Duluth Day 4

Duluth Day 4

It has been a very long time since something completely took my breath away when I first saw it. Jay Cooke State Park did just that this morning as I stepped out onto the Historic Swinging Bridge that crosses the St. Louis River. Not because it was a swinging bridge but for the incredible site of the geological landscape created by tectonic plate activity millions of years ago. The water clear and dark pigmented from the iron deposits looked more like root beer flowing over the small waterfalls than the usual sparkling diamond like river water. Huge slabs of rock jutted up from the river bottom. It reminded me of the rock formations at Red Rocks Amphitheater in Colorado except black and in a river valley instead of on the side of a mountain.

View to the south from the bridge

The Swinging Bridge from the trail

Rock slabs rising up from the river bed

We arrived early around 8:30 in an attempt the get our sightseeing in before the crowds arrived late morning. It worked. We saw very few people on the rugged trail. The park was not a destination we had in mind when we decided to come here. It was recommended to us by a couple camping a few sites away who we have visited with almost daily. The first conversation was about the cats. Buster and Annie are great conversation starters as they lie around in our site wherever we are on their tethers. We meet a lot of people simply because they are initially curious about cats travelling.

We spent about 3 hours hiking around the area and marveling at the sheer force of nature. The area has been impacted not only by the tectonic plate shifts over the millennia but also volcanic activity and of course glacial activity. It is an incredibly unique and special area. With many miles of trails of varying degrees of difficulty most anyone can experience this place. I did a little birding along the way and did see a Warbling Vireo for the first time. But mostly we were focused on the rugged trail we were hiking and completely enchanted by the river bed we hiked along side and ventured out into a couple of times.

One of many tree roots exposed and gnarled from erosion over time

The trail was quite rugged. This was an easy area since it was flat through here

This baby squirrel didn't seem to care I was standing right there

Champ enjoying the view while I looked at birds

I am somewhat ashamed to admit that having spend most of my 55 years in Iowa this part of the world only 5 hours from my hometown has eluded me. We have really missed out not coming north with our camper over the years. But it is never too late to change right?

We are back at the campground enjoying our last day here. Tonight, we will brave going out in public in this new COVID society and go to a local historic brewery that’s been in operation since the late 1800’s for dinner. Then home tomorrow. Minnesota has been exceedingly kind to us this week. With picture perfect weather and miraculously no mosquitoes! We came armed with lots of repellent and never had it out. Pretty unbelievable for this area. We will leave here with many good memories, having met a few new people and a strong desire to return. If you want to learn more about this park go to: https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks/park.html?id=spk00187#homepage  and read more about it.

Until Next Time…