Trail History

The Superior Hiking Trail was conceived in the mid-1980s as a long-distance footpath, modeled after the Appalachian Trail and other long trails, along the ridgeline adjacent to Lake Superior's North Shore from Duluth, Minnesota to the Canadian border. As of February 1998, almost all of the projected 240 miles has been completed. With occasional small gaps, the Trail is complete from Two Harbors on the southwestern end to the Canadian border on the northeastern end.

The Trail is the realization of an ambitious plan fostered by a group of visionaries - federal, state and local government employees, artists, resort and business owners, and hiking enthusiasts - who in 1986 incorporated the Superior Hiking Trail Association (SHTA) and made the first request for state funding for trail construction.

The Trail was officially opened with a ceremonial log-cutting in July 1987 at Briton Peak on the Sawbill Trail, an event attended by federal, state, and local officials and dignitaries, in addition to the Trail's founders. In August 1990, the SHTA sponsored a Halfway Celebration at Gooseberry Falls State Park, commemorating the completion of nearly 140 miles of trail - approximately halfway to the goal of a continuous footpath from Duluth to the Canadian border.

Though a relative newcomer to the country's long-distance trails, and a toddler by comparison with its prototype and model, the Appalachian Trail (conceived 70 years ago and completed, in its first layout, 15 years later), the Superior Hiking Trail has already won regional and even national recognition. It has been featured in countless regional publications and broadcasts and has been the subject of stories in national magazines, such as Prevention, Walking and Backpacker magazines. Backpacker readers identified the Superior Hiking Trail as second best trail in the country.

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