Rudi Hargesheimer grew up in Rochester, Minnesota, in the 1950s and 60s, unaware of the North Shore’s beauty.

“We never went up there. I really didn’t even know about it, or even about Lake Superior, until I went to college’’ at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, Hargesheimer said.

“Growing up in southeastern Minnesota, I was into caving, spelunking, more than hiking. But I joined the Minnesota Rovers outdoor club at the U and I was introduced to the joys of the North Shore,’’ he added.

The club got Hargesheimer into rock climbing, biking, nordic skiing and hiking, including several trips to the Border Route trail in the Boundary Water Canoe Area Wilderness where he worked as a volunteer trail builder.

“That got me into hiking and backpacking and it stuck,’’ he said.

Hargesheimer, now 69, eventually became a passionate Superior Hiking Trail enthusiast. He serves as a volunteer trail maintainer and spent 12 years on the Superior Hiking Trail Association Board, including six years as president.

An accomplished photographer and freelance writer, Hargesheimer recently published his first book, “The Superior Hiking Trail Story.” The new coffee-table style book has 160 pages with 400 photos and is the first comprehensive accounting of how the beloved trail came to be. But it’s also, with Hargesheimer’s often-stunning photos, a pictorial documentary of how beautiful the route is.

To read more of this story and see related articles, follow this link to the twin cities.com website.  https://www.twincities.com/2020/12/14/new-book-captures-history-beauty-of-superior-hiking-trail-with...