Say what?? You won't believe it, but located in Crosby, Minnesota, you can actually have an enjoyable snorkeling experience in their lakes or aka "mine pits". I was carpooling with a new friend to a bachelorette party way, and she shared this snorkeling secret about Minnesota with me. So, my husband Derek and I made a little weekend camping trip last summer. If you are familiar with Minnesota or are an avid mountain biker, you may be familiar with Cuyuna Mountain Bike Trails which encompass the mine pit lakes. It is just over 2 hours north of the Twin Cities, and it was one of my favorite camping trips. We are already booked again for this summer.
Derek and I packed up all our camping gear, our snorkel sets, fishing gear, and borrowed my parent's 70lb aluminum beast-of-a-canoe. We plopped the canoe right on top of my 2001 CRV, and hit the road! It was a bit scary driving with it, we did have to pull over a few times to adjust the ropes holding it down. One time it almost slid off... but we made it! We chose to stay at the Red Rider Resort, they have cabins, campsites, and RV sites. They even have lake access, nice bathrooms, a kitchenette, and a sauna. I would highly recommend, we are staying there again next time.
When you look at the map of mine lakes, it can get a bit overwhelming to pick out where to go. We ended up going to the Pennington Mine Lake Boat Launch, which was easy to get to, park, launch our canoe, plus it connects some of the lakes together. You will need a MN State Park pass to park there. The lakes were absolutely beautiful. The water had amazing visibility, and we saw lots of fish and a turtle. We found a stretch of sandbar and landed our canoe to try out the snorkeling. Since it is a former mine, it is kinda freaky at how quickly the water becomes deep. If you scuba dive, these lakes are known for having interesting treasures at the bottom like a foosball table, car, and boat. We had a nice picnic in our canoe, I caught a bass, and we paddled until sunset!
We stopped at the free local museum called the Soo Line Depot Museum and absolutely loved it. We got a tour of the whole place from one of their staff. He was a former police officer and was truly passionate about the history of Crosby. There is hiking (Cuyuna Lakes State Trail & Miner’s Mountain Overlook), endless world-class mountain bike trails for all levels (local rentals available), local gift shops, the Iron Range eatery, Red Raven coffee shop, Rafferty's Pizza, ice cream at Victual, and Cuyuna Brewing Company. Plus instead of canoeing around the mine pits, you could easily kayak or stand-up paddleboard as well. Cuyuna Outfitters provides these rentals. If you are not a happy camper - you could stay at the beautiful Cuyuna Cove, Crosby Lofts, and TrueNorth Basecamp.
Comments