Shovel Point Trail

Shovel Point is the most dramatic geological feature on the Minnesota North Shore, a basalt headland that juts into Lake Superior like the prow of a ship, its vertical cliffs dropping 170 feet directly into the open lake and representing one of the finest examples of columnar basalt in the Great Lakes region. The trail climbs from the parking area up a series of wooden staircases and rock steps through a cliff-edge forest of white spruce and birch to reach the headland's tip, where the exposure to Lake Superior's prevailing westerlies creates a windswept environment supporting hardy krummholz vegetation similar to alpine tundra. The basalt columns at Shovel Point formed as a thick lava flow cooled and contracted, cracking into five- and six-sided prisms that now stand in vertical arrays along the cliff face visible from the viewpoints at trail's end. Wave action during November storms drives spray 50 feet or more up the cliff face, and the salt-like mineral deposits from this spray influence the plant community at the headland tip. On calm days the clarity of Lake Superior's water below the cliffs reveals the basalt boulders on the lake bottom through 30 feet of water. The trail loops around the full perimeter of the headland, with multiple viewpoints offering different perspectives on Palisade Head to the southwest and the open lake horizon to the east and north.