Jay Cooke State Park Camper Cabin & Hiking in Duluth & Gooseberry Falls

We kicked off our summer early by staying in a caper cabin at Jay Cooke State Park and going on a couple waterfall hikes last weekend. It was a bit cool, very wet and muddy but fun.

When we arrived at the park, we walked around the swinging bridge area. The last time were were there was before the 2012 flood washed the bridge away. I couldn’t believe how different it looks. So many of the trees are gone so now there’s a great view of the bridge and river from the picnic area.

Upstream from the swinging bridge.

We stayed in the camper cabin named “Gabro.” It’s near the walk in campsites at the edge of the regular campground. The cabins are nicely spread out so you have some space. Gabro is somewhat exposed but the picnic table and fire pit are tucked to the side of the cabin which gives some privacy. The cabin has a deck and screened porch, which would be awesome in the summer when the bugs are bad. We thought the cabin was really cozy and clean and I was amazed at how comfortable the mattresses were. There’s a pit toilet and water nearby and the campground restrooms are just a bit further away.

Jay Cooke Camper Cabin – Gabro

Saturday, we went hiking in Duluth along Tischer Creek in Congdon Park. We found this trail in Waterfalls of Minnesota’s North Shore by Eve and Gary Wallinga. According to the guide book, it’s about 1.5 miles round trip but it felt a lot further than that. There was a lot of mud, snow and ice that slowed our progress. The falls were impressive with all the snowmelt and rain. There were about 4 or 5 falls total and some pretty bridges crossing over the creek. It’s a really beautiful trail and it felt like it was further north. I would definitely go back.

Directions to the trailhead: From London Road, turn onto 32nd Avenue East, which is just before Glensheen Mansion). This runs into Congdon Park Drive. Follow this across Superior Street. Congdon Park is to your right.

There is an old road that runs parallel to the trail. Our plan was to take that back to our car but the beginning was washed out, we’re assuming from the 2012 flood. We hiked down the trail for a while and then crossed over to the road after the washout area. Here is a picture of the washed out road:

After our hike, we had lunch at one of our favorite places in Duluth – the Duluth Grill. After that, we went to Gooseberry Falls State Park and attempted to hike to Fifth Falls. That did not turn out so well thanks to the snow, ice, mud and my fear of heights. There was a spot in the trail where there was a very steep, long drop to the river and the trail was all ice and mud and running water. We got sooo close that we could see the falls – or what we think were the falls. I wish I could have continued but my legs were feeling too shaky and I couldn’t psych myself up for it.

We think Fifth Falls is in the background.

We think that might be the end of Fifth Falls in the background.

Standing on the bridge under Highway 61, looking towards Lake Superior in the distance.

We got back to Jay Cooke around 7:00. We were tired so we ate, played a few games of Uno and went to sleep. On Sunday, we went to the Oldenberg Point lookout in the park. The view was incredible.

September 10, 2011
by Jenny Leave a comment

Split Rock Lighthouse Camping

We somehow got very lucky and were able to reserve site 13 at Split Rock Lighthouse! We did a lot of hiking around the park, hiked a short section of the Superior Hiking Trail and hung out around the fire watching the water. Aside from the annoying screaming children one site down, this was one of our best camping trips.

These pictures are all from our campsite:

View from campsite 13 at Split Rock Lighthouse

June 6, 2011
by Jenny 6 Comments

Backpacking (sort of) Itasca State Park

We went on our first backpacking trip to Itasca State Park last weekend. If I had to pick one word to describe the trip it would be bugs. The mosquitoes and wood ticks were so bad that we spent the second night in the regular campground.

The first night, we stayed at one of the three backpack sites on Myrtle Lake. After parking by Douglas Lodge, we headed out on Deer Park Trail towards our site. The mosquitoes were on us pretty much immediately. We had to reapply bug spray a couple times on the mile hike.

There were some steep hills that made the backpacks feel like they weighed 100 pounds. The trail was pretty good except for some muddy areas and one area that was underwater from a pond that had overflowed. Beyond the mosquitoes, the only other wildlife were frogs and these geese and their cute little babies.

The side trail for the backpack sites (B07, B08, B09) were marked but the sites themselves weren’t numbered so it was hard to know which was actually ours. The first site was a short walk to the right off the main trail and was small and overgrown on a slight hill. It didn’t look like it gets much use but it had a nice view of the lake. The other two sites were further down the trail on a peninsula. The first one had 2 tent pads and more shade. The second one was smaller, more overgrown and in full sun. We took the first one on the peninsula because it was nicer.

Myrtle Lake from our campsite

I should add that the side trail is very narrow with high grass and brush on both sides and full of ticks. They were all over our campsite, too. Large ticks, small ticks and everything in between.

It was late so we made dinner and put up the tent. While I cleaned up, Jason filtered water from the lake. The water tasted really good, better than our St. Paul city water and the Culligan filtered water we buy. Hanging the bear bag was frustrating due to the availability of trees.

After we ate, cleaned and hung the bear bag, we headed to the toilet which is a short walk from the campsites. The rusty open-air toilet paled in comparison to the number of mosquitoes. It was an experience I don’t want to repeat.

