City of St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin

Gateway to the St. Croix Valley

City of Trails

PDF: City Trail Guide

Ice Age Trail

For more information please visit the Ice Age Trail Web site.

The St. Croix River Valley was formed when the glacial lobe in the area retreated, draining glacial Lake Duluth. Giant floods cut the valley through billion-year-old volcanic basalt bedrock.

Starting at Lion's Park the Trail crosses State Hwy 87 and climbs through forests with a scenic vista looking west over the St. Croix River. The IAT passes boulder-strewn Mindy Creek and eventually comes out on Day Road. At Day Road turn left and go a few yards north. On the east side of the road a short IAT easement allows access to Mindy Creek Court. The Trail continues through residential neighborhood on streets. Look for IAT yellow blazes and directional signs on telephone poles. At Mindy Creek Court turn right and go southeast 0.2 miles. At Oregon Street turn left and go east 0.2 miles. At Simonson Road turn right and go south 0.5 miles past the fairgrounds. At Louisiana Street turn left and go east 0.3 miles. The marked trailhead is on south side of street. The IAT returns to a path as it passes through a scrub forest on ice-scraped rock outcroppings. Further on, the IAT joins a paved bike path as it drops into town next to Riegel Park, passes two schools and exits on Kentucky Street. Follow the well-blazed road west. At Roosevelt Street turn left and go south 0.1 miles to the hospital parking area on State Street. On the south side of the parking area the IAT climbs steeply up the Wellness Esker, one of the highest eskers in Wisconsin. From here one can see the glacial lake plain left behind by the drained Duluth Lake. Descend the esker, turn right and hike south under State Hwy 35/8 past the Polk County Tourist Information Center, with parking, water and restrooms. The IAT continues south on State Hwy 35 on sidewalks, with a brief dip in and out of woods before entering Interstate State Park.

The IAT shares the Skyline Nature Trail and Meadow Valley Trail to the Ice Age Interpretive Center with educational displays, water, parking and restrooms. From the center continue northwest on the Horizon Rock Trail and descend steeply past a stone shelter near a rock ledge overlook with views of the river.

Four varieties of oak (pin, red burr, and white) are found in the park, often clinging to the volcanic bedrock. Note the transition from dry rock climate on top to the moist hollow where the Trail crosses a creek as it approaches the park road and the Pothole Trail parking area. The Pothole Trail was built shortly after the park was created, making it one of Wisconsin's and the IAT's oldest hiking trails.

Reach the official western terminus on the rugged 0.4-miles loop Pothole Trail with several trailside glacial potholes and rock vistas. The glacial potholes and the Dalles of St. Croix River were formed when torrential glacial meltwater scoured the riverside bedrock cliffs with rock and silt in a drilling type motion. The potholes vary in size and depth, with one 16 feet deep and three feet wide. Larger potholes 80 feet deep and 25 feet in diameter are on the Minnesota side of the river. The western terminus marker is affixed to a large glacial erratic on a bassalt cliff overlooking the 100-foot deep gorge of the St. Croix River Dalles.

Ridge View Trail

A rapids-strewn stream sings in full voice from the bottom of a deep canyon. Snatches of the St. Croix River of visibile through a canopy of trees. Traprock outcroppings anchor the land to epochal time.

Those are some of the features of the Ridge View Trail, less than two miles north of Osceola, off Country Trunk Highway S, a narrow, curvy, rock and tree crowned rustic road that is a gem in its own right.

The trail has two components - a 1.2 miles Chisago Loop and a 3.1 miles Osceola Loop. There is a well-marked trailhead parking area for each loop. "You can see of some human impacts on the trail," says Jean Schaeppi, a St. Croix National Scenic Riverway interpretive specialist. "There are pine plantations. There's an old roadbed. There's actually a burial mound that, if you look carefully, you can make out as you walk. And at the time that the trails were being developed [1993} we discovered that there were pits off of the lower trail that we believe were made by Native Americans." Wisconsin West Magazine - June 2003

Indianhead Flowage Trail

This mile-long trail offers easy hiking just north of St. Croix Falls, starting at Lions Park - or a parking area one-tenth of a mile north of there - along State Highway 87.

Foot bridges cross several rivulets that stream into the St. Croix River. The trail also passes wetlands and hikers walk through "an area which might be described as Northern Tropical Forest because of its lushness," retired Riverway employee Ken Hustvet once wrote.

"Spring wildflowers create spectacular splashes of color with trilliums, marsh marigolds, blue flag iris, wild geraniums and more," the National Park Services Riverway hiking pamphlet exults.

The trail hangs fairly close to the St. Croix most of its length, skirting within 20 to 30 feet of the river along some stretches.