SPLIT ROCK LIGHTHOUSE SUMMER TRAILS FACILITIES Hiking/Mt. Biking Information/Office Picnic Area Backpack/Kayak Camping Because lands exist within the boundaries of this park that are not under the jurisdiction STATE PARK of the D.N.R., check with the park manager Hiking only Split Rock Lighthouse Overlook Diver Parking if you plan to use facilities such as trails and roads other than those shown. Superior Hiking Trail Telephone Cart-in Campground s Lake Superior Water Trail ile

PRIVATE PROPERTY .5 m Parking Kayak Campsite 3 VISITOR FAVORITES Gitchi-Gami State Trail Public Use Prohibited to BEAVER BAY Paved trail for biking, skating, & hiking Trail Center Carry-in Access 0.7 State Park Boundary State Park Land Open •Touring the historic Split to Hunting 0.5 Trail distances shown in miles Rock Lighthouse & Visitor Shelter Backpack Camping 61 Center. • Skipping stones at Pebble

Beach and the mouth of the 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 Split Rock River. Miles 0.7 0 0.5 • Walking the trails along the NORTH Kilometers steep cliffs of Lake Superior.

• Split Rock Lighthouse State Service Area Park offers hiking trails, cross-country ski trails, Harbor s Trail stream and lake fishing, pic- 0.5 to Beaver Bay 800 8 miles, nicking, camping and kayak to Tettegouche 0.3 o see light station State Park w T detail below 23 miles access to Lake Superior. Little • Split Rock River waterfalls 1.1 along the Superior Hiking TRAIL 0.8 0.3

ill Trail. 1.8 H T 90 ra 0 il • The Gitchi-Gami State Trail 800 0.5 Day 0.4 0.7 see campground detail DAY on reverse side H HILL is under construction on the IKIN 0.1

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700 miles) passes through Split 0 0 0.2 ing Drive-thru 9 Logg 0 one way parking for 0 BP/K1 Rock Lighthouse State Park. 8 0.3 0.2 one w trailers and 0.2 P 0.2 e buses t E 0.1 ay 0.2 0.1 xe 0.3 rc 0.2 0.3 ise rrill 0 e 0 A 7 M re 0 0.3 Split Rock Light Station & History Center on 0 a 7 e w

R BP2 Administered by the Minnesota Historical Society ay 8 IO 0.3 00 R BPK3 PE SU 0.4 1.2 0.2 il ra 0.5 T Restored LOOKING FOR MORE INFORMATION ? Keeper’s Visitor e L C Min ittle Two Harbo Center orundum BP4 rs Tra Home The DNR has mapped the state showing federal, 0.6 il state and county lands with their recreational Trail Private Residence facilities. DOT Wayside to Tram Public Recreation Information Maps (PRIM) are Lake House 3 2 Old 1 Oil Hoist available for purchase from the DNR gift shop, DNR House regional offices, Minnesota state parks and major Pump Location sporting and map stores. House Fog Signal to Building Check it out - you'll be glad you did. Gooseberry Falls State Park Old Dock H 61 4.3 miles T U s 0 L e Location 70 U il D m o 7 © 3/2010 by State of Minnesota, t 4 Department of Natural Resources SPLIT ROCK LIGHTHOUSE STATE along the lake. Other wildlife includes the lived in a small fishing village called Little Little Two Underlined site numbers 1 PARK is located about 20 miles north of white-tailed deer, moose, black bear, raccoon, Two Harbors, located in the cove near the are RESERVABLE

Two Harbors, Minnesota on MN Highway and snowshoe hare. A beaver colony can be island one-half mile west of the lighthouse. Harbors 9 61. Highway map index number is O-9. found on the Split Rock River. These fishermen, predominantly Norwe- 8

SPLIT ROCK gians, fished for herring from the turn of T LIGHTHOUSE 7 r. STATE PARK The Minnesota Historical Society administers GEOLOGY: The geologic history of this the century until the 1920s. 10 2 the 25-acre Split Rock Lighthouse Historic area tells a story that is more than a billion Day 6 Duluth • 3

Site and Visitor Center adjacent to the site. years old. Ancient lava flows today are evi- Major logging operations were conducted Hill 5 4 Today, restored to its pre-1924 appearance, dent in the many falls and rapids along the at the mouth of the Split Rock River by the 11 Split Rock Light Station offers visitors a North Shore. Below, molten rock cooled Merrill and Ring Company from 1899-1906. Trail Minneapolis/ glimpse of lighthouse duty in the years when more slowly to form gabbro, a harder, more The forest then was predominantly red and St. Paul the isolated station could be reached only resistant, rock. Intrusions of molten material white pine. Fires swept through the area 12

