Minnesota trails · Nicollet Trail
Nicollet Trail
A 4.0-mile network in Minnesota, with 112 ft of climbing. Reaches Whipple Lake and other lake destinations. Managed by Minnesota DNR.
Elevation profile
Essentially flat — no sustained climb anywhere along its 4.0 miles.
3-D terrain
USGS 3DEP ELEVATION × ESRI WORLD IMAGERY · VERTICAL ×1.5
Reaches
- Whipple Lake (lake)
- Picard Lakes (lake)
- Nicolet Lake (lake)
- Floating Moss Lake (lake)
- Elk Pool (lake)
- Little Elk Lake (lake)
- Mikenna Lake (lake)
Getting there
Nicollet Trail access — parking nearby. 47.19346, -95.22927 · directions
Daylight at the trailhead
On August 31, 2026 — the day this page was generated — first light reaches this trailhead at 6:06 a.m., the sun rises at 6:38 a.m. and sets at 8:03 p.m., and the last usable light fades about 8:34 p.m. (CDT) — 13 h 25 min of daylight. At about 2.7 mph plus 30 minutes per 1,000 feet of climbing, the 4.0-mile route takes roughly 1 h 32 min, so leaving the trailhead at sunrise puts you back around 8:09 a.m. — 11 h 53 min before sunset.
Nearby trails
- Nct — 3.3 mi
- Paul Bunyan State Forest — 24.9 mi
- Crow Wing River — 27.6 mi