With Voyageur’s N.P. in our rear-view mirror, it was southward-bound. Still having issues finding available space at the RV parks, we snagged a one-nighter at the Cloquet-Duluth KOA and caught a couple more nights at the Tettegouche State Park. Between both stays, we managed some minor hikes to sights between Duluth and Grand Portage (the US/Canadian border), about a 146 mile stretch. As a start, Minnesota Point is a narrow strip of land projecting out to “sea” (meaning onto Lake Superior) which has several beach areas. Driving out that way we got some expansive views from the roadway looking down at Duluth. The day we were there it was not the greatest of beach weather, but the beaches were still pretty busy. On our way out of the area we got to see an “Aerial Lift Bridge” in action. That would be a form of a draw bridge that leads to the Duluth Harbor Basin. At the mouth of the canal they have the Duluth North Pier Lighthouse and the Duluth Harbor South Breakwater Outer Light, as well as the Duluth Harbor South Breakwater Inner light. Snapped a few pix, waited for the boat traffic to clear the aerial lift bridge, and off we went for more adventure.

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Congdon Park in Duluth is home to Tischer Creek and the Tischer Creek Falls. They put in a nice creekside trail that was about a mile and a half of small waterfalls. We let Woodrow Wilson take us on that walkabout. Here’s a mishmash of sights along the trail…

The town of Two Harbors contains the Two Harbors Lighthouse Museum as well as the Two Harbors Lighthouse. We weren’t real keen on seeing ANOTHER lighthouse museum, but we hoofed it out to the lighthouse for views of town and the lake. Right across the bay from the lighthouse there was an interesting iron ore mining/processing center.

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Beaver River Falls, located on, oh, let’s guess…the Beaver River, in, maybe, let’s see, the “town” of Beaver Bay, on, well, Beaver Bay of Lake Superior was another of the advertised “10 Best Waterfalls on Minnesota’s north shore”. Well, maybe in another life. At present time there was very little water in the river, so the “falls” were less than spectacular.

Split Rock Lighthouse is a popular tourist stop along the north shore. We opted not to pay the $24 to be able to get up close and personal with it, mainly because I am a cheap b@$t@rd and we have actually seen our share of lighthouses, both coasts and all points in between. But they had a nice wayside rest that had a clear view of the lighthouse, so I got my pix anyway.

Gooseberry State Park contains Gooseberry Falls with a short hike to see them. The hiking trails are easy, well kept and travelled, and parking can be a zoo during season. They say there are (5) total falls along the river here, but we kept to the main touristy few.

Tettegouche State Park gave us a pretty good workout. The trail to get to Two Step Falls was a mere one tenth of a mile from our house. The only issue was then it was a matter of 200 stair steps straight downhill to get to the viewing area. I know that I sucked a lot of air getting back to the top, but it was worth the view. High Falls was only a half mile hike from our house, but then it also added 100+ more stair steps, straight downhill. Again, the view was worth it and you also encounter  the swinging bridge. On a more even note (terrain-wise; “even”, get it?!?) it was an easy walk down to see the mouth of the Baptist River. We happened to accomplish that one early in the morning with NO beachgoers anywhere to be seen. 

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Caribou Falls was another disappointment. We let Woody lead the way along the path which followed the Caribou River. They advertised less than one mile to get to the falls, however, the river was pretty sad water  volume-wise. We hiked more than one mile and saw no end in sight. I had my suspicions about the location of the falls and think we passed by the area without realizing it. The photos advertised were obviously in a heavy torrential setting, far from what we were looking at. It was still scenic, as the pictures suggest.

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The Cross River Falls were pretty cool even though the water was low there as well. And these were right off the highway with no hike required.

Temperance River State Park is home to the Temperance River Falls. These falls landed into some deep gorges and again, this was right off the highway with very little hike to get to.

Cascade River State Park contains its namesake falls. These also included some fairly deep gorges. With most of the sightseeing points of interest located within various state parks, it is very convenient that if you pay for any of the park entrances ($7 per car/day), your pass gets you into all the parks. And as you can see, there are a lot of state parks  here on the North Shore.

And for our grand finale, we hit up Pigeon Falls on the Pigeon River at the US/Canadian border. In the advertising for these falls they are likened to another border waterfalls area, namely Niagara Falls. Sorry, no where near in the same class as Niagara and not even close to size and scope. But still, these were pretty cool falls, with an easy paved/boardwalk path to get to them.

OK, so I hope I left nothing out. And I really really really hope I get the right photos with the right narrative. But, hey, if I don’t, sue me. If you can find me. And remember, you should click on each of the photo blocks to be able to see the photos uncropped, in a carousel manner. Until next post…