Trail Overview
This trail is well-traveled and shows signs of regular use, with some noticeable corrugation in places. It runs mostly straight but includes a few winding sections, along with several ascents and descents--some of which are quite steep as the route crosses rolling hills. The trail is not designated solely for OHV and ATV use, so all drivers should exercise caution. There are several attractive homes along the way, many with direct access to the nearby lake. The trail offers no formal or dispersed camping options and lacks services such as trash disposal and drinking water. Cell service may be limited.
History
Covering more than 1.6 million acres of glacial lakes, red-pine uplands, and sphagnum bogs, Minnesota's Chippewa National Forest lets motorists experience the North Woods at an unrushed pace. Paved state highways soon yield to a lattice of numbered forest roads, most of them well-graded gravel that thread between kettle ponds and stands of towering white pine, the tree that helped earn the forest its 1908 designation as one of America's first national forests. The forest harbors one of the highest breeding densities of bald eagles in the continental United States, and patient drivers often glimpse loons, black bears, and white-tailed deer as they move from shoreline to clear-cut regrowth and back again.
