Cascade River State Park
Grand Marais, MN
Two years of marriage in the books! It’s no joke when they say that time really flies by. We decided to celebrate by going to one of our favorite places, the Minnesota North Shore. We drove to Grand Marais for a three-day weekend to do some car camping and day hiking. This was a nice change of pace after all the backpacking we’ve been doing this year. Don’t get the wrong idea, we love backpacking, but there’s something about having a cooler full of beer and real food, being able to take a shower if we want, and storing everything in the car at night that makes car camping feel like a special treat.
We celebrated our first anniversary in Grand Marais last year as well, and it was nostalgic and romantic to return to the same campground and some of the same restaurants and shops as last year. Some highlights include standing on the top of Minnesota, seeing the highest waterfall in Minnesota (part of which is located in Canada), and relaxing around camp and downtown Grand Marais.
Day 1: Highway 61 & Middle Falls Trail
We left early Saturday morning bound for Grand Portage, the location of our first hike of the trip. It was a long trip, but we got to drive almost the whole length of the North Shore on Highway 61 all the way from Duluth to Grand Portage! That’s something we look forward to each time we go up to the North Shore - there’s nothing like getting that first look at the lake as we come down the hill into Duluth. We finally made it to Grand Portage State Park, put on our boots, and got on the trail. We planned to hike Middle Falls Trail, a 5.1 mile lollipop loop hike which featured two waterfalls and the beautiful Pigeon River.
The first part of the trail was pretty well-trafficked, since the first waterfall was only 0.5 mile in. We took a side trail where we got some nice views of the Pigeon River and the tall canyons on the northwest side. The next stop was High Falls - the highest waterfall in Minnesota! There were two different sections of platforms overlooking the falls, and we took our time walking around and enjoying each view. The water was still flowing strong for the end of August, and we tried to imagine how fast the falls were flowing in the springtime! This would definitely be a great pit stop in early spring after snowmelt.
We doubled back to the main trail and continued toward Middle Falls. The trail got a little narrower and rougher from here, with alternating ascents and descents which eventually lead to a high ridge, where we were rewarded with our first look of Lake Superior. We took a short break to catch our breath and enjoyed the view of the bay through the pine trees, then continued on through the woods. Eventually we made it to an intersection with a spur trail which took us to another series of beautiful overlooks.
The spur took us to a rocky clearing on a ridge with great views of Lake Superior’s rugged shoreline. We stopped for some pictures and to take in the views, then continued on the spur to the second overlook. This overlook had gorgeous inland views of the Pigeon River valley and Finger Point off in the distance, with tall ridges and rolling hills along the Canadian border. We relaxed here for a little while before heading back to the main trail.
We continued on through more elevation change, then came to the end of the trail stem and arrived at the Middle Falls loop. We took the loop counterclockwise and weaved through thick brush, picked raspberries along the way, and eventually reached our view of Middle Falls - a shorter, wider waterfall sandwiched between Minnesota and Canada. We took a snack break here and sat down by the falls for a while, and contemplated how early settlers portaged around the waterfalls we saw today. We read that one of the portages was nine miles long! We couldn’t even imagine portaging that kind of distance (with our longest portage being 80 rods), let alone portaging on the rocky terrain and steep drop-offs around the waterfalls.
After resting our legs, we continued along the trail which took us to the top of the waterfall, and it was really cool to be standing just a stone’s throw away from Canada. We hiked back the way we came, then drove south back to Grand Marais. We swung through town for a late lunch and some drinks - we tried a new restaurant, “Hungry Hippie Tacos”, took some food to go, and ate at Voyageur Brewing Co. This brewery was one of our favorite stops when we were here last year, and this time we sat up on the roof, had a couple of beers, and ate our delicious tacos. It was a beautiful sunny day and the rooftop had great views of Lake Superior.
Next we drove to the campground and set up, got changed, and headed back to town for a pre-anniversary dinner. We ate at The Crooked Spoon Cafe and enjoyed wine and lake trout with wild rice. It was a delicious meal at a cute, quaint little restaurant in downtown Grand Marais. After dinner we walked around town, looked at some art galleries, bought some fudge, and walked around some outfitters and souvenir shops. We stopped at Wunderbar, a place we’ve driven past many times but have never stopped in. It was a pretty cool place, a bar/restaurant with a “glampground” on the property. We sat on the patio and listened to some music, then headed back to camp. We were tired from the early morning and were looking forward to getting some sleep in the fresh air!
Day 2: Eagle Mountain Hike
We slept in, toasted some waffles, and made lunches for our day hike. The trailhead was about 45 minutes from our campground, and the trail was actually closer to the BWCAW than Cascade River State Park. It was a pretty drive down a dirt road with some nice views of the surrounding terrain. We found the parking lot with relative ease, filled out a day permit for the BWCAW, then took off! The first two miles were relatively flat and crossed over a rocky rugged trail in a thick forest. We crossed over a series of three boardwalks through a swampy area - some of the boardwalks were in pretty rough shape, wobbly or falling apart which required a bit of balance and coordination.
After two miles the trail finally opened up to a nice view on the shores of Whale Lake, with a beautiful view of a high hill across the lake. The trail followed the lake for a while, then reached a junction where we turned left toward the summit. We got out our trekking poles and used them to propel ourselves up the steep trail and help us keep our footing on the rocky terrain. We passed through a section of trail with a series of large boulders which was fun to hike over. Eventually we got to our first big overlook - not quite at the summit, but it was a gorgeous view of the valley below us. We stopped for some pictures, took in the view, then continued another 400 yards to the summit.
The trail was relatively flat from here, and then we made it to the summit! Before taking in the gorgeous views, we walked around and looked for the plaque that marked the official highest point in Minnesota. After we accomplished this, we made our way back to the opening to enjoy the views over the BWCAW including Shrike, Zoo, and Eagle Lakes, with tall ridges in the distance. We sat on a big section of red granite and had lunch, took in the views, then hiked back toward the trailhead.
We made good time back to our car, 7.1 miles under our belts for the day. We drove back to camp, showered, and relaxed around the campsite. We got a fire going (after paying the camp hosts in quarters for the firewood since we didn’t have exact change, haha), and started on dinner. We made our favorite car camping food - pudgy pies with ham, salami, pizza sauce, and mozzarella. We finished the night off with some wine and roasted marshmallows, then put the fire out and went to bed.
Day 3: Heading home
August 26th, our two-year wedding anniversary! We slept late in our cozy tent, then had some coffee, started a fire (which burned out pretty quickly haha), then packed up camp. We decided against hiking today since the weather wasn’t looking so great and we had a long drive home. We stopped for breakfast at Northwoods Family Grille in Silver Bay, then headed home to Minneapolis.
What a great weekend! It was short but sweet, and we loved celebrating our anniversary on the beautiful Minnesota North Shore. If you live in the Twin Cities area and haven’t been up there yet, plan a trip! Just do it - you won’t regret it, and we hope you get hooked on the North Shore like we are. Thanks for stopping by and reading our blog post! Take a look at the rest of our pictures in our gallery.
Sources: Hiking the North Shore Second Edition by Andrew Slade