The Kekekabic Trail, commonly referred to as 'The Kek', is a hiking trail that runs about 41 miles from Snowbank Road near Ely, Minnesota

Ely, Minnesota

As of the census of 2000, there were 3,724 people, 1,912 households, and 916 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,369.5 people per square mile . There were 1,912 housing units at an average density of 703.2 per square mile...

 to the western terminus of the Gunflint Trail

Gunflint Trail

Cook County Road 12, also known as the Gunflint Trail, is a paved roadway that begins in Grand Marais, Minnesota and ends at Saganaga Lake in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness , near the US border with Ontario, Canada.-Route description:...

 in northwestern Cook County

Cook County, Minnesota

Northern Minnesota offers extreme winter weather. While the averages are low, the extremes provide more details. A third of the year is below freezing . Of those days, 21 are below zero degrees Fahrenheit .-External links:...

. The Gunflint then proceeds southeastward, with its terminus at Grand Marais, Minnesota

Grand Marais, Minnesota

Grand Marais is a city in Cook County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 1,351 at the 2010 census. It is also the county seat of Cook County...

 on Lake Superior

Lake Superior

Lake Superior is the largest of the five traditionally-demarcated Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded to the north by the Canadian province of Ontario and the U.S. state of Minnesota, and to the south by the U.S. states of Wisconsin and Michigan. It is the largest freshwater lake in the...

. The Kekekabic Trail runs through the center of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness

Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness

The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness , is a wilderness area within the Superior National Forest in northeastern Minnesota under the administration of the U.S. Forest Service...

 and begins opposite the Snowbank Trail

Snowbank Trail

The Snowbank Trail is a hiking trail in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in northern Minnesota. The trail runs the perimeter of Snowbank Lake and crosses the Kekekabic Trail at the south side of Snowbank Lake. The entire trail comprises a loop, numerous campsites are available...

head on the Ely side. Most of the trail lies in Lake County

Lake County, Minnesota

Lake County is a county located in the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of 2010, the population was 10,866. Its county seat is Two Harbors. Lake County was founded on February 20, 1855, as Superior County, though its name was changed on March 3, of that year to St. Louis County. On March 1, 1856, St...

.

The trail can be divided into thirds. The western third lies mostly in an intact forest canopy of aspen

Aspen

Populus section Populus, of the Populus genus, includes the aspen trees and the white poplar Populus alba. The five typical aspens are all native to cold regions with cool summers, in the north of the Northern Hemisphere, extending south at high altitudes in the mountains. The White Poplar, by...

, jack pine, some large white pine, and boreal conifers. There is a large recent clearcut that the trail passes through west of Snowbank Lake. The middle third passes through the remnants of the 1999 blowdown

Windthrow

In forestry, windthrow refers to trees uprooted or broken by wind. Breakage of the tree bole instead of uprooting is sometimes called windsnap.- Causes :...

 and the forest is composed of brush, small trees, some large white pines that survived the storm, a lot of broken off snag

Snag

In forest ecology, a snag refers to a standing, partly or completely dead tree, often missing a top or most of the smaller branches. In freshwater ecology it refers to trees, branches, and other pieces of naturally occurring wood found sunken in rivers and streams; it is also known as coarse woody...

s, and a large amount of downfalls. The eastern third passes through parts of the blowdown that have been burned by the Ham Lake and Cavity Lake wildfires. Here, the trail passes through areas where a majority of the tree canopy was killed by the fires.

External links

• North Country Trail Association's Wiki Guide page for the Kek
• The Kekekabic Trail Club