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Print Friendly MapThe Brownstone Trail runs for nearly 3 miles on an abandoned Chicago and North Western Railway corridor from the historic downtown area of Bayfield, Wisconsin, to the Port Superior Marina south of the city. The trail follows the shoreline of Lake Superior, hugging the brownstone cliffs that give the trail its name. The entire area is a popular tourist destination advertised as the gateway to the nearby Apostle Islands National Lakeshore.
In the south, the rail-trail passes through a waterfront condominium community and Pikes Bay Marina before reaching its endpoint at the adjacent Port Superior Marina.
Parking for the Brownstone Trail can be found along city streets in Bayfield.
We started at the trail head in Bayfield where there is parking and a bathroom. Within minutes, bikes were detoured to highway 13 (a busy highway). We took city streets back to our car since we didn’t know how long the detour on highway 13 was going to be. The description of the trail sounded great. Maybe starting on the south end would have been better?
This trail starts nice then takes you to paved roads and routes you around the rich and useless because the they want the trail blocked. I wouldn’t waste my time here, I’d go elsewhere.
We stumbled on this trail and it is gorgeous! We haven't taken it the whole way (we had little kids) but it is high up with spectacular views of the lake and bluffs. It should be much longer and go from the visitor's center to Bayfield. Definitely stop and see it if you can!
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