Waterfalls

There are a lot of waterfalls here.  Some are fairly small but there are a lot of decent size cascades, perhaps not in height, but in water volume.  And standing next to them, you get the feel of the power of moving water through the thunderous roar of the water and the boiling of the water where the waterfall plunges into the pool below.  And on its way down, the water gets flung in all directions by large rocks in its path.  We stood downwind of one waterfall and were cooled by the spray mist that boiled off the turbulent water, a nice cool-down after a warm hike.

Many of these waterfalls are within easy access to the State Route 61, also known as the Voyageur Highway, the road we are taking along the Lake Superior shoreline.  The waterfalls, the shoreline, the small towns, eight state parks and numerous scenic turnouts, and the exquisite beauty of this route have earned it the designation of an “All American Road”.  Definitely a worthy contender for any road trip bucket list.

It was a waterfall day.  We didn’t cover a lot of distance, only 54 miles, but that short distance included several waterfalls.

First stop was Cascade River State Park.  Here, a half-mile hike goes past five waterfalls, and there’s so much water rushing through this gorge that it’s hard to tell where one waterfall ends and the other begins. Not great parking for a larger vehicle, but we were there early enough to have plenty of space in the roadside parking area.  It was hard to get a good picture of some of the cascades because of the twisty gorge, but it was a spectacular short hike.

We stopped at a couple turnouts, one of them was Cut Face Creek, right along the shore of Lake Superior.  We walked the pebble beach for a bit and talked to a couple fishermen in a canoe who were out because Lake Superior was so calm. “It’s not like this very often,” they told us.

We stopped in Grand Marais and had lunch on Artist’s Point, a spit of land jutting out into the lake.  Lots of artsy stuff here, shops and such, and the place was crawling with tourists.  We spotted a donut shop and bought a couple donuts from World’s Best Donuts.  We ate them later on this afternoon.  They were indeed very good.

Next destination, our stopping place for the night: Judge CR Magney State Park Campground.  This state park has a trail named the best hiking trail in the country by ​USA Today​.  The Devil’s Kettle trail is a two-mile round trip trail to the Devil’s Kettle waterfall, gaining about 400 feet and including nearly 200 steps.  Devil’s Kettle itself splits in two, the right half plunging into the typical plunge pool, and the left half vanishing into a deep hole in the rock.  For years, no one knew where this water went.  Objects thrown into the hole disappeared without reemerging elsewhere.  But the water volume measured upstream and downstream was approximately the same, so the conjecture was that the powerful currents broke down those objects and held them underwater until they resurfaced somewhere downstream.

Anyway, it was well worth the moderate hike and the spray from the upper waterfall had a delightful cooling effect.

After having dinner in the campground, we walked out to Lake Superior.  The sun was shining brightly at the campground, but as we approached the beach, a fog was rolling in, making the air feel about ten degrees cooler and giving us goosebumps.  Rather strange to be shivering in the summertime.

Communication from here on out could get a little dicey.  We have no cell service right now, but are using the campground WiFi. So we may go dark occasionally as we head up into Canada and around the north side of Lake Superior.  We have been able to do pretty well so far using a cell phone signal booster, but amplifying nothing still gives you nothing and we may drop off the digital map once in a while.