After a very chilly night, we woke up on May 10th to a very brisk morning. We layered up and ate some breakfast before heading out on a morning hike.
We walked to the end of the campground and got on the Cascade River Trail to go see the falls.
Only about 1/8 of a mile into the trail we hit the Cascade River and falls.
The sun was making it a little hard to get good photos, but it was really pretty and we enjoyed the view from the bridge.
We walked across the bridge to the little viewing area on the other side of the river and were able to see a ways down the gorge as the water cascaded through.
After a little bit we kept on the path towards Lookout Mountain Trail, which was a 3.5 mile loop through the woods, up to a lookout overlooking the gorge and Lake Superior.
It was a pretty walk through the woods, though a tad muddy at times.
Once we crossed the creek we started to slowly climb upwards as we made our way down the trail.
After a few minutes we came out into a more clear area and were on a hillside, and could see Lake Superior out in the distance.
About an hour after we started our trek, we reached the top of Lookout Mountain. It was a breathtaking view!!
There was a wooden bench near the edge of the cliff that was only slightly damp, so we sat and ate some Clif bars on the cliff, before heading back down ;)
The hike-in campsites near this area were pretty cool, though I'm not sure what I think about the bathroom situation ;p
It would be a neat place to camp though, and very remote!
The walk back seemed to go quickly, and we made it to the river in no time.
There are two ways to loop back, so we went on a different trail than we went in on, and were able to get closer to the river and the gorge overlook.
We might have a little too much fun ;p
We took some stone steps leading down to the river where it opens up to the last wide spot before the cascades.
From this place in the trail we were able to get a cool view of the bridge that runs in front of the Cascades.
It was around 11:30 by the time we got back to the Cascades, and the sun was shining right on them making a pretty little rainbow appear in the mist.
We had worked up a good appetite hiking around 4 miles, so decided to eat a quick lunch before packing up camp and heading out.
Left over tortellini really hit the spot, along with our fancy sodas we got at the health-food store in Grand Marais the night before.
We said goodbye to Cascade River State Park and got back on the road. It was such a nice campground, I would definitely stay there again.
In one of the Waterfall books we had found Onion River Falls, which was right off the Hwy on our way out of the state park. We saw the sign and pulled over to check it out.
According to the book, it was a short .5 mile hike to the waterfall, but when we got there all we could really see was tress ;p
There might have been a way to get down the ravine to the bottom, but neither of us were feeling quite that adventures at the moment, so decided to just head back to the car.
There were several picnic tables up on this overlook above the parking lot. Wouldn't that be a pretty place to eat a meal?! We both are suckers for a view ;)
Our next stop was at Temperance River State Park, before camping for the night at Tettegouche State Park. Be on the look out for my next post!
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