Hitting Our LAST MN State Parks: the North Shore in October (1 of 2)

We hit the North Shore of Lake Superior about 3 weeks ago so the boys could get their final stamps in the MN State Park's "passport" book. We only had the North Shore State Parks left: everything farther north of Gooseberry. The boys and I went up to Grand Marais back in March over their spring break (see 2 big posts HERE and HERE), but we didn't get any official stamps, and we only stopped at a few state parks. We were ready to hit the boys' final state parks as a family!

We booked a stay in the same motel that we stayed in back in March (and the same room even), so we hit the road after the boys had their parent-teacher conferences.

DAY ONE: We left the city around 11 a.m., and after about an hour, it was a quiet ride until well past Duluth:

Our first stop was Split Rock State Park.


The historic lighthouse 90 feet above Lake Superior.


The boys climbing up inside.




The mechanics that keep it turning. The big fresnel lens is just out of frame.


View from one of the windows in the lighthouse.
(We were about to head towards that island in the middle of the frame.)


Looking at waves.


The view of the lake just down the hill from the lighthouse.


Over in the “park” side of the State Park (vs the “lighthouse” side).


Waves crashing near the island.


We headed way down to the point by that pine. We had the beach to ourselves.


Lighthouse in the distance.


The boys taunting the waves.


Taking some photos (seen here!).


The lighthouse and the island.


Found this fella in the underbrush on the way back to the car.

Before heading all the way up to Grand Marais, we had one quick stop to make at Black Beach:

Henry taunting the waves. And yes, the beach is black.

But Charlie got caught by a wave RIGHT away, so we took off very quick. He learned his lesson.

We got checked in to our motel and then headed for Artist’s Point in downtown Grand Marais (which was only about 4 blocks from where we were staying). The boys love this place:

Notice the boys are in rain boots now. :)


Dodging waves that lap over the rocks.


The wife climbing. :) The boys were excited to show
her all of these places they fell in love with back in March!


These are my people.




Still being goofs.


At the little entrance to the harbor.


We got to watch a huge full moon rise to the northeast as we walked back off the rocks!

We had been told to stop at Hungry Hippie Tacos, so that was supper the first night. We waited for our order under a ton of sombreros:

Eating back in our room. The tacos were OK. The nachos were pretty good!


Story time. We had a bedroom, and the boys had their own beds:
Charlie had this bed in the living room, and Henry had a pull-out couch.


An hour later.

DAY TWO: We headed north. It was only about 40 minutes to get to the very “point” of Minnesota at the Canadian border. We first stopped at Grand Portage National Monument where Henry loved this giant nugget of copper:

Lots of info here about Native Americans.


Charlie "helping."


Taking in the sights back in the car.


A large deer just off the highway.


Selfie with this cutie at an overlook.


Charlie was being a crab, but we got one with Henry too.
Isle Royale National Park was visible just off frame to the left.

After a few more minutes of driving, we were about to hit Canada. But we took the very last turn off the highway into Grand Portage State Park:

Starting a hike to Minnesota’s tallest waterfall!






High Falls of the Pigeon River! It's 120 feet high: highest in MN.




Wide shot with my family on the path.


A little twitchy friend.


Standing in Minnesota, looking at Canada to the left.


For no good reason whatsoever, we hurled rocks at Canada while chanting "USA! USA! USA!"


Charlie's favorite pose.






Heading to a different area to explore.


This was during the tail-end of a pretty bad drought, so
I'd have to imagine that this is usually all underwater.


Exploring. We found lots of raccoon tracks on the rocks.


Charlie looking out over a wider part of the river to Canada a bit farther away.


There was a "selfie station," so we had to take 2 selfies.

Third on our list for this trip was Judge C.R. Magney State Park which was just a few miles back towards Grand Marais from Grand Portage. We hauled a cooler out over a foot bridge and had a sandwich lunch (and snack food) across a little foot bridge:

Oatmeal Creme Pies for dessert.


View from the bridge: that's Hwy 61 in the distance with Lake Superior just beyond that.


We were fueled for a big hike to "Devil's Kettle:" a waterfall that goes underground
(and researchers just recently figured out where the water comes back out!).




Upper Falls in the distance.


Lots o' steps!


Upper Falls.


Me and Chuckles.




Finding cool rocks.






So much mist!

We kept hiking to get to Devil's Kettle. Before too long, we saw it: a normal waterfall on the right, with a split heading into a deep pothole known as Devil's Kettle to the left:

My family down below, which was above the falls.


Looking out over where the falls drop (down to the left).


Looking straight down the waterfall with Devil's Kettle across the river.


Henry was proud that he had the nerve to come join me over there.


Small cliff on this side, with a big drop off behind him to the waterfall!


Selfie above the falls!




The falls right behind us!


Crossing the little foot bridge again meant we were nearly done with our hike.

Our final state park for the day was Cascade River State Park. We did a backwards version of the hike we did there back in March without Mama:

Near where the Cascade River meets Lake Superior.


One of the many falls.










Many falls heading back into the distance.


Heading back the other way.




Heading to the bridge on Hwy 61.


The boys (and Mama) loved hanging out along the lake where the river hit it.




I sat in this little "cave" and whittled a stick for Charlie to
use as a magic wand for his Harry Potter Halloween costume.


Back on the bridge where the river meets the lake.

We headed back to Grand Marais for supper, and we tried Sven and Ole's Pizza in downtown - nearly smack dab between our motel and Artist's Point, so I ordered and we went to play on the rocks while we waited:

Big line outside of Sven and Ole's. Our 50 min wait was really 90!


Playing at Artist's Point. This time, we went way to the east instead of the west.


The boys love this big "crack."


The boys way out there.


I was waiting for one of them to be swept away.




With Mama snapping pics.


The sunset from where we were.


Heading back west.


Henry found a "throne" built into the rocks.


Looking across the harbor.


Pizza back at our motel room (after the boys showered because the pizza took so long!).


Zonked out shortly after.

That was 4 gorgeous MN State Parks in just over 24 hours, and we had 3 more to hit the following day, including one that ended up being one of our favorite parks we've ever been to! I'll have more photos from the rest of this trip up shortly.

In the meantime, here are some film shots from my plastic Holga to enjoy from our trip.

UPDATE: HERE is "part 2" of this trip.