Indian Pines Forest Road is a DNR system forest road stretching 15.7 miles east–west through Pine Island State Forest in Koochiching County, its entrance marked by a routed wooden sign off the Black River Road. System forest roads are designated by the Commissioner of Natural Resources to open Division of Forestry lands to the public, and unlike minimum-maintenance routes they’re generally fine for ordinary low-clearance vehicles.
Along the route, the Pines Day-Use Area offers a fire ring, lean-to shelter, picnic table, and vault toilet — one of a handful of small day-use areas scattered through the 900,153-acre forest, alongside Cedarwood on the Frontier-Farmer road and the Old Pine Island Ranger Station site on Twomey Williams Forest Road. The pine “islands” all around are a legacy of glacial Lake Agassiz, whose receding waters left teardrop-shaped rises of higher ground amid the peatlands, and from late May into early June the forest’s numerous orchid species reach peak bloom.
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.