by water. The Visitor Center houses a 90- into this large mass formed pockets of other after it had been 14 13 seat theatre which features the 22 minute types of rock and minerals. Pushed up logged out and today birch mixed with some NORTH film, “SPLIT ROCK LIGHT: Tribute to the through the earth’s crust, today, large masses spruce, fir, ash, upland and lowland brush 16 Parking Age of Steel,” exhibits on commercial fishing of gabbro make up the bold and rocky char- and marsh have replaced the stately pines. 15 SPLIT ROCK and North Shore tourism, and a museum acter of this region. At Split Rock, the light- Restrooms/Showers store. Summer visitors to the historic site house cliff is a fine-grained gabbro which is 17 Campsite may also tour the lighthouse, fog-signal capped by a light green rock called an- SO EVERYONE CAN ENJOY THE PARK... 18 LIGHTHOUSE Water building and the restored keeper’s dwelling orthosite. • The park belongs to all Minnesotans. 20 Toilets STATE PARK (10:00 A.M. - 6:00 P.M., mid-May to mid- In more recent times, glaciers passed through Please treat it with respect and help us to October). From late October through early the area erasing much of the earth’s geologic protect it by following the rules. 19 Hiking/Skiing, FOR MORE INFORMATION May, typically only the Visitor Center is open; record as it scoured out the basin of Lake • The park is open year-round. On a daily Mountain Biking Split Rock Lighthouse State Park (11 A.M. - 4:00 P.M., Thursdays thru Sundays) Superior and shaped the rock that lay un- basis, the park is closed from 10:00 P.M. Hiking Only 3755 Split Rock Lighthouse Road however, the grounds are open daily until derneath. Meltwater wore away less resistant to 8:00 A.M. the following morning except Lake Superior Private Land Two Harbors, MN 55616 dusk. rock leaving behind a barren and rugged to registered campers. (218) 226-6377 landscape. • Camp only in designated locations. ♦ CART-IN CAMPGROUND Facilities available within the park bound- • The use of firearms, explosives, air guns, Department of Natural Resources aries of 2200 acres include: 14.5 miles of HISTORY: Due to a storm in 1905 which slingshots, traps, seines, nets, bows and Cart-in sites are 1-4 blocks from parking lot. Information Center biking, hiking and cross-country skiing trails, wrecked six ships within a dozen miles of arrows, paintballs, and all other weapons (Backpack sites are shown on other side of this sheet.) 500 Lafayette Road a paved segment of the nonmotorized Git- the Split Rock River, the federal government is prohibited in state parks. St. Paul, MN 55155-4040 chi-Gami State Trail, a lakeshore picnic area contracted to have Split Rock Light Station • Pets must be restrained on a leash no long (651) 296-6157 (Metro Area) with well-spaced, private picnic sites, a year- built in 1909. With its fog signal building er than six feet. Pets are not allowed in 1-888-646-6367 (MN Toll Free) round trail center/picnic shelter building, and lighthouse, the keepers at Split Rock park buildings or on the historic site. ♦ an open picnic shelter and a unique cart-in warned ships away from the rocky and • Park in designated areas only. TDD (Telecommunications campground where campers park their ve- treacherous North Shore. Commissioned in •Motor bikes and other licensed vehicles This information is available in alternative format upon request. Device for Deaf) hicles in the campground parking lot, load 1910 and decommissioned by the Coast are allowed only on park roads, not on (651) 296-5484 (Metro Area) their gear into lightweight carts (carts are Guard in 1969 because of improvements in trails. “Equal opportunity to participate in and benefit from programs 1-800-657-3929 (MN Toll Free) included with campsite rental), then wheel shipboard technology, the Split Rock light • Enjoy park wildlife and plants but please of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is available their gear on gravel trails to well spaced, shone for 59 years over western Lake Supe- respect them. Do not pick or dig up plants to all individuals regardless of race, color, creed or religion, national origin, sex, marital status, status with regard to public DNR Web Site: www.dnr.state.mn.us secluded campsites. A modern sanitation rior. In 1971 the federal government deeded disturb or feed animals, scavenge dead assistance, sexual orientation, age or disability. Discrimination building with showers is located in the the light station to the state of Minnesota to wood, or remove rocks from the lake. inquires should be sent to the Minnesota Department of Natural FOR HISTORIC SITE INFORMATION campground. be operated as a public historic site. In 1976 • Daily or annual permits are required for Resources, 500 Lafayette Road, St. Paul, MN 55155-4031; or the Equal Opportunity Office, Department of the Interior, Washing- OR the Minnesota Historical Society assumed all vehicles entering a state park. They ton, D.C. 20240.” GROUP TOUR RESERVATION: WILDLIFE: Although the wildlife at Split operation of the site. may be purchased at the park headquarters Minnesota Historical Society Rock has not been inventoried, it is suspect- or the Information Center in St. Paul (see ed that the species are similar to that of July 31, 2010 commemorates the 100th anni- “FOR MORE INFORMATION” to left). 3713 Split Rock Lighthouse Road Minnesota Two Harbors, MN 55616 nearby Gooseberry Falls State Park. This versary of the first beacon lighting. • Build fires only in designated locations — (218) 226-6372 would indicate a variety of small songbirds, fire rings or fireplaces. Wood is available herring gulls and common loons. The once The first white people to live in the Split for purchase from park staff. Portable DEPARTMENT OF www.mnhs.org/splitrock threatened peregrine falcon nests on cliffs Rock area were commercial fishermen who stoves or grills are permitted. © 3/2010 by State of Minnesota, Department of Natural Resources DNR Maps