This is the former US Highway 10 near Detroit Lakes. It was closed in the seventies when Highway 10 was widened to four lanes, leaving this stretch blocked-off and abandoned.

Today, deer and snowmobiles are the only traffic. These photos were taken in the fall of 2010.

Through every crack in the pavement, nature intrudes.

The hike through here is effortless and the photo opportunities in the fall are incredible. I had to ask around on my Facebook for directions, but it was pretty easy to find with a little help from Google Earth.

We photographed another lost highway near Bagley, and one in North Dakota, created by a man-made flood.

In another century, this highway will be virtually indistinguishable from the landscape.

This visit to the lost highway was in the fall of 2010 and I was unaware of a deeper history waiting to be discovered. In the spring of 2011, we would find out this was much more than simply a closed section of blacktop. Continue the story here.

Photos by Troy Larson, copyright Sonic Tremor Media LLC