Eagle Mountain, Minnesota’s highpoint, stretches up to a not-so-impressive 2,301 feet tall. Eagle Mountain Trail, a 6.6 mile out-and-back hike will take you directly to the summit.
Minnesota’s high point ranks as the 37th highest out of all 50 U.S. states.
At the summit, there’s a large plaque that reads:
Geology of Minnesota
Eagle Mountain
When Newton H. Winchell, Minnesota’s state geologist, and Ulysses S. Grant II (the president’s son) surveyed this area in the 1980’s, they concluded that a peak in the Misquah Hills was the state’s highest point. Using an aneroid barometer, they set its elevation at 2,230 feet. Later, comers argued that Eagle Mountain, which Winchell and Grant did not measure and, which can be seen from the Misquah Hills, was higher.
In 1961, a United States Department of the Interior survey team remeasured, using aerial photographs and controlled bench marks. They found Eagle Mountain’s elevation to be 2,301 feet, making it Minnesota’s highest point. They also determined that the first Misquah Hills peak is surpassed by another unnamed summit, 2,266 feet above sea level, located in section 19 of T63N, R1W, in the same western Cook County area. The state’s lowest point is Lake Superior, which has an elevation of 602 feet.
The igneous rock composing Eagle Mountain is as old as the Duluth Gabbro, which geologists estimate at over a billion years in age.
The trail winds through a small section of Superior National Forest, around the edge of Whale Lake. The trail itself was rocky and root-covered but overall a moderate hike.
I didn’t see another soul until I was almost at the summit, when I encountered another highpointer who had lost the main trail. After a little searching and back-tracking I was able to locate it and we summited together. After chatting and taking photos for each other, I headed back down.
