Trail Blazer

If you envision an extended hiking or backpacking trip through a scenic Minnesota landscape, you might think of the Superior Hiking Trail in northern Minnesota. In the future, trekkers will be able to consider another long-distance option that promises equally spectacular natural beauty: the Minnesota Driftless Hiking Trail.

In the southeast, which was spared the last round of glacial drift that scoured the rest of the state—hence the term “driftless”—a citizen-led effort is building momentum for a trail of more than 100 miles through country that encompasses steep limestone bluffs, burbling trout streams, hardwood forests, restored prairie, and working farmlands. The initiative stems from the vision of one particularly busy and determined advocate, Marty Walsh of the Rochester-Austin area, who for six years has been cultivating support from landowners willing to let a trail cross their land, help from fellow volunteers in plotting potential routes, and cooperation from government partners.

The effort is serious enough to have landed a $426,000 grant from the state Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources, which will allow the group to hire a director, step up its outreach and planning efforts, and pursue its goal of opening 10 to 20 miles of trail by 2025 in Houston and Fillmore counties.

We chatted with Walsh about the trail’s future.

Q | What is the appeal of the Minnesota Driftless Hiking Trail when compared to, say, the Superior Hiking Trail?
Proximity for a lot of people. For large parts of St. Paul and Minneapolis, we would be the closer trail. Also, because of the Superior Hiking Trail’s location and the land ownership up there, they stay more wilderness, whereas our plan is to go through several communities. For some people, I think that would be really appealing. There’ll be a few less miles that are truly wilderness, but we still hope to have that really remote sense on much of the trail.

Q | Are there plans for campsites on the trail?
Dispersed camping is allowed within state forests already, so we’re talking to the local DNR folks about how to manage that in case it gets bigger faster than we anticipate. I think the reality is that we’ll partner a lot with local campgrounds. It might be a pay-to-camp situation, but our belief is that private campgrounds might give permission for the trail to cross their property if they also gain access to that new customer base. It will hopefully emerge into this sort of hut-to-hut system where there’s privately maintained campsites or cabins that are in between different more dispersed camping options.

Q | What are some hurdles you’ve faced in developing a trail of such length?
The variety of landowners and awareness of this kind of trail. Not a lot of people in the region are avid backpackers, so when they hear “trail,” they might think of the Root River State Trail—a big blacktop, broad corridor. So we are educating on what a backpacking trail means. We’re going to be dealing with dozens, if not hundreds, of landowners and finding willing landowners.

Q | What benefits would this trail bring to southeastern Minnesota?
Many communities down here are familiar with the benefits of outdoor recreation, especially fly-fishing and the bike trails. Backpacking will add to that. We know from working with local chambers of commerce and visitors bureaus that the lack of opportunities for hiking is something that comes up frequently from tourists.

Q | How do you determine if a new trail section will be built versus using an established route?
Our preference is to utilize existing trails as much as possible. As long as a trail, logging road, hunter access route, or anything aligns with our general corridor, we want to start with that and put up some designations. Any construction on the permanent, long-term trail involves incorporating our trail planning documents and guidance, and that will take longer.

Q | How do you determine the environmental impacts of a trail this long and work to avoid them?
We are working with partners. The Minnesota DNR is a major landowner that we will be working with, and they have very high standards. One of the concerns that people express is the fragile landscape—there are rare and uncommon species of plants and birds, and just the geology itself is  rare. I think of the Yellowstone approach. If you go to Yellowstone National Park, you don’t just get to stomp all over the place because that’s not safe for you or for the landscape. Providing a dedicated route that is set up to protect the landscape has the opportunity to lessen impact while still giving people the chance to enjoy the unique features of the Driftless area.