3/4 nighter near Minn over Mem Day wknd, work is flying me out & I have ???'s

[mrcheviot]

My company has offices in NYC and Minneapolis, and I'm being flown out for meetings Tuesday night (5/27) and on Wednesday (5/28). Thinking about flying out early (Friday am?) and renting a car for a 3/4 night hike & hang, or two 2 nighters in different spots. Nothing too technical or grueling as I need to be functional and alert for the work events, but I know there's lots of parks, woods, lakes & rivers around so it seems too good an opportunity to pass up. I figure a 3-4 hour radius from Minn airport is probably reasonable.

Curious if..

• .. Anyone has some suggestions on where to go, pref. w/ safe parking? Pay areas or free both work, would prefer to not have to bother w/ stealth hanging to keep it low stress.
• .. Anyone is up for joining me for part/all of it?

Need to book my airfare by the end of the week so trying to determine how much time I'll need to enjoy where ever it is I'll end up heading to.

Appreciate any and all advice, suggestions, and interested hangers - thanks!

-MrC / jeremyr

[Shug]

One of my favorite places is George Crosby Manitou SP in Finland. http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_par...tou/index.html
It is an all backpacking State Park. About 4 hours from the Twin Cities. Superior Hiking Trail runs through it. It costs to camp but has some real good sites. Safe parking too.
Map…...http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/maps/st...s/spk00163.pdf
You would get a taste of the North Shore and MN Arrowhead Region. If you flew into Duluth you would be a lot closer to the area.
Not sure if I could join you at this point…too far away for my schedule.
Carry forth.
Shug

[Bic]

That's a haul in my opinion if you need to be to work during the day. However, it is quite beautiful in that area. There are a ton of state parks around the twin cities area.

Maybe fly out early on Friday and spend two nights on the SHT up north or at one of the state parks along the north shore. Tettegouche State Park and Split Rock Lighthouse State Parks are some of my favorites and both intersect with the SHT too. The Split Rock loop of the SHT is really nice and only about 5 miles long. You could hike a couple miles in and spend the night, then hike half a mile or so to the next site and spend the next night there before driving closer to the cities. Then once in the cities you could go to Afton State Park which is a very popular park amongst hangers in the cities. It's only about 40 mins outside minneapolis. Hope that helps.

Here is a video showing a little of the Split Rock Lighthouse State Park and the Split Rock loop of the SHT.

[mrcheviot]

Thanks for the suggestions, I had a feeling something involving the SHT was probably the best option but there so much info to sift through for a non-local.

Shug your suggestion about Duluth seem spot on, so will be flying there instead of MSP. I'll figure out how I'm going to get to Minn. later, perhaps a one-day one-way rental or an airport shuttle or something. The falls in GCM SP look (and more importantly sound) great - any spots you know of for a waterfall lullaby? Thanks for the rec, if your schedule clears and the woods beckon lemme know.

HD nice videos, and thanks for the loop suggestions. Will have to decided on an arrival time tomorrow, but idea is to be near the lake from Fri-ish until Tues am, then head to Minn. for the work event, i.e. no back & forth. As long as I'm back to Duluth airport by noon on Tues I'll be set. I like the idea of park & multi-night loop hikes, but need to get better oriented w/ location of some of these places and figure out what seems reasonable.

I think I've got enough for a broad outline of the trip, looking forward to some research & filling in the details in the coming weeks and perhaps making plans to meet up with some of you HF folks while I'm out. I'll follow up soon, thanks again!

-MrC / jeremyr