The Ancient Cedars Trail: An Old Growth Forest Hike In Tower, Minnesota

Ancient Cedars Trail – Tower’s new destination hiking trail

A hiking trail through an old growth cedar forest within Tower, MN’s city limits inspired my northeastern Minnesota road trip in October 2021. You might not think of Tower, Minnesota as a premiere northern Minnesota destination. Heck, you might not think of Tower, Minnesota at all.

You’ll find this small northern MN town of about 500 residents roughly 30 miles west of Ely near Lake Vermilion. Named for American businessman Charlemagne Tower, the nearby Soudan iron ore prompted the town’s establishment in 1889. In 1996, Tower made headlines when temps dropped to -60F that February – the lowest recorded temperature in Minnesota. Now this teeny town has another claim to fame: their brand-new Ancient Cedars Trail.

When I pulled into a parking space outside the Tower Visitor Information Center, a sense of déjà vu washed over me. As a very little kid, my family lived briefly on the edge of the Minnesota tundra, in the tiny hamlet of Effie. We’d often stop at this very spot next to Tower’s historic train depot to play on the parked trains and grab ice cream to break up our drive across northern Minnesota on our way to visit our grandparents in Grand Marais.

Just as I was pondering what ice cream flavors the nearby Benchwarmer Grille currently offered, my friend Donna pulled in. Together we picked our way across a small construction site to reach the Mesabi Trail, a 132-mile bike trail that runs across Minnesota’s Iron Range from Ely to Grand Rapids. After about a .3 mile stroll down the paved trail, we officially reached the new Ancient Cedars Trail.

Ancient Cedars Trail in Tower preserves a disappearing forest

Volunteers developed the Ancient Cedars Trail in the spring of 2020. It’s a new trail showcasing an old forest. Made up of about two miles of loops, the trail meanders through a 100-acre grove of white cedars believed to be the only old growth forest within a Minnesota town’s city limits. Somewhat ironically, an 1870s wildfire saved this forest from harvest during logging’s heyday at the turn of the 20th century.

These lucky cedar trees regenerated when caribou and moose still roamed northern Minnesota as the primary megafauna. As white cedar saplings poked up through burn area, those large animals bypassed them, preferring to browse on other brush instead. Since these trees’ early days in the 19th century, whitetail deer have moved into the Minnesota boreal forest and became the forest’s dominant megafauna. In our modern ecosystem, these naughty deer would have gnawed the cedar grove down to nothing before the trees were much more than a year or two old.

For that reason, the sign at the trailhead invites you to step back in time. Thick forest and wilderness lakes still cover the northern Minnesota landscape. But amid all those trees and water, this little pocket of forest is special. Happily, a unique collaboration between city government, private landowners, and several volunteer organizations allowed the Ancient Cedars Trail to be developed last year so we can all glimpse a forest that all but vanished in the 19th century.

Volunteers constructed the majority of pathway you hike on the Ancient Cedars Trail. However, the trail uses existing trail infrastructure to access the cedar grove. After hiking that .3 miles east down the Mesabi Trail (this section of the trail also makes up a section of David Dill/Taconite State Trail so don’t be confused if you see signage that refers to David Dill rather than Mesabi), we turned onto the Iron Ore Snowmobile Trail. We passed a flock of Canadian geese as we crossed the East Two River on the snowmobile trail bridge, then turned left on the new trail.

The trail immediately plunges you into a thick cedar grove. Because white cedar trees thrive in very wet habitat, I usually find them growing very close to water . . . sometimes practically in lakes or proliferating Boundary Waters portage landings. The Ancient Cedars Trail was the first time I’d seen so many of them so far away from a significant body of water. This particular grove thrives in a boggy forest floor. The spongy mossy ground meant volunteers needed to lay over 500 ft boardwalk in the cedar grove to make the Ancient Cedar Trails navigable for the casual hiker like you or me.

Ancient Cedars Trail Navigation and Overlooks

Due to both its newness and its rural location, the trail’s tread isn’t well established . . . yet. Expect a narrow, windy forest path similar to what you’d find on a Boundary Waters portage. Total mileage for the trail clocks in around two miles, but the trail isn’t a single path. Instead, the trails loops and crisscrosses itself to make a cobweb of paths, kind of like a cross-country ski trail system.

Since I’m notoriously bad at interpreting trail system maps, I was glad to be hiking with someone who’d hiked the trail before. I do think I would have been able to successfully navigate if I’d been hiking solo. Although the trail tread isn’t always obvious, the trail is clearly marked with painted blazes on trees beside the trail. Volunteers even painted the blazes to correspond color that the loop is depicted on the trail maps as.

 Large boulders line the path. Eventually the trail climbs upwards, out of the cedar grove. As the forest shifts to more spruce, balsam, and pines, you find a park bench at an overlook. In the distance, you can spy Lake Vermilion shimmering. We were lucky enough to visit during peak fall colors. It was gorgeous!

Because the trail is built around existing town and recreation infrastructure, some of the trail’s features aren’t particularly scenic. For example, a portion of the trail travels under a high voltage power line. But hey, it’s a good-looking power line!

How Ancient are these Cedars?

I’ve always loved the lacy, aromatic foliage and whirly bark of white cedar trees. These beautiful trees are definitely some of the most unique trees growing in Minnesota’s boreal forest. Did you realize that they’re evergreens?

One of the most unique things about cedar trees is how slowly they grow. The towering white pines many people consider ancient only live about 300 years. That means white pines reach their max height of 150 – 200 ft tall in a couple hundred years. Meanwhile, white cedars live an average of 800 years. The oldest cedar tree in Minnesota – located in Lake County – clocks in at approximately 1100 years old!

The small size of the cedars growing along Ancient Cedars Trail really surprised me. But at just 140 years old, these trees are just getting started. It made me realize just how old – probably 600- 800 years- all the massive cedar trees I’m used to in my Gunflint Trail backyard are!

So while you might raise an eyebrow at the trail’s claim of “ancient” cedar trees, eventually these trees will be ancient thanks to these preservation efforts taken today. Kudos to Tower Economic Development Authority, the Wagoner Trails Club, and Friends of Vermillion Country School for joining together to create this trail that allows these trees to both thrive and be appreciated by the general public.

If you hike the Ancient Cedars Trail in Tower, MN

Although I didn’t see any signage directing you to the Ancient Cedars Trail from the parking area, the trail is very easy to access. If you arrive eastbound on Hwy 1/169, turn into the historic train depot/visitor information located right on the western edge of Tower, right behind Benchwarmer Grille. You can park here for free. Hike past the historic train depot and head east on the paved Mesabi/David Dill bike trail. Once you reach the intersection with the Iron Ore snowmobile trail, you’ll see signage for the Ancient Cedars Trail.

We spent about an hour on the Ancient Cedars Trail. Although you do need to watch your footing on a couple trickier climbs and descents, I’d consider it a pretty easy wilderness style trail. If you want to hike a little longer, you can easily extend your hike by heading down the paved Mesabi Trail as far as your heart desires. Of course, if you want to continue the tradition of grabbing an ice cream cone while in Tower to round out your hiking experience, you can head to nearby Benchwarmer’s or into downtown Tower to the newly opened South Shore Creamery.