Eight state parks between Duluth and the Canadian border
Minnesota packed a remarkable number of state parks into the 150 miles of shoreline northeast of Duluth. Each one has its own personality — river gorges, a working lighthouse, cliff-top overlooks, agate beaches — and a single vehicle permit gets you into all of them.
You can see the highlights of the four closest parks in a long weekend from a base in Two Harbors or Beaver Bay, which is exactly how most guests use them. Buy the annual permit if you’ll visit more than four days a year; it pays for itself fast.
Basecamp matters more than mileage here. Superior Shores Resort and The Harbors in Two Harbors put you closest to Gooseberry Falls and Split Rock Lighthouse, while Cove Point Lodge and North Shore Camping Co. in Beaver Bay sit between Split Rock and Tettegouche.
Full guides to the five parks most visitors come for — trails, waterfalls, camping and the closest lodging.
The North Shore’s most-visited park. Waterfalls, a Civilian Conservation Corps stone visitor center, lakeshore trails and easy access to the Gitchi-Gami Bike Trail.
The 1910 lighthouse on the cliff is the most photographed structure in Minnesota. Cobblestone beach, cart-in campsites and a historic site tour in season.
Rugged inland country: High Falls, Palisade Head’s 300-foot cliff, six inland lakes and some of the toughest, best hiking on the shore.
A deep, narrow gorge the river carved through solid rock, with potholes and falls a few steps from the parking lot.
Not a park, but the paved trail that connects several of them — ride Gooseberry to Split Rock along the lake with almost no car traffic.
Worth the drive north: the state’s tallest waterfall at Grand Portage and stacked cascades in the Cascade River gorge.
Eight state parks line the roughly 150 miles of shoreline between Duluth and the Canadian border, from Gooseberry Falls and Split Rock Lighthouse up through Tettegouche, Temperance River, Cascade River and Grand Portage.
Yes. Minnesota state parks require a vehicle permit, and one permit gets you into all of them. If you'll visit more than about four days in a year, the annual permit is cheaper than day passes.
Gooseberry Falls, Split Rock Lighthouse, Tettegouche and Temperance River are all within about 45 minutes of each other along Highway 61, so you can see the highlights of all four in a long weekend from Two Harbors or Beaver Bay.
