Shae and I visited Detroit Lakes, MN on our 50 state road trip back in 2023. In 2024, Thomas Dambo spent a few weeks there building some trolls, so we were disappointed to have missed out on those by less than a year.
While staying in Fargo, ND, we realized that Detroit Lakes was less than an hour’s drive away, so we decided to take a day trip over there to find all the trolls.
In addition to the five trolls, Dambo also created the Golden Rabbit, as well as three mirror portals that are located in three different cities (one of which is Detroit Lakes.
Here’s how to find al of the Detroit Lakes trolls.
Map Of The Detroit Lakes Trolls By Thomas Dambo
To help you find the trolls more easily, I’ve embedded a Google Map below with each of their locations, as well as the locations of the mirror portals. If you use that map on your phone, you can use it to get driving directions to each of the locations.
What I haven’t included on the map is the location of the Golden Rabbit. One of the fun elements of this troll hunt is that the Golden Rabbit is hidden somewhere in Detroit Lakes and you have to visit the trolls (and mirror portals if possible) in order to find that final massive creation.
What I have done though is shared the location of the Giant Rabbit towards the end of this post. There’s a big ‘spoiler alert’ warning before that section in case you don’t want to accidentally see where it’s located, but I wanted to disclose its location in the post so that someone who doesn’t have much time to find the Detroit Lakes trolls is able to include that in their plans.
Troll 1 – Alexa’s Elixir
You can, in theory, visit the trolls in pretty much any order. However, I would recommend that you visit Alexa’s Elixir first as she’s holding some important information that you’ll need to find the Golden Rabbit later.
So, what is Alexa’s Elixir? There’s a wooden cauldron filled with bird houses. If you’d like to know the significance of bird houses with this set of trolls (and more of Thomas Dambo’s trolls), you can read the full story in Dambo’s own words in this Facebook post.
Alexa is named after Dambo’s wife because when he’s feeling ill she makes him an elixir that helps him feel better. I’m not sure I’d name a troll after my wife, but I guess at least the intention behind it is nice!
There’s a couple of important features in front of Alexa. One is a mirror portal which she’s put her right hand through. The importance of this will become a little more clear when you visit the other mirror portals.
The other important feature is the book in front of her. It’s a sturdy wooden book with a story about Alexa…
…and an explanation of what to do with her elixir.
There’s also a page that features a map of the Detroit Lakes area with several icons of nature objects on there that’ll help you find the Golden Rabbit later on…
…as well as a cipher with symbols corresponding to letters of the alphabet.
There are five trolls and three mirror portals. Each one features one of the above symbols and a number, with the number corresponding to the letter’s placement in an eight letter word.
For example, Alexa has a necklace with a symbol on it and the number one below it. That means whichever letter that symbol corresponds to on the cipher is the first letter in the word that’ll help you find the Golden Rabbit.
If you look on the trees all around Alexa, you’ll see many colorful bird houses. In fact, Dambo created more than 500 of these to install at and around the Detroit Lakes trolls.
With Alexa’s Elixir under our belt, it was time to go and find the rest of the trolls in Detroit Lakes.
Troll 2 – Ronny Funny Face
The second troll we visited was Ronny Funny Face who can be found in Dunton Locks County Park. When approaching the park there was a sign pointing us in the right direction.
After parking, there was another sign showing which direction to head in.
It was a slightly longer walk than we were expecting, although it wasn’t strenuous – about quarter of a mile each way on a mostly flat paved path.
You’ll know you’re heading in the right direction as you’ll see occasional bird houses adorning the trees.
You’ll eventually see the path branching off to the left…
…and it’s there that you’ll find the playful Ronny Funny Face. This troll has so much personality and it’s one of my favorite ones we’ve found of Thomas Dambo’s creations.
Similar to Alexa, Ronny Funny Face has a necklace displaying his code.
A sign there shares more details about his personality:
Always on the lookout for a laugh. And then one more laugh after that. Ronny wants to make the whole world smile, and he might even teach you how!
After being taught how to smile by Ronny, we walked the quarter mile back up the path to where we’d parked. At that parking area there was a picnic shelter next to the lake, as well as some restrooms in case you need them.
Troll 3 – Barefoot Frida
The third troll we sought out was Barefoot Frida who’s taking a seat at Ortenstone Gardens (which, at the time of our visit, was still in the process of being built). There was once again a helpful sign directing us where to park.
After parking, there was another sign pointing us in the direction of the troll.
This was another quarter mile walk/hike that had a bit more undulation to the path and several more bird houses marking the way. With this troll hunt being an outdoor activity, it’s a great opportunity to take your pup out for several walks and Truffles loved exploring with us.
There’s a couple of ways to get over to Frida, but the most fun option is taking the stepping stone path.
Barefoot Frida will be there waiting for you with a wink and her tongue sticking out.
She’s another troll with a necklace displaying part of the code you’ll need.
Here’s the description of Barefoot Frida:
An outdoorsy type, she loves to build small yet fun challenges for her friends in nature. Maybe she has something planned for you?
Troll 4 – Jacob Everear
The fourth of the Detroit Lakes trolls that we visited was Jacob Everear. He’s down in Frazee at Wannigan Regional Park; when parking, there was a sign sharing how far it was to him.
In case you’re wondering how that converts to miles, it’s about a 0.4 mile walk to Jacob Everear. There’s not really any shade, so if you’re visiting on a hot summer’s day, you might want a hat and some water with you.
The park has a cute wooden covered bridge that you’ll pass.
Don’t turn right on the path through the bridge though; instead, continue straight ahead from the direction you’ve come from.
You’ll soon come to Jacob Everear who’s laying down in the partial shade of a tree.
Seeing as he’s laying down, you wouldn’t be able to see a necklace if he were to wear one. As a result, his code is located up in the tree next to more bird houses.
