Best Ideas for Fall Fun on the Mesabi

Superior National Forest at its finest!

Start out with something brand new to Minnesota’s Mesabi Iron Range: a ski lift ride to the top of the mountain at Giants Ridge. Take it all in then head back to the base for a bite and a sip at The Sleeping Giant or The Burnt Onion.

Get a whole different view when you walk 1.8 miles along the Mesabi Trail in Virginia and cross the state’s tallest bridge in Virginia. You’re standing 200 feet above the former Rouchleau Mine Pit, now a source of the city’s drinking water.

This is one cool bridge walk.

Learn more about mining and glimpse US Steel’s Minntac operations at Locomotive Park in Mountain Iron. Pop in to Mac’s Bar for a burger, or bring a bike to explore the paved Mesabi Trail, one of the state’s longest, and currently paved between Grand Rapids and Gilbert, MN.

Here’s comes the trolley!

A trip to the Mesabi isn’t complete without a stop at Minnesota Discovery Center, a sprawling indoor/outdoor museum offering fall color trolley rides through September on Thursdays and Saturdays. Bring the kids for mini-golf themed fun in between exhibit exploration.

Catch a movie at the Paulucci Space Theater in Hibbing on Friday evening or Saturday afternoon and find plenty of other activities from craft projects to musical performances right here.

If it’s outdoor adventure you crave, Lookout Mountain at the Laurentian Divide has hiking and mountain bike trails, but the newest trails in the area are up at Giants Ridge, and give mountain bikers a lift-served gravity ride and a lot more.

Maybe motorized is your thing, in which case we have the state’s best Off-Highway Vehicle Park. Jeeps, motorcycles, side-by-sides and more are welcome here.

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