KNIFE RIVER, Minn.-Steve Betzler made his way down to the rocky shore of the Knife River and stood looking at the pools and falls created by the large boulders in the river bed.
Betzler took a little time that day in early July to enjoy one of the hidden perks of the the quiet North Shore community, the Knife River Hiking Trail. The short trail follows a 4.5-mile path from the mouth of the Knife River and winds its way along the river and then up toward Hawk Hill Road. Hikers and skiers use the trail year-round, Betzler said, and families often use the trail in the summer to access the pools formed near the upper falls of the river to swim or cool off during the summer. The trail is well beaten with foot traffic and features striking views of the river bed from the trail and a challenging hike up the hill from Lake Superior.
"It's a gem of a trail," he said.
The trail began life as a part of the Superior Hiking Trail when the plan was to have that trail stay much closer to the shore of the lake than what was finally built. After Superior's planned route moved further inland, the Knife River Recreation Council took over operation of the trail and Betzler was named the hiking trail chair.
"They actually abandoned the trail about six years ago and we took the trail over," Betzler said "We work with both St. Louis County and Lake County to help be responsible for the trail, maintain it and plan expansions."
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The Knife River trail's main goal with trail planning and expansion is creating a loop on the main trail that returns hikers down the hill from Hawk Hill Road and build a couple other loops that will diverge from the main trail down the river or points of interest in the area.
Currently, there are some informal trails that take hikers down to the river bed, but in Lake County the trail crosses through two parcels of county-owned land and the proposed loop down the hill and other divergent trails would cross two other parcels owned by the county and all four of the parcels were scheduled to be auctioned off at the county land sale this fall. The Lake County Board of Commissioners removed the parcels from the sale list last month after several Knife River residents came to the meeting to argue on behalf of the trail and keeping the land in public ownership for the time being.
Even more troubling to trail users, near the trailhead on Shilhon Road in St. Louis County, no trespassing signs have recently gone up on private land that the trail used to cross and people used to access the river, forcing a reroute of the trail. The four 40-acre parcels are the final pieces of publicly-owned property in the Knife River area and the fear was that if the land is purchased by a private entity, more no trespassing signs would go up and the trail would be confined to its current form.
"Back in the day, people could walk around almost anywhere they wanted up on those hills," Bezler said. "Now people have bought up the land and are putting up no trespassing signs."
Commissioner Rich Sve said that he was sympathetic with the situation and the county board is forced to walk a fine line with land sales. Eighty-three percent of the land in Lake County is publicly owned and 100 percent of the property taxes come from the 16 percent of county land in private hands.
"It's nice having public land, but there are also benefits to putting it into private hands," Sve said. "We not only get taxes, but we might get someone in who will develop the land, put a home in, work in the community and put kids in our schools. Those kinds of demographics are things we look at when we determine what parcels go up for sale."
The two parcels of county land that the Knife River trail currently crosses would have a permanent easement across them that would follow the properties in the event they were sold. The county could still sell the land at some point in the future, but removing the land from this fall's auction gives the recreation council time to put together a plan to loop the trail back and put further easements on the property. It also fits in with Lake County's commitment to a robust trail system throughout the county.
"I think Lake County is or should be known for their support of trail systems," Sve said. "It recognizes the importance of all types of trails whether they are motorized or not and trying to accommodate the variety of uses that we have throughout Lake County. We can definitely appreciate Knife River's commitment to their trail and how that is important to communities and to our county as a whole."
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Betzler said his goal is to expand the trail to include the loop back down the hill and add a few divergent trails and preserve it for local residents and visitors to the community.
"For this generation here and for generations to come, we want this trail to be here to give people access to Knife River, which is what this community is about," he said. "We want it available to other people as well, it's a resource for this community."
