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Kekekabic Trail

I hiked the Kekekabic Trail (The Kek) , June 10 - 13, 2019, from the Gunflint Trail to the Snowbank Lake Road. This video is my report on the condition of the trail.

 

The Kekekabic Trail was constructed in the 1930s as an access trail for firefighting and forest management. A fire tower once stood near Kekekabic Lake. "Kekekabic" is derived from the Ojibwe language word "Keke-quabec" or "Keke-quabic" and closely means "A hawk nest up on the rocks".

 

I've heard about the Kekekabic Trail my entire life and there always seemed to be prestige connected with completing the hike. Thus, this trail had always been on my list to complete.

 

The trail runs about 45 miles from Snowbank Lake Road near Ely, Minnesota to the Gunflint Trail in northwestern Cook County. It cuts through the heart of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW), is lightly used, and is truly a challenging and remote hiking opportunity.

 

Thanks to trail-clearing volunteers, I found the trail to be open and, for the most part, easy to follow. The "hiker" campsites tend to be smaller and far less-used than the canoe campsites in the BWCAW. The eastern half of the trail is recovering from forest fires with the benefit of having several sweeping views. The western half has more forest cover with a more established trail although evidence of the 1999 blowdown is still present.

 

 

Resources

 

  • Video: "We Got Kek'd - Hiking the Kekekabic Trail"
    Favorite quote: "There's no good reason to do the Kek besides the general bad-ass-ery and just to put a notch in your belt."
    - Zach Johns
  • North Country Trail Association website
  • North Country Trail Association map page with access to GPS half-mile marks for the Kekekabic
  • Kekekabic Trail hikers on Facebook
  • Kekekabic Trail map set from McKenzie Maps