New Heartland Trail extension offers scenic route between Detroit Lakes and Frazee

from Summerscape 2022

That We Haven't Already Told You About

Happy trails to you

One of the more scenic stretches of the Heartland Trail skirts the edge of Acorn Lake near Frazee. Detroit Lakes Tribune file photos

Engage program coordinator Melia Stevenson, right, with participants Kathy Mickelberg, center, and Mary Wosika, on a Heartland Trail Bike Ride arranged through the local senior program. Janelle Brandon stopped to talk to a reporter in June of 2021 at the site of the Heartland Trail bridge being built over Becker County Road 10 near Acorn Lake.

Eagles perch on a nest along a new, 5-mile segment of the Heartland State Trail, which links Detroit Lakes to Frazee on Highway 10. Contributed / Detroit Lakes Tourism Bureau

New bike trail from Detroit Lakes to Frazee has a lot of ‘heart’

BY NATHAN BOWE | FOR SUMMERSCAPE

Looking for a nice place for a springtime bicycle ride? Check out the new Heartland Trail extension between Detroit Lakes and Frazee.

The paved, multi-use trail is open to Acorn Lake, where a new bridge carries the trail over County Road 10.

Starting from Highway 10 on the far eastern end of Detroit Lakes, near the Country Inn and Suites, the trail dives under the highway via an underpass and then follows the highway for a bit before swerving off to a more scenic pathway along Old Highway 10. It then comes back closer to Highway 10 before eventually sloping down to hug the shoreline of Acorn Lake before rising back up and heading to the new bridge.

A favorite section of the trail swerves off the highway right-of-way and runs along the Old Highway 10 route, said Becker County Economic Development Director Guy Fischer. “It’s just beautiful there,” he said. “It’s like another world. It’s a little boggy in places, and there are Lady Slippers there. It’s a respite, a relaxing area, then you pop out again on the other side.” The ride along Acorn Lake is also scenic, and the new trail bridge across County Road 10 at Acorn Lake creates “a great entryway to Frazee,” as motorists pass underneath it on the way into town, Fischer said.

You can actually get to the Highway 10 section of the Heartland Trail by going through Detroit Lakes on designated bicycle trails from City Park. Just take the bike path through the park, past Sanford Health, up to Essentia Health, jog east a block, then north on McKenzie Avenue and east along the Highway 10 frontage road to the Highway 10 trail.

You can also get there from the Hidden Hills area, without having to cross Highway 10, by using a stretch of trail that connects to the main trail from County Road 54. Along the beach

Eventually, Detroit Lakes planners hope to continue the existing multiuse trail along the city’s mile-long beach and West Lake Drive all the way to a paved trail that already exists along the Pelican River outlet on Little Detroit Lake.

“The city has talked about connecting into Dunton Locks (County Park),” Fischer said.

The paved trail along the Pelican River starts at the Detroit Lakes bowling alley parking lot, at 1377 West Lake Drive, runs to the Pelican River, and turns to follow the river, passing under West Lake Drive through a culvert-style underpass.

That scenic stretch of trail continues along the river, with wetlands and then wooded land on one side and the river on the other, passes under Highway 59 through another culvertstyle underpass, and ends at the Dunton Locks parking lot.

The trail along Little Detroit will be built over the next several years as part of the three-phase West Lake Drive project, which starts this summer from the Pelican River to County Road 6.

If the few remaining legal hurdles can be cleared, the West Lake Drive project from Legion Drive to County Road 6 could start in late summer or early fall of this year.

On to Frazee

It’s been a long haul for the Heartland Trail Extension in this part of the state, because routes have to be laid out and land acquired – unlike the original Heartland Trail that runs eastward from Park Rapids and is built on abandoned railroad grade. The Paul Bunyan Trail and other large, established trail systems also had the advantage of being built on railroad grade.

But slow and steady wins the race, and the trick is to keep on moving forward, Fischer said,

“There has been a lot of effort put into this Heartland Trail project for a lot of years,” he said.

This year, there is $500,000 in Gov. Walz’s proposed bonding bill to continue the Heartland Trail from the Acorn Lake trail bridge on to Highway 87. From there it will flow into Frazee as part of the ongoing Highway 87 construction project.

Much of the trail from Acorn Lake to Highway 87 will continue to follow the Highway 10 right-of-way, but planners hope to avoid the Highway 10-Highway 87 interchange by having the trail cut over and follow Cemetery Road, Fischer said.

Eventually, plans call for the Heartland Trail to stretch from Moorhead to Park Rapids, with a spur from Park Rapids to Itasca State Park.

It’s good to have a lot of players, communities and elected officials in the mix, since the more people

IT’S JUST BEAUTIFUL THERE. IT’S LIKE ANOTHER WORLD.

Becker County Economic Development Director Guy Fischer, on a favorite section of the trail that swerves off the highway right-of-way and runs along Old Highway 10

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involved, the more financial support from the state, Fischer said.

And there have been a number of people involved in getting the Heartland Trail this far, including elected officials like Bruce Imholte of Detroit Lakes, Hank Ludtke of Frazee, Becker County commissioners John Okeson and Ben Grimsley, local government staffers like DL City Engineer John Pratt, Becker County Highway Engineer Jim Olson, Detroit Lakes Administrator Kelcey Klemm, DL Tourism Bureau Director Cleone Stewart, former DL Public Works Director Brad Green, Charles Chadbourne of Erie Township, DNR trails developer Kent Skaar, Patrick Hollister with PartnerShip 4 Health, and local legislators Paul Marquart and Kent Eken, among many others.

“There’s been a lot of great people working on it,” Fischer said. “It’s been a great collaboration of people to get this done over a period of time.” ‰