Grand Portage State Park - International Border

International Border

Grand Portage State Park follows 2 miles (3.2 km) of the Pigeon River, which marks the Canada – United States border. The U.S. Customs border checkpoint is visible from the park entrance and in fact sits within the park's authorized boundaries.

In September 2008 the park's rugged terrain defeated a rare illegal border crossing. Two Eastern Europeans were dropped off by a paid accomplice on the Canadian side of the border and waded across the Pigeon River near Middle Falls. They were supposed to hike through the park and rejoin their accomplice, who drove around through the checkpoint, in the parking lot. Instead the rough terrain exhausted them and they fled from the woods toward a nearby duty-free shop in front of Border Patrol officers, who took them into custody and alerted other agents who arrested the waiting driver.

Since the High Falls of the Pigeon River is shared with Ontario, the 70-foot (21 m) High Falls on the Baptism River in Tettegouche State Park is often touted as "the highest waterfall entirely within Minnesota."