Cascade River State Park

One week ago, I got the last minute opportunity to host a Monday Night Mix show at the radio station.  I enjoy doing that show from time to time, because it gives me the opportunity to play the music that does not necessarily fit into my other shows.  That includes things such as the small amount of modern Country I have, as well as the a-capella music in my collection.  When I first did one of those shows eight years ago, I asked about the criteria for the show, and was basically told not to play any cuss words.  One of my favorite things about North Shore Community Radio, is that we are able to play the music that we want to play.

I came down the Gunflint Trail much earlier in the day, and had some time to go to the local library, run a few errands, and take a trek down to the Cascade River State Park.  The spring is a great time to see the many waterfalls in that park, as well as along the North Shore of Lake Superior.

I parked my car by Highway 61, and trekked inland.  One of the first sights I came across was the largest of the waterfalls, known as Cascade Falls.

The path then went past the upper part of the falls, and I got a great view of the water flowing over the precipice.  Seeing a sight like this really reinforces how incredibly powerful water can be.

The path followed the river gorge for a while until it came to the beautiful series of waterfalls known as the Cascades.  There was an interpretive sign there that explained how the root beer color of the water was not due to pollution, but a combination of humic acid (formed by decaying organic matter in swamps and bogs), and the natural iron in the water.  The foam was from the aeration of the water from the waterfalls and rapids.  According to the sign, there is no development along the entire seventeen miles of the Cascade River.

I continued to hike up the trail for a while, and eventually came to a sign for the Superior Hiking Trail, which brought back some great memories from my college days.

In the spring and summer of 1999, I participated in a program at Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center called Superior Studies.  The students and professors of the program were from Concordia College-Moorhead (my alma mater), St. Olaf, St. Thomas, St. Johns, Gustavus, and St. Benedict.  We got together on the North Shore of Lake Superior to take college courses, and do Environmental Studies in the field.  The program really cemented my love of the Arrowhead region of Minnesota, and is probably a big part of the reason I now work on the Gunflint Trail as a Naturalist.  Sadly, the Superior Studies program no longer exists.

We started Superior Studies with an extended wilderness journey, and had the option of other trips each weekend of the program.  Our options were backpacking, canoeing, and kayaking.  Over the course of the program, I did all three, but started out with a backpacking trip from the Cascade River State Park to the Temperance River State Park.

During the trip, we all acquired nicknames because of the things we did.  Our leader was Hot Tang because he liked to heat up the powdered Tang drinks.  There was Map Girl, since she was constantly looking at the map.  G.I. Joe wore camouflage, and Hollywood wore sunglasses that made her look a movie star.  Birch Bark Girl gathered the birch bark for the fires, and Flint lit a fire with his flint and steel.  When you see me around, you can ask which nickname was mine.

It was a great trip, and I discovered many of my favorite sights along the North Shore of Lake Superior, including: the Temperance River State Park, Oberg Mountain, and the Cascade River State Park.  To this day, I still visit many of those places, along with other stretches of the Superior Hiking Trail.

After hiking a little further up the trail, I turned back, and crossed a bridge to the other side of the river, which I followed back to Highway 61 and the shore of Lake Superior.  Stopping at my car, I picked of my picnic dinner, and walked down to the spot where the Cascade River meets Lake Superior.  There was a loud roar as the water rushed under the bridge and slammed into the 3 quadrillion gallon Lake Superior.  Giant water hay stacks rose above the surface of lake, as waves crashed into the shore.