Skip Section 2, back to start 6.5 miles to Ely's Peak, plus the Peak On to Magney/Snively
No camping for a while but you're getting near Duluth.
Smooth trails, up and down hills, ending with a midwestern mountain climb.
This is a great little section that is in between two
well-travelled sections but feels pretty much in the middle of nowhere. The
signage is good and the bridges are maintained. In August, the streams can be
nearly dry but water will be trickling through. Most of these are just ditches
that can be stepped over but the bridges are abundant because in the spring,
they can be torrential. Check the weather and be aware of the conditions of the
ground. If it is saturated, flooding can pop up quickly and be very dangerous.
We crossed one bridge that had the remnants of hand rails that had been torn
off and another that was twisted.
In the town of Fond du Lac, find 131st Av W off of Highway 23. Go a few blocks to the trailhead. Follow the creek to connect to the trail. This picture is from the Duluth Outdoor Recreation Map. An awesome resource for hiking in Duluth. They should have them at the visitor's center at the top of the hill.
If you are coming from the Grand Portage trail, just stay on
it and make a left at the sign. If you are in Fond du Lac, use one of the spurs
and hook up to the SHT. We went east, toward Ely’s Peak. You’ll get
switchbacks, vistas, creek beds and all sorts of flora and fauna. We had a nice
breeze so even the bugs weren’t bad. As you near Ely’s Peak, you start to hear
some road noise, then you pop out of the woods and you’re on the very busy and
high speed Beck’s Road.
You should see a sign for the Superior Hiking trailhead off
of that road for people driving and looking for parking, but when hiking, just
cross straight over and skirt around that lot using the paved Munger Trail part
of the way. Plenty of signs here and probably plenty of people. That will get
you over the train tracks then start looking for the trail again, to your left.
You can’t miss Ely’s Peak from below. Once you start ascending though you lose
that reference. You still have the St. Louis River and dots of civilization to
the South, so pretty tough to get lost.
This is a pretty direct ascent but the
rocks make good steps and it levels off once or twice. Once you get near the
top, there are many spur trails to the peak, too many to try to describe. When
you get to a place where there is a deep valley to your left/North and another
peak, then you’ve passed Ely’s and you’re on your way to Brandon’s Peak and Spirit
Mountain.
If you are looking for the other Ely’s Peak parking lot,
north along Beck’s Road, that can also be a bit confusing from the trail.
Google maps had trails that weren’t there and I’ve read other descriptions of
this area that I have found difficult to follow. After the first steep section
up from the Munger, there is a spur off to the left. This links up to the DWP
trail right at the entrance to a tunnel. If you don’t see that after a few
minutes, turn around and try a different spur.
On some maps, you’ll see the DWP Trail. This is a wide flat
dirt trail. To the North, it goes through some businesses and all the way to
the Interstate. In the other direction, it parallels the Munger Trail, but not
close enough so you can see one from the other. Part of it is a tunnel, under
the peak, so on a map you will see the dotted line, but you are walking above
it. Google currently puts their pin for the tunnel on top of the rock, which
seems kind of useless to me. Getting to the tunnel is pretty easy from the
Ely’s Peak parking lot, just north of the railroad tracks that go under Beck’s
Road. It has no markings, but you can’t miss it. Take the one path leading
toward the peak, take a right when you hit the DWP trail and you’ll get to the
tunnel. From there, take a very steep ascent trail to the peak, or a trail
going down and to the right that links up to the SHT. If you are coming from
the peak looking for the parking lot, do the reverse of the above find the DWP,
the path to parking is good size, so just avoid the smaller options. If you get
to a business, you went too far.
