The Superior Hiking Trail runs 310 miles along Minnesota's North Shore from Two Harbors to the Canadian border, never straying far from the view of Lake Superior. The 8-mile section from Palisade Head to Baptism River (Tettegouche State Park) is among the finest — linking dramatic rhyolite cliffs where peregrine falcons nest, inland lake vistas, and the thundering High Falls of the Baptism River, Minnesota's tallest waterfall at 70 feet.

Palisade Head itself is an 800-year-old rhyolite lava flow rising 350 feet above Lake Superior — the kind of cliff view that silences entire carloads of visitors. From here the SHT follows the ridgeline through birch and spruce forest, passing Mic Mac Lake and inland ponds before dropping to the Baptism River gorge. High Falls is stunning in any season: in spring when snowmelt swells it to a roar, in summer when visitors swim in the pool below, and in winter when it freezes into curtains of ice climbers ascend. The full segment requires a car shuttle or a 16-mile out-and-back.

The Superior Hiking Trail is free to hike. Tettegouche State Park charges a $7 vehicle fee. Dogs are allowed on leash. Backcountry camping along the SHT is available at designated campsites (no permit, no fee, first-come first-served). The trail can be icy and snowpacked November through April.