Highway 6 Bridge Carry-In Access, Big Fork River

The Highway 6 bridge carry-in access sits on the left bank of the Big Fork River at river mile 91.5 of the state water trail, off Highway 6 about 20 miles south of Big Falls, inside the Koochiching State Forest. A brown routed sign at the roadside credits the site as a cooperative project between the Minnesota Department of Transportation and the Minnesota DNR, and a stepped footpath leads down the bank to the water beside the bridge. It is a simple site — no ramp, restrooms, or docks — administered by the DNR’s Division of Parks and Trails. Highway 6 crosses the Big Fork three times on its run north; this is the middle crossing.

Paddlers put in here for the DNR’s recommended 15.7-mile day trip down to the northern Highway 6 crossing at river mile 75.8, a stretch that winds past thickly wooded shoreline in the remote Koochiching State Forest. Class I rapids ripple just upstream at mile 91.6, and the nearest watercraft campsites are Old Hudson Bay Farm 2.5 river miles upstream and Easy Half — a grassy, tree-lined clearing with picnic tables — 9.8 miles downstream.

The Big Fork was established as a state water trail in 1963, among Minnesota’s original canoe routes. It is the larger of the two tributary streams to the Rainy River, flowing about 170 miles from Dora Lake to its mouth, and it was originally known by the Ojibwe as the Bowstring River. As at every Minnesota landing: clean off aquatic plants, drain all water, and pull the drain plug before you transport a boat.