The Superior Hiking Trail: Why I Chose to Hike in Minnesota

Having grown up in the warm cradle of South Carolina, the Midwest always seemed like a cold, inhospitable environment of flat, boring lands and a general nothingness that was meant to be avoided at all costs. My own family hails from Ohio, and we found our way South for a reason. I have only been back to my birth city of Cleveland a handful of times, despite the fact that most of my extended family still lives there: they come to us for family reunions because who wants to vacation in Ohio? It is this pessimistic stream of thought that enters my head when I think of the Midwest.

When I hiked the Appalachian Trail in 2018, I met people from a plethora of places and always enjoyed learning more about the unique characteristics of their home. When I met one of my friends, Mandar, and she told me she was from Minnesota my immediate reaction was: “Gross. Sounds cold.” But as we engaged in conversation, she shared how Duluth, the city where she had spent the last several years, was actually an outdoor-friendly town with plenty of recreation and generally cool population. In the few months that I hiked with her I kept hearing more about this “cool” city of Duluth, of the expansive Great Lake the city dwells on, and of the charming Superior Hiking Trail that runs through the urban landscape. I was intrigued.

Fast forward two years: I am hooked on long distance hiking and had been eagerly planning my next big escape from society. My eyes had been on the exotic Te Araroa, New Zealand’s famed long distance trail. Raphael and I had been planning this trip for months when the Covid pandemic hit. We watched our friends cancel their U.S. thru hikes and tried to hide our relief: at least our hike wasn’t set to start until October, when the Southern hemisphere shifted into Spring. Surely our still-distant hike wouldn’t be affected by the pandemic that shook the world that March. But summer approached and the pandemic wasn’t over. Eventually we realized it would be entirely unrealistic for us to travel to New Zealand as we planned.

This is how I found myself with a bank account that would support 6 months in a foreign country, in a job that was expecting an extended absence in the fall, and with plenty of newly purchased gear waiting to be used on trail. With our Te Araroa plans canceled, I turned to the internet eager to research trails in the U.S. that could be hiked in September. The answer, as it turns out, is most trails. Snowfall has yet to accumulate in even the northernmost states, and milder temperatures begin to grace the South. Bright orange and red colors blanket many of the country’s natural areas, each region claiming their fall foliage to be brighter than the last. The options were almost overwhelming, and I struggled to make a decision.

Then I took a different approach. Instead of asking “Where should we go in the Fall?” I asked “Where can we go in the Fall that we won’t want to go any other time of year?” I thought of Minnesota. The Land of 10,000 Lakes provides the dream habitat for mosquitos, May flies, and black flies in the Summer months. While I am sure the Winter is beautiful and the unique winter recreation opportunities (dog sledding, cross country skiing, and pond skating) are fun for some people, I am happy to avoid subzero temperatures for the rest of my life. And the Spring is just the worse parts of Winter and Summer combined. That leaves Fall as the best time to visit Minnesota. September, specifically, as the occasion early frost has already killed off the blood suckers, snowfall can be avoided, and the trees are beginning their vibrant transition to dormancy.

I must have done my research well, because we received maybe 3 mosquito bites each the whole time and only had two sub-freezing nights. We were also blessed with a relatively dry Fall, and for two of the three weeks it took for us to hike the Superior Hiking Trail, we had clear blue skies. And, of course, the Fall colors were absolutely breathtaking.

At the end of the day, I want to go everywhere. I want to not only touch down on all 50 states, but spend enough time in each state to understand the appeal the land has to its locals. More and more I find myself attracted to the Minnesotas and North Dakotas of the US, not the Californias and Colorados. The places that don’t overwhelm the tourism market, the places no one ever leaves their home to move to. There is beauty in all of our natural spaces, if only one learns to disregard their prejudice. And to find a spot as beautiful as the North Shore as it is enjoyed almost exclusively by locals to the region feels like uncovering an ancient secret.