Minnesota Hiking Club #7 - Split Rock Lighthouse State Park

 

Minnesota Hiking Club

#7 - Split Rock Lighthouse State Park

Date Hiked: December 22nd, 2024

Other Hikes That Day: Gooseberry Falls State Park

Wanderloon Ranking System Score: 4.25

Lighthouses are a special interest. I wrote an entire play about being a lighthouse keeper, so this trail was already going to be high in the rankings by default. But this was a magical journey, despite the conditions, that I will never forget. 

Obviously, since I wrote about Gooseberry Falls being the first stop in this series, and that was on the same day, Split Rock Lighthouse State Park was the second stamp and password I acquired. It's easy to say that I spoiled myself with these first two, but I figured starting at an iconic place with which I was already familiar would be a good way to kickstart the respective clubs, and I wasn't even thinking in terms of a speedrun yet. 

Do not let the popularity of this state park fool you into thinking this is an easy hike. It is not.

I'd hiked most of this entire trail before I knew I could get credit for it. But that was a day where I walked on pavement and grass, a day where I could feel my face and saw other people. The only person I saw on this day was finishing as I was getting started, and I asked how the ice was. A practical question, considering I'd just finished realizing how high those cliffs at Gooseberry were, and they said it wasn't too bad. I was still naive enough to think that trekking poles would be enough to keep me upright, and for the most part, they were. 

But this path is long, even without the ice factor. It's among the longest of the Hiking Club, and while it's not exactly Manitou or Cascade River, there are many smaller hills and a staircase to climb (or descend, depending on the direction.) With no spikes, I slipped many times, but on one particularly steep hill, I was unable to stop the fall and landed on my ass. Fortunately, little more than my pride was injured, and knowing how to fall correctly turned out to be a tremendous, unexpected advantage of doing the Hiking Club in the winter. It also motivated me to get ice spikes immediately. 

This Hiking Club trail incorporates part of the Gichee Gumee paved biking path, then disappears into the wilderness near the ghost town of Splitrock where the only remaining evidence of its existence are posts of a dock still sticking out in the water. From there, the trail follows the shore of the Big Lake, weaving through old sights, both preserved and otherwise. But, even as photographed and cliche as it may be, I briefly went off the trail to appreciate the tremendous spectacle of the legendary Split Rock Lighthouse at winter twilight the day after solstice. The colors in that photograph don't do justice to the majesty I saw, and any difficulty returning to my car was worth that moment in time. 

I was a little less lonely for a while, and in that moment I swear...

I felt...

Infinite.