Why serious hikers keep skipping Duluth and stopping in Silver Bay instead

Silver Bay’s three state parks await

Silver Bay, Minnesota, sits 56 miles northeast of Duluth on Highway 61, halfway between the city and Grand Marais. About 1,857 people call it home.

Three state parks line the road within minutes of town: Tettegouche, Split Rock Lighthouse and Crosby-Manitou.

The locals call Silver Bay the Heart of the North Shore, and the concentration of cliffs, waterfalls and trails packed into this stretch of coast backs that up.

What you find here took a billion years to build and about a day to fall in love with.

A mining company built this town from scratch

Silver Bay didn’t exist before 1954. Reserve Mining Company built the entire town that year to house workers at its taconite processing plant, and it incorporated two years later.

The plant eventually took the name E.W. Davis Works, honoring the University of Minnesota researcher who spent 40 years perfecting the taconite refining process.

You’ll know you’ve arrived when you spot Rocky Taconite, a rock-man statue standing guard at the corner of Outer Drive and Adams Boulevard since the 1960s, a nod to the iron ore roots that put Silver Bay on the map.

Walk the only black sand beach on Lake Superior

Black Beach looks like it belongs in Iceland, not Minnesota.

Fine dark sand lines the shore here, and it’s the only beach like it on all of Lake Superior’s North Shore. The sand comes from taconite tailings that the nearby mining plant once deposited into the lake.

The beach only opened to the public in 2015, after the city and the state DNR worked out access with the mining company.

You can swim, launch a kayak, paddleboard or just sit in one of the sheltered coves between jagged red cliffs.

Stand on a billion-year-old volcanic cliff at Palisade Head

Three miles northeast of Silver Bay, just off Highway 61, Palisade Head rises about 335 feet above Lake Superior. The rock beneath your feet formed from a rhyolitic lava flow roughly 1.1 billion years ago.

On a clear day, you can see the Sawtooth Mountains to the north, Split Rock Lighthouse to the southwest and the Apostle Islands of Wisconsin across the open water.

The cliff sits inside Tettegouche State Park, and rock climbers come from all over for the vertical routes along its face.

Hike out to Shovel Point’s edge with no guard rails

Shovel Point juts straight into Lake Superior inside Tettegouche State Park, and the round-trip hike from the visitor center covers about 1.3 miles.

Wooden steps handle the steeper sections, so the climb is manageable.

From the top, you look down on rocky cliffs, the shoreline running in both directions and Palisade Head rising to the south. The same billion-year-old lava flow that built Palisade Head formed this headland too.

There are no guard rails at the edge, so you stay as close or as far back as you’re comfortable with.

See Minnesota’s tallest waterfall on a 1.5-mile hike

The High Falls of the Baptism River, inside Tettegouche State Park, holds the title of tallest waterfall located entirely within Minnesota.

The hike from the visitor center runs about 1.5 miles, and on the way you pass Two Step Falls, a smaller double drop along the same river.

A suspension bridge crosses above the main falls, and a staircase of roughly 160 steps takes you down to a lower viewpoint where the mist reaches you.

Farther upstream, Illgen Falls sits in a quieter pocket of forest with a swimming hole that draws crowds every summer.

Twenty-three miles of trail through rugged backcountry

Tettegouche State Park packs 23 miles of hiking trails into terrain that includes inland lakes you can only reach on foot. In winter, the park grooms 12 miles of ski trails and opens 12 miles for snowmobiles.

The historic Tettegouche Camp sits on the shore of Mic Mac Lake, where four rental cabins let you spend the night deep in the woods.

The park’s visitor center is about four miles northeast of Silver Bay on Highway 61, a good place to grab a trail map before you head out.

Split Rock Lighthouse still lights up once a year

Split Rock Lighthouse sits on a 133-foot cliff southwest of Silver Bay. Crews built it in 1910 after the Mataafa Storm of 1905 damaged or destroyed 29 ships on Lake Superior.

The lighthouse retired from service in 1969 and now holds National Historic Landmark status under the Minnesota Historical Society. Every Nov. 10, the beacon lights up in memory of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald, which sank in 1975.

The site looks as it did in the late 1920s, with the original tower, lens, fog signal building and three keepers’ houses still standing. Check current conditions before you visit, as construction and restoration work is underway.

Bike 17 miles of lakeshore on a car-free trail

The Gitchi-Gami State Trail is a paved, non-motorized path running along the North Shore of Lake Superior. When crews finish the full route, it will stretch about 89 miles from Two Harbors to Grand Marais.

About 34 miles are complete so far, and the longest continuous segment runs roughly 17 miles from Gooseberry Falls through Split Rock Lighthouse to Silver Bay. No fee or pass is required.

The trail cuts through state parks, crosses rivers and puts you right along the lakeshore in ways you can’t get from a car window.

Pick up the Superior Hiking Trail right in town

The Superior Hiking Trail runs over 300 miles from Jay Cooke State Park near the Wisconsin border toward the Canadian border, and several sections pass directly through the Silver Bay area with trailheads right in town.

The Bean and Bear Lakes loop is a popular seven-mile round trip that winds through the Superior National Forest. You can do a quick day hike or load up for a multi-day backpacking trip.

Fall draws the biggest crowds, when the maple and birch forests turn gold and red across the ridgelines.

Watch iron ore ships from a 68-slip marina

The Silver Bay Marina holds 68 slips in a seven-acre safe harbor on Lake Superior, and you can stand on the dock and watch massive iron ore ships come and go.

If you’d rather be up in the trees, the North Shore Adventure Park runs zip lines and challenge courses at five difficulty levels, plus a play area for kids ages 3 to 6.

Back in town, a short loop trail at the Silver Bay Scenic Overlook gives you views of the city, the lake and the mining plant.

A nine-hole public golf course and a mini golf course round things out when you want a slower afternoon.

An hour’s drive from Duluth, Grand Marais or Ely

Silver Bay sits about an hour from Duluth, Grand Marais or Ely, so you can use it as a base and reach the Boundary Waters Canoe Area or the Superior National Forest without much windshield time.

Highway 61, also known as the North Shore Scenic Drive, runs right through the area and connects everything along the coast.

Whether you come for a day trip or stay the full week, the number of parks, trails and shoreline packed into this small stretch of the Great Lakes is hard to match anywhere else in the region.

Explore Silver Bay’s North Shore in Minnesota

You can reach Silver Bay by heading northeast on Highway 61 from Duluth, about 56 miles up the North Shore of Lake Superior.

Three state parks sit within minutes of town: Tettegouche, Split Rock Lighthouse and Crosby-Manitou. Highway 61 connects you to Duluth heading south and Grand Marais heading north.

You’ll need a Minnesota State Park vehicle permit to drive into any of the state parks. A daily pass costs $7, or you can pick up an annual pass for $35.

Check the official website for current hours and conditions before you go.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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