Nearest Town: Palisade

The North Willow Road trail follows a ditch on the west side of the trail. Take a hike through a mixture of deciduous woods and a few fragments of White Cedar bogs. The area on the east at the trailhead is a marshy area mixed with Black Ash. The trail goes for several miles into an area near the Moose-Willow Wildlife Management Area.

There is quite a wide variety of birds to seen along this trail. In the ditch and marshy areas, you can find Wood Ducks, Hooded Mergansers, Blue-winged Teal, Sora, Great Blue Heron, Green Heron and Belted Kingfisher. The most common warblers found along the trail are Northern Waterthrush and Mourning Warbler, but you can also see Black-throated Green Warbler, Ovenbirds, Golden-winged Warbler, Yellow Warbler and Black-and-white Warbler. Other great birds include Winter Wren, Scarlet Tanager, Barred Owl, White-throated Sparrow, Hermit Thrush, Least Flycatcher, Veery, Common Raven, Ruffed Grouse, Broad-winged Hawk, Black-billed Cuckoo. Great Gray Owls have nested along this trail several times.

It is possible to see Gray Wolves along this trail and signs of their presence are quite common. Other wildlife here includes Black Bear, Coyote, beaver, Porcupine, Fisher and Red Fox.

Directions: From Palisade, go north along Aitkin County Road 10 for approximately 11 miles to Aitkin County Road 18. Take County Road 18 west for three miles to North Willow Road – 270th Ave. From there, go north for three miles to where the road takes a sharp right (just past the power lines). Right at the corner of 270th Ave and 560th Street, the narrow hiking trail goes straight to the north.