Savanna Portage Trail
(hiking only)
Primitive Group Camp
Backpack Camping
Backpack/Canoe Camping
Garni
Cottage
Trailer Sanitation Station
FACILITIES
Information/Office
Carry-in Access
Historic Site
Camper Cabin
Picnic Area
Pit Toilet
Swimming
2
G1
Numbered Trail
Intersections
N
Shelter
W
o
W
Private Property
Public Use Prohibited
Fishing Pier
Overlook
Co
nt
ine
nt
a
CONDI
(except on designated trails)
Trail
ake
lf L
Telephone
Miles
Sch
Hiking
Remote La
FACILITIESke
T
1.5 mi
Restrooms/Showers
Hiking/Mountain Bike
La
South Spur
0.3 mi
ail
Dock
46
58
45
Playground
44
42
61
60
39
37
63
36
1
35e
3
rk
Pa
to
e
ffic
O
10
32e
12
Esker Trail
to Park Office
31e
29
27
30
34e
15e
il
Tr
ail
28
26
25
17
21
18e
19e
24e
22e
20e
J
SAVANNA
PORTAGE
STATE PARK
CAMPGROUND
0.2 mi D
0.7 mi
0.3 mi
I
C
1.1 mi
Beaver Pond Trail
0.6 mi
A
B
38
33e
14e 16e
9
I
41
accessible
site
2
4e
6e
13e
8e 11e
7
Camper Cabin
62
64
5
Parking
43
accessible
sites
ke
59
Spruc
Fishing Pier
47
0.6 mi
48
Logging Camp Tra
50
La
57
Canoe Rental
electric
motors
only
n
Loo
54
56
55
Boat Rental
49
E
O
1.1 mi
Esker Trail
SITE K
H
e Tr
51
CC52
53
0.8 mi
Blac
k
Boat Ramp
1.3 mi
0.3 mi
mi
Sh
ke
il
Electrical Sites
way Trail
Shum
ke
a
L
0.4 mi
0.2 mi
SITE D
F
Water
10
G
o
ers
d
An
o
nR
Toilet
e
1.0 mi
SITE G
il
Tra
ad
0.5
Pine Loop Trail
wa
y N
atu
r
Bog e Trail
Boa
rdw
alk
TRAILS
0.4 mi
ra
H
oolh
NORTH
Interpretive
0
130Bog Boardwalk
ous
Kilometers
1.6
m
i
1
Old
.5
i
e Tr
ail
1
m
.5
il
Tra
1.8
1300
Map Scale
0
• Camping on beautiful Lake
Shumway
• Swimming at the beautiful
pine-covered swimming
beach at Loon Lake
• Snowmobiling on 36 miles
of snowmobile trails
• Hiking the Savanna Portage
• Cross-country skiing
• Wildlife photography
• Children’s playground at
Loon Lake picnic grounds
• Continental Divide
interpretive overlook
e
tag
Por
a
ann
Sav
il
Tra
Parking
0
Because lands exist within the
boundaries of this park that are
not under the jurisdiction of the
D.N.R., check with the park
manager if you plan to use
facilities such as trails and
roads other than those shown.
WOLF 1
GARNI
Boat Ramp
i
Hiking/Mountain Bike
1.6 m
Hiking
VISITOR FAVORITES
© 4/2017 by State of Minnesota,
Department of Natural Resources
Archeological and historical sites hold clues to
understanding Minnesota’s past. If disturbed, a part of our
heritage will be lost forever.
Savanna Portage State Park holds historic sites and
artifacts that are protected by State and Federal laws. If you
discover such remains, please leave them undisturbed.
Report your discoveries to State Park personnel.
de
ivi
lD
• 61 semi-modern campsites
with modern sanitation
building with showers.
• 5 backpack campsites
• 2 canoe-in/backpack sites (1 on
Wolf Lake & 1 on Lake Shumway)
• A primitive group camp
• Picnic shelter on Loon Lake
• Lake fishing for northerns,
bass, trout, and panfish
• Boat, motor, and canoe rental
• 22 miles of hiking trails
• 10 miles of mountain bike trails
• 18 campsites with electricity
Campground
0.5 mi
FACILITIES AND
FEATURES
Please Don’t Erase Traces of Minnesota’s Past
SUMMER TRAILS
um
SAVANNA
PORTAGE
STATE PARK
J
0.5 mi
K
Lake
9
SAVANNA PORTAGE
STATE PARK
JACOB
NORTH
0
0
.5
.5
1
1
Savanna
State
Forest
Miles
00
13
• Duluth
SEE INSET
ON REVERSE
Kilometers
Minneapolis/
St. Paul
•
PORTA
ge
2
ta
Por
nna
il
Tra
Savanna
State
Forest
a
Sav
Remote Lake Forest Rd.
SAVANNA
PORTAGE
STATE PARK
1300
G
2.8 mi.
loop
Savanna Portage State Park
55626 Lake Place
McGregor, MN 55760
(218) 426-3271
L
H
.9 mi.
loop
E
A
1.0 mi
FOR MORE INFORMATION
B
D
C
I
J
K
O
2.8 mi
loop
1.9
mi
2.9 mi
loop
Remote
Lake
Solitude
Area
Loon Lake, Lake Shumway and Wolf Lake
are open to electric trolling motors only.
