Minnesota Discovery Center Unveils Brand New Fall Colors Tour

CHISHOLM, Minn.– The Minnesota Discovery center is making the most of their mine land reclamation site.

With the shuttle already on deck, this opportunity was bound to happen.

“We use it primarily for water recreation, and then we also pick up mountain bikers trail side with it. But this fall, we decided to repurpose it for fall color tours, and so we’ll be taking people down into kind of a behind the scenes tour of the pit,” said Gary Kaunonen, the Education Program & Recreation Manager, MN Discovery Center.

Up to ten passengers can ride the shuttle to take in the sights the mine pit offers.

The manmade landscape shows off a serene and peaceful setting.

“There’s, you know, the pit lake is just like a sheet of glass, because then those fall colors will be popping off of that.” said Kaunonen, “And so you’re going to have this kind of canyon like experience, and then trees dotting along the canyon, and those fall colors popping off of the lake. So, it’ll be really cool.”

And when it comes to trying new things, it can be a daunting experience.

The hour-long tour is accessible with mostly a van drive, and a little bit of walking to get up close to the scenery.

The rec manager told FOX 21; people are loving this new excursion.

“It proves that our marketing department is doing an amazing job. I can’t say enough about the work that they do, but it also says that there’s interest in heritage tourism, historical tourism. And so, you know, everybody knows that people come up to the iron range for the fall color, but there’s also a lot of history here,” said Kaunonen.

The popularity of this event is popping off as fast as the leaves are changing.

Many of the tours are already sold out but there’s still a few slots left for the month of October.

If you’re interested in checking out the availability, it is recommended you call the Discovery Center’s main line.