Lost 40: Midwest Old Growth Forest

Somewhere I go to feel small

Ava Jax

In Minnesota’s timber golden age, which was being an industry leader in the late 1800s, a surveying error mistook 144 acres of pines for Coddington Lake. This lovely mistake meant loggers left the area untouched, leaving behind what is now a protected land. This scientific and natural area is called the Lost 40: a red and white pine old growth forest.

I had two chances this past year to visit, and I find it worth putting on the radar of anyone who is unfamiliar. The Lost 40 is a cute 4-hour drive pretty much directly north of the Twin-Cities, and if you can make that trek, this national forest is open year-round. There’s a 1-mile, self-guided hiking loop, a nearby restaurant called Hoot-n-Holler, and, of course, there are the 300-to-400-year-old pines. 

Much of the above speaks for itself, so forgive me for stating the obvious. However, most of the trees we’ve seen in our lifetimes are younger than those at the Lost 40. In tandem with this less obvious fact—that only 2% of the forests left in Minnesota are old growth—this place feels special. Not just for statistical rarity, but maybe because what was intellectually intuitive about old growth forests needed time to sink in. Seeing a forest older than the United States of America helped me wrap my head around how young this nation is, not only in terms of world history, but in contrast with the history of the ground beneath my feet.  This land knows much more than our infrastructure could understand. 

There are a billion reminders of this around us, but, hell, I don’t know, I think I needed to see old trees to internalize that. To feel the air hold still all around me, yet watch the tops of the trees sway. 

If you have the desire and means to, you should go visit. It can comfortably be a day trip, and with the right company, the drive feels like nothing at all.