By this point, we were exhausted from dealing with the mosquitoes and ticks. When we got back to our tent, we stripped down, checked each other for ticks and spent the rest of the evening watching the mosquitoes swarm the outside of the tent. It’s like they knew we had to come out eventually and they were going to be waiting.

It was so nice to fall asleep to the sound of frogs and crickets and wake up to the sound of chirping birds and this view:

That morning, we decided to head back to the truck and see the Mississippi River headwaters and the other sites. We didn’t get too far down the trail before we decided to abandon our lovely mosquito and tick filled camp and figure something else out for the night. We went back, packed up and hiked back to the truck. Fortunately there were open sites in the regular campground. We ended up at site 246. I don’t have a picture of it, but it’s your standard state park campsite.

On the way back, we saw a turtle.

We did some very light hiking and sightseeing after lunch. We saw the largest white pine in the state, which is so large that it didn’t even fit into the picture frame.

Click on picture to read the description.

And we saw the former red pine record holder, nowhere near as impressive but still cool.

Lake Itasca

We went to the Mississippi headwaters during the afternoon but it was packed with kids playing in the water. We went back after dinner and there were only a few other people there. It was so peaceful and beautiful.

The water was really high so most of the rocks that you see in pictures were under water.

Overall, it was a good trip. A bit stressful but I hope our next backpacking trip is better. The main lessons I learned are:

1. Wear light colored clothes so you can spot wood ticks easier. I had black sweatpants and they were so hard to see.

2. Wear solid hiking boots or shoes instead of ones with mesh. Water gets through mesh and it’s not fun walking in wet shoes and socks.

3. Simple one pot meals are easier to deal with than multi-step meals when you’re cooking on the ground.

August 12, 2009
by Jenny 1 Comment

Camping

For our fall camping trip, our plan was to stay one night at Jay Cooke State Park and then head up Lake Superior and stay at one of the first-come first-served Superior National Forest campgrounds from the Camping the North Shore book. In my happy little world, I imagined that we would find an amazing campsite on a picturesque lake with the sound of birds chirping and leaves blowing in the gentle breeze. We would be happy and would have a wonderful, relaxing time. What actually happened was a little different.

Day 1

Jay Cooke State Park

We stayed at walk-in site #81. It was a nice, quiet, secluded site just a short walk from the parking area and bathrooms.

Carlton trail hike

After we got our site set up, we hiked on the Carlton Trail, which runs along the St. Louis River.

Swinging bridge

View of the St. Louis River from the swinging bridge

St. Louis River on an early fall day

Carlton Trail

Huge ant mound near the visitor center. Fascinating and gross at the same time.

Day 2

Something essential and irreplaceable was forgotten at home so the revised plan was to get up very early, drive back to the Twin Cities and then back to Jay Cooke for the second night. When we got back to Jay Cooke around lunch time, we decided to pack up and head up to the Superior National Forest.

On the way there, we settled on the campground at Crescent Lake because the guide book made it sound amazing. We had a map, directions and GPS. Unfortunately, we didn’t factor in the poorly marked gravel roads and a bad GPS signal in the middle of nowhere. We got lost and got directions from random strangers who also looked lost. When we finally made it to Crescent Lake, all of the good sites were taken (the good sites looked amazing) so we headed out again to find a new campground. It was about 6 pm by this point and we were hungry and sick of driving all day and the dog was getting especially antsy.

We eventually ended up at the campground at Ninemile Lake. We were the only people there and the sites on the lake were beautiful! We hate noisy neighbors so we thought we hit the jackpot. We unpacked, set up our tent and made dinner in the dark. As we were enjoying the campfire, a coyote ran through our site and then circled back several times. We were out in the middle of nowhere and I was freaked out that the coyote would attack my dog, who was thankfully oblivious. I also remembered the sign at the check-in station that warned about bears. So after some very loud yelling and banging of things on my part, we put our dog in the truck, threw everything in the back of the pickup and left. We stayed at the AmericInn in Tofte for the night.

Day 3+

The next morning, we reorganized our stuff and headed out with the hopes we would find something a little more populated with less of a chance of coyotes.

Gooseberry Falls State Park

We stayed at campsite #54 at Gooseberry. This is one of the better sites for privacy because it’s surrounded by trees and shrubs and sits far back from the road. The rest of our trip went much better. It drizzled a bit but we were able to do some hiking and have a couple of bonfires.

: Gooseberry Falls State Park campsite 54

: Gooseberry Falls State Park – Agate Beach looking towards the picnic area

October 12, 2008
by Jenny 1 Comment

Favorite State Park: Split Rock Lighthouse

Hiking: Little Two Harbors Trail

Little Two Harbors trail run along Lake Superior in Split Rock Lighthouse State Park and connects the lighthouse with the campsites.

Little Two Harbors trail

Split Rock Lighthouse camping

We checked out the cart-in campsites. Sites 11 and 13 won our award for best Lake Superior campsites. These sites seem to book up fast so we’re not the only ones who think they’re great.