Plans for a new Minnesota long-distance hiking trail get a funding boost

As soon as this summer, hikers might be able to trek the first sections of Minnesota's newest long-distance trail southeast of Rochester.

The big picture: The Minnesota Driftless Hiking Trail — stitched together through more than 100 miles of stunning river valleys and steep bluffs — could become southeast Minnesota's answer to the Superior Hiking Trail, a popular backpacking route along the North Shore.

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Driving the news: After years as an all-volunteer effort, Gov. Tim Walz recently approved $426,000 that could make the Driftless Hiking Trail a reality.

• Organizers will use the new state money to hire a full-time person, buy equipment and fund outreach to private landowners.

What they're saying: In Minnesota's portion of the Driftless Area , "We have a lot of recreational assets in our communities — hiking, biking, trails and wildlife areas. If we start to combine them, they are more than the sum of their parts," the project's coordinator, Marty Walsh, explained to Axios.

Flashback: An avid hiker, Walsh first began noodling on the idea in late 2017 when working for Fillmore County — home to scenic Lanesboro — as an economic development consultant.

• During the pandemic, he hiked along the Ice Age Trail , which zigzags through Wisconsin from St. Croix Falls to Janesville to Green Bay. It inspired him to revisit his big idea for southeast Minnesota in 2021.

Marty Walsh envisions a more than 100-mile trail through southeast Minnesota's stunning river valleys and steep bluffs. Image: Courtesy of Walsh/Minnesota Driftless Hiking Trail via X

How it would work: Walsh proposes building the Minnesota Driftless Hiking Trail in a corridor between Chatfield and the Mississippi River .

• Along the route, "Our hope is that there's a little bit of everything: farms, prairies, woods, stream bottoms," as well as stops in towns like Lanesboro, Caledonia or Spring Grove, he said.

Zoom in: Walsh says more than 20 private landowners have already signed documents signaling their openness to allow the new trail — which would not be paved — to cut through their land.

What's next: Walsh estimates that building the full trail will require permission from at least 100 landowners, a task that will fall on the plate of the project's new staffer.

• Walsh would like to have around three "demonstration" miles laid this summer, with perhaps as many as 25 miles ready within the next two years.
• He hopes to see the full route done by 2027.

The bottom line: The trail could give hikers a new way to commune with what Walsh calls a "really inspiring scenic landscape."

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