The Mesabi Trail is yet another of Minnesota's paved distance bike paths -- ultimately to run from the Mississippi River in Grand Rapids to the Boundary Waters in Ely. The combination of old logging roads and rail grades make for a more interesting ride -- all with views that demonstrate MINING is king up here. Then and now.
The forecast of several consecutive sunny days was too good to be true: indeed we found ourselves a bit wet on the 2nd day (as in drenching downpour!). But we rode a couple interesting sections and it ranks as one of the more engaging trails we've found.
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| The Prairie River a few miles before joining in the Mississippi |
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| A floating bridge along the bike path! |
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| The majority of the mining here was open pit -- so piles of tailings and adjoining sparkling blue lakes. |
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Hull Rust Mahoning Mine near Hibbing
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The Hull Rust Mahoning Mine is sometimes nicknamed the Grand Canyon of the East. A vast gash through the earth: 3 miles by 7 miles by 800 feet deep and 1.5 miles wide is pretty awesome. And colorful. Tiny trucks were roaming around in the mine. About 1 miles north of this mine, is Hill of Three Rivers. The Hill is a continental divide: flow south (Mississippi) flow north (Hudson Bay) or flow east (Lake Superior and to the Atlantic). Take your pick.
The numbers from the mine were staggering. In 2002, the mine (in operation since 1892) reached the milestone of 1 billion tons of All Material Movement. That's alot of stuff.
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| Hibbing is also the hometown of the Greyhound Bus company. A whole museum of classic buses. Yeah. |
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