I loved Roald Dahl books as a kid and Jacob reminded me a little of the illustration of the BFG (Big Friendly Giant).
Here’s Jacob’s story:
Because he loves to listen, his ears have grown and grown. He’s heard all the troll stories, and now he’s hungry for stories from the human world. Do you have a story to tell?
To give you a sense of the size of these trolls, Jacob’s little toe was slightly bigger than my hand.
Troll 5 – Long Leif
In hindsight, after finding Jacob Everear I wish we’d driven down to Perham to find the mirror portal there because Jacob is the troll closest to there. Instead, we visited Long Leif next, but later that meant doubling back on ourselves to get to Perham.
Long Leif is standing tall at Detroit Mountain Recreation Area. Once again there was a helpful sign directing us to where to park.
It was about a ten minute walk along a clearly defined trail to get to this fifth and final troll. Be sure to follow the signs and bird houses though, as the trail does branch off to the left.
The trail leads through to a clearing where you’ll find Long Leif towering over you.
At 36 feet tall, he’s the tallest troll that Dambo had built up to now. You can see Shae and Truffles in the photo below standing beneath him as a sense of scale:
Here’s Long Leif’s story:
A friend of trees. And by hanging out with them, he has learned their secret of growth, and has become as tall as the best of them. Maybe you will learn the secret of the trees?
Long Leif has a necklace with his code, as well as several warts over his face – or perhaps they’re burls seeing as he’s become so tree-like.
After spending some time admiring Long Leif, we went back to the parking lot. Before going anywhere else though, we stopped in at Detroit Mountain Day Tripper Sips & Scoops to get some Tillamook ice cream.
The store there also has some great troll merch – I was very tempted by the Ronny Funny Face t-shirts.
**Spoiler Alert**
The next section will share how to find the Golden Rabbit. As I mentioned earlier, some of the fun of the Detroit Lakes trolls is finding the codes on the trolls and using the cipher to locate the Golden Rabbit.
If you don’t want to know the location of that final large sculpture, keep scrolling down until you get to the mirror portals section.
The Golden Rabbit
Once again, I’m about to share the location of the Golden Rabbit. If you don’t want to know where it can be found ahead of your troll hunt, keep scrolling down to the mirror portals section.
Are you sure you want to know where the Golden Rabbit is?
Really, really sure?
OK. Once you’ve found the first five trolls, you’ll have five of the eight letters needed to spell out a word:
m u _ h r _ o _
You might be able to work out what that word is meant to be, but if you’re struggling then you can look at the map that Alexa had in front of her to see which of the icons that might be referring to:
In the middle of the map towards the top, you’ll see a mushroom – that’s the word that’ll be spelled out after using the cipher. The mushroom is located next to a mountain on the map, so the Golden Rabbit can be found at Detroit Mountain Recreation Area.
That’s the same general area as where Lon Leif is located. The Golden Rabbit is in the other direction though; when coming out of the gift shop/ice cream shop, you’ll see some bunny tracks on the ground.
You’ll then see a purple bird house and a long trail heading downhill.
It took us about 15 minutes to get to the Golden Rabbit, with the downhill section followed by an uphill section.
After walking through what felt like some other-worldly trees…
…we reached the enormous Golden Rabbit.
The vast majority of Thomas Dambo’s creations are made from recycled wood, but the Golden Bunny looked like it was constructed using some kind of plastic.
What was funny is that the trolls all looked friendly, while the Golden Rabbit was a little more sinister-looking.
Here’s the background of the Golden Rabbit:
Beware Traveler! The Golden Rabbit has been seen recently in this area. Ever hungry for more, and ready to persuade others to buy, use and consume, he might just do the same to you!
Alexa’s Elixir should work against the Golden Rabbit. But she might need one last ingredient – a gift from you!
Can you go the whole day without buying something new?
It was holding what appeared to be some kind of scepter, perhaps made of car parts or something else mechanical.
If you head behind the rabbit, you’ll see that it has a cute little plastic tail.
Mirror Portal In Perham
After finding the Golden Rabbit, we decided to go and find the three mirror portals that are part of this Thomas Dambo installation. In theory you’re supposed to find them before the Golden Rabbit in order to get the final three of the eight letters needed, but that didn’t prove necessary ahead of time.
Having said that, as I mentioned earlier I wish we’d visited the mirror portal in Perham after stopping by to see Jacob Everear as Perham is down in that direction. We parked downtown and walked over to City Hall (Turtle) Park where we found some bird houses.
Attached to the building behind that was one of the mirror portals. This featured Alexa’s hand hanging up some more bird houses, with the code at the base of the mirror.
Mirror Portal in Detroit Lakes
The second mirror portal we visited was back in Detroit Lakes at the Detroit Lakes Community & Cultural Center. It’s only a short drive from Alexa, so it might be worth checking out this portal after visiting her at the start of your troll hunt.
Once again, there were lots of bird houses, with Alexa’s hand coming through the mirror to carefully place another one. At the base of the mirror was the code needed for the sixth letter of the clue to the Golden Rabbit’s location.
Mirror Portal In Fargo
We were staying in Fargo, so we left the mirror portal there until last. In hindsight, we probably should’ve visited that first of all seeing as it would’ve gotten us one of the letters, but that proved inconsequential in the end. This final mirror was down Roberts Alley, attached to a building there.
Find More Thomas Dambo Trolls
We’ve been fortunate to find dozens of Thomas Dambo’s trolls, both around the US and around the world. Check out all our other posts about Thomas Dambo’s trolls here.
[…] It was a lot of fun finding all of the trolls and the mirror portals (it’s one of the mirror portals that’s in Fargo), so check out this post to find out how to find them all. […]