Superior Trailhead Beach

Minnesota

Find: Lake Superior Agates, exceptional amygdaloidal basalt AKA “galaxy stones”, porphyry

GPS: 47.79574, -90.12351

Nearest city: Thunder Bay, ON, Canada

Recommended Vehicle: Any

Summary:

Sadly, I hear from many people that they only get up to Grand Marais and then turn around when exploring the North Shore of Minnesota. This is one of the most untouched locations I’ve found along Minnesota’s North Shore.

Access is easy from the highly-scenic HWY 61. I’d highly recommended visiting up here in the Autumn - the colors are unforgettable.

This portion of the lake shore had extremely strong waves and riptides when I visited on multiple occasions.

Video Guide

Check out the video for a better look at what can be found when exploring this spot.

Note: Many of the spots towards the end of the video are right near this spot. We drove around a little bit and found many little access points within 1-2 miles of this spot.

If I could only bring 3 tools…

Chest Waders

Chest waders were the single best investment I made for exploring the shores of Lake Superior.

Agate Scoop

An agate scoop is helpful for both keeping dry and picking up rocks faster. You don’t need a fancy one. Mine is a golf club welded to a kitchen scoop.

Classifier

A classifier is helpful if you’re a fan of small agates and stones. One with a larger, 1-inch mesh would be what I’d pick.