LAKE VERMILION STATE PARK

BY LAND

The Alaska Shaft trail (originating from Soudan Underground Mine State Park) is now open for hiking into the new Lake Vermilion State Park site. The 2.4 mile hiking loop includes a spur on the northeast corner that ends in a beautiful overlook into the rolling terrain of Minnesota’s newest state park. Visit the Soudan Underground Mine SP headquarters or visitor center for a map.

BY WATER

A boat-up picnic area is now open in the northeast corner of the park in Armstrong Bay. By water, look for an old boathouse and the classic brown-and-gold Lake Vermilion State Park sign. The area has a fire ring, picnic tables and portable toilet.

HUNTING OPPORTUNITIES

Lake Vermilion State Park will be open for firearm deer hunting by permit this fall. Fifty permits were made available for a special hunt between Nov. 6 and Nov. 14. Applications were due Sept. 9.

WINTER TRAIL OPPORTUNITIES

DNR Parks and Trails staff are planning temporary snowmobile and winter hiking/snowshoeing trails for the 2010-2011 winter season. Watch the DNR website for maps of these opportunities, which will be available in early November.

• Vermilion is French for "lake of the sunset glow"

• June 8, 2010, the State of Minnesota closed a 3,000-acre land transaction with U.S. Steel, establishing Minnesota's newest state park.

• Together with Soudan Underground Mine, the new park will include almost ten shoreline miles on Lake Vermilion, with access to 40,557 acres of water.

• The DNR has already started its park master planning process with natural resource and cultural assessments.

• Watch here for updates on access to day-use areas, which will become available this summer as safety measures and resource protections are put in place.