Hiking Rose Lake Cliffs via Caribou Rock Trail

Minnesota's Hardest (best) Day Hike

Don’t bother Googleing it. I’ve tried. There’s almost nothing.

Maps are my favorite hobby. I love topographical maps, with their beautiful lines and curves and what they tell you. I love nautical charts, dark blue soundings, marks for shoals and what they whisper about the waves and water.

This route is from McKenzie Map No. 2, E. Bearskin Lake. Unlike most of the hiking routes along the North Shore, this isn’t a popular route. I’d hazard a guess that less than ten people total do this exact route as a day trip successfully a year. A handful of people canoe in, but the full hike will take you to at least five overlooks and a waterfall.

I knew about the Rose Lake Cliffs because I know about the Border Route Trail, a 65-mile rugged thru hike through the BWCA. This past summer, I’ve been slowly chipping away at sections.

If you’re going to hike this route you need a topographical map and compass, and you need to know how to use them together. There are at least four sections where the trail is difficult to follow, unmarked, overgrown, misleading, or otherwise confusing. AllTrails data may be helpful, but no AllTrails route exists all the way out to the cliffs. AllTrails also does you no good if your phone dies. There is no cell service in the BWCA.

View from the destination.

Morning at Moss Lake.

This is a hard and potentially risky hike for beginners, but it’s doable with the right planning. It’s one of those places where the difficulty and planning involved to get there acts as a natural obstacle to over-visitation; I truly believe anyone who toughs it out to get here 100% has earned it. It’s a difficult enough trek most people will turn around before they get to the cliffs anyhow (I did the first time I tried to make it out here, and almost did this time too).

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Planning your trip to Rose Lake Cliffs

The hike to Rose Lake Cliffs is somewhere between 12 and 15 miles round trip. It’s hard to get a good read on distance when you’re hiking upwards of 8 miles. Some apps will track distance as a satellite would track, which doesn’t account for the hypotenuse of hills or curvature of the earth. These variances account for the different estimates of milage.

Rose Lake Cliffs are within the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness! You will need to fill out a permit to visit. Read more about permits in the BWCA here. If you plan to day trip, you can fill out a permit at the entry point.

LNT in the BWCA:

Here’s a quick summary of the regulations you must follow in the BWCA. Note that violations of these regulations can result in expensive fines:

• you must camp at a designated campsite

• it is illegal to bring cans or glass bottles into the BWCA (sorry, no beer)

• do not put soap in the lakes and rivers of the BWCA; wash at least 200 yards away from a water source

• pack out all food waste

• toilet paper must be packed out, not buried.

Rose Lake Cliffs Day Hike Route Notes:

This is an incredibly difficult hike. I’m a fairly experienced backpacker, and this was by far the hardest section of trail I’ve tackled in Minnesota. Much of the Caribou Rock Spur involves scrambling bordering on climbing, and downhills that are downright sketchy when wet and incredibly hard on your knees. My old running knee injury flared up on this hike for the first time in years.

Because I hike significant miles in this area roughly 4 days a week, and paddle seriously on Lake Superior, I assumed that I was probably in better shape than most to tackle this trail. I was wrong. This trail is no freaking joke.

If you like suffering and are looking for a challenge, this is a trail for you. If you’ve never done upwards of 12 miles in a day, you will want to pick a different route (oh hey! I have plenty of suggestions). If you don’t have experience using a topographical map, you may want to pick a different route.

Pack plenty of water, food at least two meals and snacks, a change of dry clothes, a first aid kit, an emergency blanket for hypothermia in the fall, a way to purify water, and at least three methods of emergency communication beyond a cellphone. I used a whistle, signaling mirror, and a Garmin InReach.

Plan to spend at least seven-nine hours hiking.

Rose Lake Cliffs: The Route

Woohoo that’s a lot of serious cautioning!! This isn’t to necessarily discourage you from this hike, but to urge you to seriously consider whether or not this a reasonable use of your time. I’ll cover alternate (more pleasant, less scenic) ways to get here at the end of this post.

