Duluth to Grand Marais drive

Facts checked against official sources on November 11, 2026

Photo: A. E. Crane, U.S. Department of Transportation, public domain (National Archives)

At a glance

Route: Highway 61 along Lake Superior
Distance: Roughly 110 miles by Scenic 61
State parks on the way: Gooseberry, Split Rock, Tettegouche, Temperance River, Cascade River
Vehicle permit: $7 a day or $35 a year
Tunnels: Silver Creek Cliff (1994), Lafayette Bluff (1991)
Winter: Check 511mn.org before you go

In this guide

First decision: Scenic 61 or the expressway
The stops, in order
Two tunnels you'll drive through
How permits work along the drive
Ways to split the drive
Driving it in winter

Short answer: From Duluth, Highway 61 follows Lake Superior's shore northeast through Two Harbors, past seven state parks, to Grand Marais. A regional mile-by-mile log puts Grand Marais (Artists' Point) at roughly 110 miles from Duluth's waterfront by the scenic route.

The whole corridor, Duluth to the Canadian border at Grand Portage, is a designated All-American Road, the top tier of the National Scenic Byways program.

Two decisions shape the day:

Which road to take out of Duluth. Scenic 61 (the old shore road) follows the water. The four-lane expressway is faster.
Which state parks to stop at. Most need a state park vehicle permit: $7 for one day or $35 for a year. The year-round permit covers every state park.

Below are the stops in driving order, with what each one needs.

First decision: Scenic 61 or the expressway

Between Duluth and Two Harbors, Highway 61 splits into two roads:

Scenic 61, the old shore road. In Duluth it is Congdon Boulevard, beginning near Brighton Beach. It runs along the lake through Knife River.
The Highway 61 expressway, the faster, four-lane road set back from the shore.

The Minnesota DNR's own advice: "Choose Scenic Highway 61 for a beautiful drive… Although the Highway 61 Expressway is faster, you will not see views of the lake."

The two roads rejoin at Two Harbors. From there to Grand Marais and on to the border, there is one Highway 61.

About the byway designation: according to MnDOT, the Two Harbors to Grand Portage section was designated an All-American Road in 2000. In June 2002, the designation was extended south to Canal Park in Duluth. MnDOT's corridor plan gives the full byway as 154 miles to the Canadian border. The federal byway listing says "the northern 150 miles" of Highway 61.

The stops, in order

"Approx. mile" counts from the Duluth waterfront (Lake Superior Maritime Museum) via Scenic 61. It comes from a regional mile-by-mile log. Highway 61's green mile-marker signs follow a different count, so treat these as spacing guides, not addresses. Location statements in the right-hand column come from official sources where one exists.

Approx. mile	Stop	What it is	Permit?	Official location / note
~18	Knife River	Small harbor village on Scenic 61	No	MnDOT rest area at milepost 18
~26	Two Harbors	First town past Duluth, where Scenic 61 and the expressway meet	No
~40	Gooseberry Falls State Park	Upper, Middle and Lower Falls close to the visitor center	Not at the visitor center lot	DNR: permits required in the park "EXCEPT at the visitor center/DOT Wayside parking lot"
~46	Split Rock Lighthouse	The lighthouse (a Minnesota Historical Society site) inside a DNR state park	Depends; see below	MNHS: "20 miles north of Two Harbors"
~50	Beaver Bay	Town on the highway	No
~54	Silver Bay	Town on the highway	No
~57	Palisade Head	Cliff-top overlook, reached by a short road off Hwy 61	Part of Tettegouche State Park	DNR: "about 1.5 miles southwest of Tettegouche State Park"
~59	Tettegouche State Park	Visitor center, Shovel Point, High Falls	Yes, in the park	MnDOT: Tettegouche Visitor Center rest area, milepost 59
~75	Taconite Harbor / Schroeder	Cross River and Schroeder area	No	MnDOT: Cross River rest area, milepost 79
~80	Temperance River State Park	River gorge with trails on both sides of the highway	Yes, in the park	Cook County: "1-mile north of Schroeder on Highway 61"
~83	Tofte	Town on the highway	No
~91	Lutsen	Lutsen Mountains (gondola, ski area)	No (private)
~100	Cascade River State Park	Cascade Falls and river trails	Yes, in the park	Cook County: "10 miles southwest of Grand Marais on Highway 61"
~105	Cut Face Creek	MnDOT rest area on the lake	No	MnDOT: milepost 104, "5.0 mi W of Grand Marais"
~110	Grand Marais	Harbor town; Artists' Point	No

If you keep going past Grand Marais:

Stop	Official location
Judge C.R. Magney State Park (Devil's Kettle)	Cook County: "14 miles northeast of Grand Marais on Highway 61"
Grand Portage National Monument	Cook County: "34 miles northeast of Grand Marais in town of Grand Portage"
Grand Portage State Park (High Falls of the Pigeon River)	Cook County: "36 miles north of Grand Marais on Highway 61, just before the Canadian border." MnDOT's rest area there sits "adjacent to US Customs at Canadian border."

The Silver Creek Cliff Tunnel on Highway 61 — Photo: Tony Webster, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Two tunnels you'll drive through

Between Two Harbors and Gooseberry Falls, Highway 61 goes through two tunnels in Lake County's Silver Creek Township, per MnDOT's historic bridge records:

Silver Creek Cliff Tunnel: 1,340 feet long, built in 1994
Lafayette Bluff Tunnel: 852 feet long, built in 1991

How permits work along the drive

Permit prices. The DNR lists $7 for a one-day permit and $35 for a year-round permit. The year-round permit covers "unlimited visits to every Minnesota state park and recreation area" for a year. If you're stopping at several parks over a weekend, the year-round permit is the simplest choice. Check the one-day permit's terms when you buy it if you plan to use it at more than one park.
What the law covers: Minnesota Statutes 85.053 requires a permit for a vehicle to enter "a state park, state recreation area, or state wayside over 50 acres in area."
Gooseberry's exception: the DNR park map says permits are required in the park except at the visitor center/DOT wayside parking lot.
Split Rock is two places at once. The lighthouse is run by the Minnesota Historical Society, which charges its own admission. The surrounding land is a DNR state park. MNHS says: "Free parking for Historic Site visitors during site hours only. A State Park vehicle permit is required during off hours." See our Split Rock Lighthouse visiting guide.
Small DNR waysides along the shore have a six-hour parking limit, per the DNR. North Shore examples include Flood Bay, Caribou Falls, Kodonce River, Devils Track Falls and Ray Berglund.

Ways to split the drive

These are planning frames, not a schedule. How long you spend depends on how many trails you walk.

Waterfalls focus: Gooseberry Falls, Tettegouche (High Falls), Temperance River, Cascade River. See North Shore waterfalls, in driving order.
Lake views focus: Scenic 61 out of Duluth, Split Rock Lighthouse, Palisade Head, Shovel Point, then Artists' Point in Grand Marais.
Two-day version: stop overnight around the middle of the route (Silver Bay to Tofte) and save the Cook County parks for day two. For a campsite there, see Tettegouche State Park camping.
Border run: add Judge C.R. Magney (Devil's Kettle) and both Grand Portage sites past Grand Marais.

Driving it in winter

MnDOT posts road closures and conditions on 511mn.org. MnDOT says it closes roads only in extreme conditions such as blizzards and whiteouts. It is also studying what happens to North Shore traffic when Highway 61 closes, which shows how few alternate routes there are along the shore. Check 511 before you leave, and see the North Shore in winter for what stays open.