Caldwell Spur is a 0.4-mile minimum-maintenance state forest road branching off Caldwell Forest Road in Pine Island State Forest. The white sign at the junction reads “Caldwell Spur — Minimum Maintenance — State Forest Road 1641 — Road may be impassable — Travel at your own risk,” and the route leaves the mainline as a grassy two-track disappearing into the brush.
Minimum-maintenance forest roads are the roughest class in the DNR system — graveled or native soil, often a single lane wide, and maintained only enough to stay passable in dry conditions. Like the rest of Pine Island State Forest, the land here carries the DNR’s “managed” motor-vehicle classification, so highway-licensed vehicles and ATVs may use unposted roads and routes — but on a road signed “may be impassable,” the sign means what it says.
Rules for this place
Camping away from a developed campground in a state forest is allowed under the DNR’s dispersed camping rules, which set how far from water, from a designated site and for how long. In a state forest the DNR’s state forest rules apply: firearms unloaded and cased near campgrounds, picnic areas and parking lots, and forest roads open to off-highway vehicles unless they are posted closed. This is public land open to hunting in season under the Minnesota hunting and trapping regulations.
Verified 2026-09-07. Rules change; check the official page before you go.