We started our hike at 7:22 am, estimating the hike with breaks would run us about 10 hours. We made it back to the car just under 9 hours later.

The route to the cliffs begins on the Caribou Rock Trail near Hungry Jack Lodge. The Caribou Rock Trail is about 4.5 miles one way. The first 1.5 miles are suitable for beginners and include two stunning overlooks; one of East Bearskin Lake, and one of Moss Lake.

(photos below are from summer).

The first Overlook on the Caribou Rock Spur. E. Bearskin Lake.

Second Overlook on the CRT, Moss Lake. This is a good turnaround point for anyone looking for a easy-moderate 2-3 mile hike.

A half mile or so after the Moss Lake Overlook, you’ll hit what we call “the wall”. The wall is the beginning of the difficult section of the Caribou Rock Trail. If you plan to continue, keep in mind that the next three miles will look exactly like what you see in front of you.

Descend the wall, keeping in mind you will have to come back up. You’ll cross a small stream (watch those ankles), then climb back up another gnarly bluff on the other side. You’ll reach the top and then repeat. Eventually, you’ll cross the E. Bearskin/Duncan Portage. You’ll go straight up for a quarter mile on the other side.

Eventually there’s a lovely view of Duncan Lake. At this point, you still have quite a trek including a brutal downhill and scramble down a small cliff before you reach Rose Falls and the BRT.

The lovely view of Duncan Lake.

We continued along, and decided we would see what time we made it to Rose Falls and reevaluate whether or not the cliffs were realistic. One of my best risk management strategies is just setting expectations.

I knew that this trail would be hard, and I wanted to make sure everyone knew it was okay if we decided to turn around at Rose Falls.

As a group, we agreed that wherever we were at 1pm, whether or not we made it, we would have to turn around in order to get back to the car before dark. While Emily and I usually hike at around a 18-24 minute miles, we were currently only doing 40 minute miles, significantly slower.

(Picking a turnaround time is a great risk management strategy on a trip like this. It forces you to be situationally aware, and helps keep the entire group on the same page about expectations.)

Emily fills up a water bottle at Rose Falls.

We made it to Rose Falls a little after 10am, already exhausted. Rose Falls is the traditional turnaround point of the Caribou Rock Spur. It’s a beautiful spot in the summer especially, because it’s warm enough to swim.

Rose Falls is a great picnic spot, and a good spot to pull out the map and decide whether or not adding 5 miles round trip to your route is worth it. After a nice break, we decided we had enough time to push on to the Cliffs.

To continue, reference your map. Find the Border Route Trail and head west.

You’ll immediately come to this lovely view of Rose Lake. Emily and I talk a lot about how some places just don’t translate to images; they’re made to be experienced. This view is one of them. We sat up here for just a little while the fog touched the tips of the bluffs, the sound of Rose Falls echoing across the lake. Just us and the wild; it felt outside of time completely.

The good news is that the BRT to Rose Lake Cliffs is much easier than the Caribou Rock Trail. The better news?

The views will have your jaw on the floor.

Me at the Rose Lake Cliffs, photo created with Emily (@emksks)

Some easier ways to get to this spot:

Emily and I opted to hike this route in just one day because we were sort of attached to the idea of a suffer fest, and wanted to prove that we could pull off what I said would probably be the “most difficult, but most beautiful, day hike in Minnesota”. Once I said it out loud we had to try.

BUT there are easier ways to do this. The easiest way is to canoe in! Paddle from E. Bearskin and portage to Duncan Lake. Leave a canoe at the entrance to Stairway Portage, and hike up the BRT westbound to the cliffs.

Alternately, turn this into an overnight hike and camp at Partridge Lake. The route we did had some of the best views and was worth the work. Just remember that everything you hiked on the way out you have to hike on the way back.

Happy hiking,

Maddy

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