The Best Hiking Trails in Minnesota

The Ely area provides unique opportunities for those seeking wilderness hiking in Minnesota. With a wide variety of Minnesota hiking trails from which to choose, the Ely area offers everything from the option to take a short jaunt, to a more vigorous day trip or even an extended wilderness trek.

Discover the beauty of the boreal forest in a landscape formed by glaciers that retreated 10,000 years ago.

There are several Minnesota wilderness hiking trails in the Ely area. The most popular trails include the Bass Lake Trail, the Angleworm Trail, Trezona Trail, Hidden Valley, Secret/Blackstone Trail and the Snowbank Lake Trail.

Fall Colors - Ely, MN

Bass Lake Trail:

Features: 5.6 miles around Bass Lake. Backpacking campsites. Historically and ecologically unique. Requires at least 4-6 hours.

Location: On the Echo Trail – six miles north of Ely, Minnesota.

Description: Bass and Low Lakes are located in a basin gouged out of pre-Cambrian rock. Prior to 1925, the two lakes were separated by a ridge of glacial gravel which acted as a natural dam. Logging operation led to the construction of a sluiceway to move logs through the gravel ridge – a drop of 60 feet. Seepage soon weakened the sluiceway as water moved through the gravel adjacent to the structure. The sluiceway and glacial ridge washed out in the spring of 1925 leaving a gorge over 250 feet wide. Bass Lake was lowered 55 feet in 10 hours, reduced to 1/2 its original size and two small lakes, Dry and Little Dry, became isolated in the old lake bed. Approximately 250 acres of land was then exposed and available to the establishment of pioneer plant species.

Angleworm Trail:

Features: 14 mile trail, with 11 miles forming a loop around Angleworm, Home and Whiskey Jack lakes. 9 designated campsites.

Location: 14 miles northwest of Ely, Minnesota on the Echo Trail.

Description: Rugged trail through stands of red and white pine with many high ridges with scenic overlooks. Moose love to frequent the north end of the trail in the Home Lake area. Pink lady's slipper can be found along the trail in the spring.

Secret/Blackstone Trail:

Features: Scenic Overlooks. Various types of terrain. 1 campsite fire grate, tent area & latrine. Approximately 8 miles of trail.

Location: 20 miles northeast of Ely, Minnesota off the Moose Lake Road (CTY Rd 183)

Description: The moderate terrain trail, with a few steep hills, includes a loop around Blackstone Lake. The high vistas provide scenic views to low moist areas. The trail also winds across small waterfalls. Habitat for various species of wildlife are provided by trees and vegetation. The trail destination is a rock cliff overlooking Ennis Lake which is frequently used for rock rappelling and climbing. A back country campsite is located on Blackstone Lake.

Trezona Trail:

Features: Flat to rolling terrain. Historic mining pit and old mine shaft headframe. Great views.

Location: 3 blocks north of Sheridan Street in Ely, Minnesota.

Description: The trail is just under 4 miles in length and goes around Miner's Lake, a former iron ore mining pit. History abounds in the area providing a glimpse into the economic lifeblood of the past. The south side of the trail is flat to gently rolling, following old railroad grades and mine haul roads. The north side of the trail is rolling to hilly, passing through white pine stands, residential areas, and the historic Pioneer Mine buildings and headframe.

Hidden Valley:

Features: Rolling to hilly terrain. Birch and white pine stands.

Location: 1 mile east of Ely, Minnesota on the Hidden Valley Road.

Description: The trails pass through rolling hills, paper birch and pine stands and newly planted red and white pine plantations.

Snowbank Lake Trail:

Features: Ledge rock outcroppings. Red and white pine stands. Hilly Terrain. BWCAW campsites. Scenic Overlooks.

Location: 23 miles east of Ely, Minnesota with trailheads on the Snowbank Lake Road and on the Fernberg Trail.

Description: The trail winds about 25 miles along the shorelines of Snowbank and Disappointment Lakes. Side trails spur off to Flash Lake on the west and to the Old Pines Loop on the east. The trails offer some of the most scenic hiking terrain in the area. Rock outcroppings, pine stands, shoreline bluffs and abundant wildlife mark the character of the trail.

Kawishiwi Falls Trail:

Features: A popular 1.5 mile round-trip hiking trail offers stunning views of the 70ft. drop Kawishiwi Falls/Fall Lake Dam.

Location: Approximately 5 miles from Ely, Minnesota off the Fernberg Road (Lake County #18).

Description: The name Kawishiwi in Ojibwe language means “river full of beaver or muskrat houses”. Native Americans, explorers and voyageurs portaged around the falls. The watershed drains from the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) and flows 2,000 miles north to Hudson Bay. This wooded and winding trail down to the falls offers beautiful photo opportunities. The path is relatively easy and can be extended to include the portage trail between Garden and Fall Lakes.

Ely Trail Guide

Trail Name	Distance from Ely	Trail Length
Angleworm +	17	14*
Bass Lake	6	6*
Bear Head State Park #		Varied
Birch Lake Plantation/Birch Trail		3
Farm Lake +		16*
Fenske Lake	11	1
Fire & Ice - Meander Lake Trail		1/8
Flash Lake	20	2
Flathorn - Gegoka		16*
Hanson Lake	11	4
Hegman Lake +	15	2
Hidden Valley Trail	1/2	Varied
Jasper Lake	19	Varied
Kawishiwi Falls Trail		1
North Arm	14	32*
North Junction	7	17*
S. Kawishiwi River +	10	1
Secret-Blackstone	20	5*
South Farm +	7.5	7.5*
Thomas Lake +	22	21
Trezona Trail	1/2	4
NOTE: All distances are in miles. If multiple loop options are available, an asterisk*will be shown by the trail miles.
# A state park sticker or day pass is required to access trails within Bear Head Lake State Park.
+ Some trails travel into or through the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and may require a day use or overnight travel permit. Click here for more details on the permit process