Minnesota Hiking Trail Named the Best in the Country

(KNSI) — A hiking trail in northern Minnesota that leads to a mysterious waterfall has been named one of the ten best in the country.

The Devil’s Kettle Trail at Judge C.R. Magney State Park won USA Today’s 10 Best Readers’ Choice award, beating out 18 others nationwide.

The sometimes grueling two mile trek back into the woods is not for the faint of heart. The trail leads hikers through beautiful, lush forest, up – and down – 175 steps that must be climbed twice with a 400 foot elevation change in the process. For those who can do it, the journey is spectacular all on its own, but it’s what’s at the end of the trail that really gets people talking, and the payoff is worth the work.

The river splits in two, making up the Devil’s Kettle waterfall. Half of the falls tumble 50 feet down into a pool, where the water eventually find its way out to Lake Superior. The other half pulls a vanishing act, disappearing into an enormous pothole, and, where it went, for decades, was a conundrum. Where was all that water going? Some people thought it might be traveling underground to Lake Superior. Others tossed in ping pong balls and logs to see if they’d pop up somewhere else – they never did.

The mystery was eventually solved in 2017 when hydrologists put on their detective hats and discovered the water rejoins the stream below the waterfall, hidden somewhere underneath the swirling, churning water so powerful, it can break up anything that falls in and keep it spinning around under the surface until it makes its way downstream.

Judge C.R. Magney State Park is located in Hovland. A single vehicle day pass is $7. An annual Minnesota State Park sticker is $35.

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