NEW CENTENNIAL TRAIL
The Gunflint Ranger District is creating a new hiking trail this year. It's just one of the many ways they are celebrating the 100th anniversary of President Theodore Roosevelt proclaiming 644,114 acres in northeastern Minnesota as part of the national forest system effectively giving birth to the Superior National Forest.
The Centennial Trail will be a loop trail of 3.3 miles. It will incorporate 1.2 miles of the Kekekabic Trail and a new section, currently under construction, which will connect to the Port Arthur Railroad bed built in the early 1890's. After the Ham Lake Fire, several of the old mine pits and railroad beds were exposed and that's how Tom Kaffine, Forestry Technician and wilderness guru, came up with the idea of this historical trail.
The Centennial Trail will have some beautiful overlooks. Clearing the area has already begun and the Smokejumper Trail Association will be here to help complete the task.
Blasting will take place on Thursday, September 10, 2009 on the east side of Mine Lake between noon and mid-afternoon. The process being used is a low impact wilderness practice and will created a narrow path. The Kekekabic Trail will be closed for a short time. Safety personnel will be posted at appropriate locations during the trail work.