Learn. Explore. Get Outside
On the Gunflint Trail • Grand Marais, MN
To view the latest AllSky Images from the evening before, click on the image above
WELCOME!
The Chik-Wauk campus buildings are now closed for the season. Thank you for all your support in 2024!
Look forward to seeing you in 2025.
Follow the Gunflint Trail to Saganaga Lake where Chik-Wauk Museum and Nature Center awaits your visit.
First named the Rove Lake Road, Cook County Commissioners authorized the Gunflint Trail road construction in 1884. Prior to that, it was a walking trail used by Native Americans, trappers, surveyors, and prospectors. Looking back, archeologists have discovered evidence of human inhabitants from the Paleolithic period. Dakota, Cree, and Anishinaabe lived on the land well before Europeans appeared. Where once the land was owned by all, the Treaty of 1854 ceded the land and private ownership soon followed.
Native Americans, fur trappers and traders, Voyageurs, miners and loggers, fishing camps, resorts, campgrounds, and individual residents are all part of Gunflint Trail history. The natural history of the land and water is inseparable from the stories of people.
Take a journey through time. Experience the cultural and natural history of the Gunflint Trail at Chik-Wauk Museum and Nature Center.
Discover Chik-Wauk
Chik-Wauk Lodge & Interpretive Cabin
Nature Center
Watercraft Building
Calendar
Google Reviews
Visitor Experiences
Frequently Asked Questions
Hours & Admission
Chik-Wauk Museum & Nature Center buildings are closed for the 2024 season. The buildings will reopen May 24, 2025. See you then!
You can view Admission information here.
Directions
To reach Chik-Wauk, follow the Gunflint Trail (Cook County Road 12) 55 miles from Grand Marais, MN to Moose Pond Drive (Cook County Road 81). Turn right and travel 1/4 mile to the entry gate for Chik-Wauk Museum & Nature Center. Click here for directions in Google Maps.
Accessibility
Chik-Wauk Museum strives to meet the needs of all visitors. Exhibits are arranged on a single level, making them easily accessible via wheelchair. The hiking trail system includes ADA accessible trails.
Accessible parking is located next to the museum, across from the main entrance.
Please note that the museum is located in a rural location and does not provide modern amenities. An ADA accessible latrine with a pit toilet, is located in the lower parking area, the second is located right next to the museum and is available for visitor and staff use.
Thanks to…
Land Acknowledgment Statement
The Gunflint Trail Historical Society acknowledges Chik-Wauk Museum and Nature Center is located on the traditional and ancestral homelands of Indigenous People, including the Oceti Sakowin and Ojibwe-Anishinaabe, who continue to live in reciprocity with their homelands.
Pronunciation:
Oh-cheh-tee Sah-ko-win
Oh-jib-way Ah-nish-ih-nah-bay
Etymology
The etymology of “Chik-Wauk”: Chik-Wauk is an interpretation of an Ojibwe word meaning pine tree or white pine tree. Similar Ojibwe words of the same meaning are shingwauk, chingwauk and zhingwaak.
Dark Sky Statement
The Gunflint Trail Historical Society and Chik-Wauk Museum, in recognition of the region’s national and international unique Dark Sky Sanctuary designations, strives to preserve this natural environment through implementation of recognized best practices, and through explicit education and outreach activities.
Location
57 miles up the Gunflint Trail
28 Moose Pond Drive
Grand Marais, MN 55604
Contact
Hours
Chik-Wauk Museum & Nature Center is closed for the 2024 season, see you in 2025!
Stay in Touch
Location
57 miles up the Gunflint Trail
28 Moose Pond Drive
Grand Marais, MN 55604
Contact
Hours
Open for the 2024 season, May 25 - October 20!
10am–5pm Daily