Wednesday 9-19 Falls and Gorges

We had a spectacular day of driving up the north coast of Lake Superior. We stopped occasionally to do some hiking and site seeing. Larry told me he thought we were going to have an easy day doing some short hikes, somehow we ended up hiking about 8 miles. There were just too many trails to gorgeous waterfalls. We stopped at two different state parks ( Temperance and Cascade) where we climbed a lot of stairs and hiked rough terrain.

Our first stop was in Silver Bay, Larry had read that Silver Bay had a few sites for overnight rv parking for free and he wanted to check it out.  It’s a parking lot but the sites are roomy. While driving by the parking lot we saw an overlook area called Silver Bay Northshore Scenic Overview. It was a short hike to three different overviews; 1) view of a Taconite Plant, 2) view of Lake Superior and 3) view of Silver Bay. It was a nice easy hike. The view was a lot nicer than the suggested view from the points of interest book we had. As we were leaving Silver Bay we stopped by a cute statue of Rocky Taconite.

The Taconite Plant in Silver Bay

Lake Superior

Silver Bay

Rocky Taconite

The second stop was Temperance State Park where we parked at the visitor center and hiked to the falls and the Baptism River. We walked for over two hours. We started by walking to where the Baptism River feeds into Lake Superior.  Then we hiked the falls trail which was 1.5 miles one way. We climbed a lot of steps during the hike. We stopped at the first set of falls called Two Step. We had to climb down 198 steps, we know because we counted. Two Step Falls is a small fall but very nice. A mile further up the trail was High Falls, we climbed only 55 steps to get down to them. It was worth it because they were beautiful. By the time we got back to the visitor center it was lunchtime. Before having lunch we walked through the visitor center and bought more caramels. They had different ones from the other visitor center so I bought (candy apple, sea salt and vanilla). We had a salad for lunch and then we were back on the road.

Some of the stairs we climbed

Two Step Falls

High Falls

The third stop was Cascade River Gorge , where we hiked a trail to see the gorge. The gorge was unbelievable. The river current was so strong that it made gorgeous falls. They called the falls Ancient Falls. Well worth the short hike we did.

Cascade River Gorge

One of the Ancient Falls

The fourth stop was Cascade State Park. We hiked a .5 mile loop trail that took us around and over the Cascade River. As we hiked we saw Cascade Falls. The hike was very nice through a lot of growth. Once again more stairs and by now every time I went up a step my legs were burning.

Cascade Falls

Another Fall on the Cascade River hike

The Cascade River flowing down the mountain

After finishing this hike we were exhausted but we still had another 30 miles to go to Judge C.R. Magney State Park.  There is no cell service and as with most state parks up here there are no electrical hookups,  it is a beautiful park with hiking trails and bathrooms with showers. The campsites are very nice with a fire ring and picnic table. You have a lot of privacy because of the growth. After setting up we walked around the campground to find the hiking trails. As we were walking around we picked up a map. Larry found a small hiking trail that was on the other side of the highway. So we explored it. It was only .25 mile one way and followed the Brule River.

By the time we got back to the Minnie it was time for dinner. Larry barbecued hamburgers. We spent the evening in the Minnie relaxing and reading. LIFE IS GOOD!!!!