Cascade River

We have been going camping up north for twenty-seven years! Alex was a baby. We have not missed a year yet, though last year we rented a cabin. There are far too many great stories to tell them all here. Maybe there’s a book in there somewhere.

For most of those years Cascade River State Park was the destination. As time went on, I have accumulated several Cascade River t-shirts. This one was the first.

If you don’t know the area, as you travel north-east along the north shore of Lake Superior, every few miles you cross a river coming down from the direction of the boundary waters. The descent to the lake is fast, so there are a lot of waterfalls. The lake shore is rocky; the sea gulls are noisy and the water is bitter cold. David is the one most likely to swim in the chilly lake.

Judge C. R. Magney (1883 – 1962) was largely responsible for the creation of most of the state parks which line the lake where a lot of the rivers come in. One of the parks is named for him – the one with Devil’s Kettle Falls. The falls at the Devil’s Kettle split into two parts, one part going straight over and the other half going into a hole. There has been much discussion as to where the water goes after it falls into that hole. They talk of having put ping pong balls or dye into the hole to see where it comes out, but they haven’t found it yet. But we Floridians turned Minnesotans know the answer. It clearly must be the source of Wakulla Springs south of Tallahassee. The origins of that water have long been a mystery as well. There you go, one mystery solves the other.

The attraction of the north shore to our little group (sometimes twelve or more of us) is broad. We love the woods and the campfires and the lodge and the trails to see the aptly named cascades and the colorful park rangers and Matt’s and Alex’s guitars and even Rachel’s ukulele. And we also love the little town of Grand Marais with its rocky harbor and it Coast Guard station and the hike to Artist’s Point for our own Sunday morning worship service on the rocks and the World’s Best Donut Shop where our picture is on the wall with their coffee cup in Port au Prince and the fudge shop and the Java Moose and the Blue Water Café and Sven and Ole’s Pizza where everyone in the store joined us in singing Happy Birthday to Josiah and the art shops and book stores and the little place with the free sample of the coffee of the day. And I could go on and on. 

This year may be different. We are getting rid of our tent camping gear. We have gotten too old to handle it. The cabin we used last year is closed because of Covid-19. It could be the end of an era, but I am betting we find a way at some point to get back to Grand Marias. It is a part of who we are as a family.