Minnesota Trails

The Gandy Dancer State Trail is a gentle and scenic drive through the Nemadji and St. Croix State Forests. The trail follows an abandoned railroad track and provides the only vehicle access to the Black Lake Bog State Natural Area. A gandy dancer was a slang term for railroad workers who built the original track. The workers used tools manufactured by the Gandy Manufacturing Company. The railroad crews were known to sing in unison with their repetitive tasks, like hammering in railroad spikes, which led to them being described as dancers. The trail is famous for birders, wildlife sightings, and wildflowers.