0.7 mi
Department of Natural Resources
Information Center
500 Lafayette Road
St. Paul, MN 55155-4040
64
Savanna
State
Forest
TDD (Telecommunications
Device for Deaf)
(651) 296-5484 (Metro Area)
1-800-657-3929 (MN Toll Free)
M
36
CG
RE
GO
R
17
m
ile
s
(651) 296-6157 (Metro Area)
1-888-646-6367 (MN Toll Free)
14
Savanna
State
Forest
mndnr.gov/parks
FACILITIES
SAVANNA PORTAGE STATE PARK is
located 17 miles northeast of McGregor,
Minnesota. Take US Highway 65 to Aitkin
County Highway 14. Follow 14 ten miles to
the park. Highway map index: J-10.
Savanna Portage State Park has over 15,000
acres of rolling hills, lakes, and bogs. The
park holds four fishing lakes and visitors can
enjoy swimming, boating, hiking, and
fishing in this historically unique park.
0
130
10
Park Office
Boat Ramp
Parking
Shelter
Backpack Camping
TRAILS
Hiking
Hiking/Mountain Bike
Toilet
N Numbered Trail
Intersection
WILDLIFE: Savanna Portage State Park has
many unique habitats for a wide variety of
wildlife. You can walk the hiking trails among
the oak woods and find bear, deer, skunk,
wolf, moose, and coyote. The bogs of the park
contain many small animals and birds, such
as lemming and certain warblers which
specialize in living there. Walk quietly along
the trails in early morning or late evening and
you can be pleasantly surprised at the wide
variety of creatures you observe.
GEOLOGY: Savanna Portage contains many
features which are the remnants of old
glaciers that moved through Minnesota. The
large bogs are old glacial lakes that once
covered many thousands of acres of land.
These old lakes were formed because the
glacial ice prevented the water from
draining in a natural pattern. At one time an
old glacial river once flowed to Libby,
Minnesota and the Mississippi River
through the park. When the great ice dams
melted the glacial lake water began to seek
its natural drainage. These glacial lakes
helped form the present-day Savanna River
and the St. Louis River. If you stand in the
right place in the park, water on one side of
you will flow to the Gulf of Mexico via the
Mississippi River, water on the other side
flows to the Atlantic Ocean via Lake
Superior and the St. Lawrence Seaway. The
rolling hills and the sandy soil are all
remnants of the glaciers that once covered
Minnesota.
HISTORY: The Savanna Portage was a vital
link between the St. Louis River watershed
and that of the Mississippi River on the
canoe route from Lake Superior to the
Upper Mississippi. Savanna, meaning open
grassland, refers to the expanse of marsh
grass on the eastern portion of the trail.
Before the white man, this portage was
used for centuries by the native North
Americans.
In 1763, the fur traders began to penetrate
this region to trade beads, knives, blankets,
wampum, trinkets, and alcohol to the
Indians in exchange for the wealth of furs
this land held in beaver, marten, fox, lynx,
bear, otter, wolf, and muskrat. LaVerendrye,
the son of the famous explorer, operated out
of LaPointe (Bayfield, Wisconsin) in the
1750s. Licensed to trade in the upper sections
of the Mississippi River, he was one of the
earliest voyageurs to traverse this region and
maintained a wintering house or temporary
trading post either at Leech Lake or Sandy
Lake.
Upon the ascent of the East Savanna River
from the St. Louis River, canoes had to be
pushed forward with poles through a
continual series of narrow, short turns for
nearly 12 miles. From this point the river is
almost lost among the high grass, reeds, and
wild rice. Here a canal had been dug in
order to avoid portaging any further than
necessary. Small wharves were built to store
goods for successive trips when the water
level was too low to safely move the heavily
loaded canoes. The canoes were then poled
or pushed by hand through the quagmire.
When the canoes could go no farther, the
route continued on poles laid lengthwise
through the tamarack swamp. The canoe
men often chose to trudge through the
swamp as the rough, sharp points of the
poles were too hard on their feet, and made
balancing their heavy pack difficult.
After the first three pauses, the ground
became higher and the portaging easier as
the trail undulates through the forests of
maple, birch, and basswood and long sandy
pine ridges. The portage took an average of
five days in order to reach the West Savanna
River. Near Savanna Lake the river is but a
few feet broad with only enough water to
float a canoe. Here, as the trail meets the
West Savanna River, the fur traders traveled
by canoe into the Prairie River. From this
junction it was only three miles into Big
Sandy Lake and the expanses of the Upper
Mississippi.
The old Indian trail was traversed by the
early explorers, French fur traders, and
travelers alike in spite of the difficulty in
portaging through swamp, bog, blood-sucking insects, and severe weather. This glimpse
of the past is tempered with the romantic
vision of the brightly costumed voyageur in
streaming, gaudy sashes and stocking caps
echoing his old French folk songs throughout the river highways of the North Woods.
This information is available in
alternative format upon request.
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