cities itself, the parkways circling Minneapolis' chain of lakes offer a surprisingly scenic urban detour worth the extra hour.

Split Rock Lighthouse, perched dramatically on a cliff above Lake Superior, remains one of the most photographed spots in the entire state, especially at sunrise when the light hits the rock just right.