North Shore Wanderings - Day 2 - Part 1

The morning of May 7th, we awoke nice and early excited for the day ahead. We had a tasty breakfast, loaded up the car, and were on our way. 

It was sad to say farewell to this cute place, we both hope to go stay there again someday soon.

Our plan was to drive up the North Shore up to Thunder Bay, and stop and hike to some waterfalls along the way.

We made it to Grand Portage around 9:30am and stopped to get some gas, since we heard there were no other places until Thunder Bay, which was almost two hours north. So, we figured better safe than sorry ;p

A mile or so up the road was the Grand Portage National Monument Heritage Center, we decided to go in a check it out and see if we could get some info.

It was a really neat building! The lady at the front desk was able to help us figure out how to reach Partridge Falls, a place we had seen in a waterfall book we were reading at the Hostel the night before.

 We went back down the road a ways and were able to find the road we needed to get on to reach the falls.

Not long after turning we happened upon some deer on the side of the road. They didn't even seem the slightest bit scared, they just stood there and let me take pictures of them ;p

After a several miles we finally saw the sign for Partridge Falls Rd, though it looked a tad sketchy we were up for an adventure, so went for it!

The book had said it was only 1.3 miles down the dirt road till you reached the river. Well we drove for like 10-15 minutes on a very narrow, and at times flooded and muddy road, in literally the middle of nowhere, and were a little worried we were not in the right spot...  

But eventually we ended up at a dirt turn around spot next to the river, just as the book had described. We were relieved! Yet also very much aware of the fact that we were miles from any kind of civilization, with no reception, about to hike through the woods... not to mention there was only a river separating us from the Canadian boarder.... But like I said, we were ready for an adventure! So, I stuffed my pocket knife in my pocket and we took off ;p

The first thing we saw on the muddy path were some very large moose tracks!

Even though it would have been neat to see a moose in it's natural habitat, I think we were both thankful we didn't encounter one that day ;p

It didn't take too long before we reached the rapids of the river as it cascaded into the falls. Though it was a tad tricky trying to figure out how to actually get down to the bottom.

At first we thought we needed to head down the larger path next to the river, thinking it would circle back around where you would be able to see the water.

Caution, what?

After a little walking though, we realized we were just heading away from the water, so headed back to the rapids to see if we could find a way down to the waterfall.

What we settled on was climbing down the cliff side and once we got started realized it wasn't as bad as it had originally looked.

We made it down to the riverside without a hitch, it was beautiful!

The rock walls were covered in thick moss and the trees towered up above us majestically.

It was more of a side view of the waterfall, but felt amazing being so close to such a powerful amount of water!

If there hadn't been snow and slippery ice covering the rest of the river bank, we would have been able to go down further and get a little bit better view, but we didn't want to risk slipping.

I couldn't get over how tranquil this spot was, hearing nothing but the sound of the rushing water... it was so peaceful.

After a little while we figured we better head back to the car, plus we were both getting ready for some lunch.

There waer still some large piles of snow in the shaded spots in the woods, but thankfully it was a beautiful day in the high 50s, perfect for hiking!

After grabbing some food out of the cooler to munch on, we found our way back to the road and made it back to the main highway safe and sound. 

It was such a fun little excursion, and felt awesome exploring somewhere off the beaten path. Finding these little spots while traveling are always a big highlight for me, it is something no one else has done and is so much more exciting than just following your GPS to a place a thousand other people are at. Though those places have their charm, I think I'll always be more of an adventurous soul than that ;)