Judge CR Magney State Park

Judge C.R. Magney State Park is the seventh park you will encounter along the North Shore. Devil’s Kettle Falls is the main draw here. This is a very unusual, and even mysterious waterfall. As you can see in the featured image, the river is split in two as it goes over the falls. The section on the right, lands at the base of the falls and continues downstream. The section on the left vanishes into a pothole known as the Devil’s Kettle and no one knows where it goes. It is believed that the water makes its way out to Lake Superior by means of underground passages, but the exact details are unknown. They have thrown dyes and logs and other things into the pothole, but apparently nothing ever comes out. If you have ever worried about falling over a waterfall, imagine falling into the Devil’s Kettle. Read more on Devil’s Kettle…

History

Concrete foundations in the campground and picnic areas of the park are remnants of a transient work camp built there in 1934 by the State. The camp provided work and lodging for men displaced during the Depression years. In addition to building trails, logging, and completing public service projects, these men helped fight a fire in 1935 that burned more than 10,000 acres in the area. Later the men set up a sawmill and began to salvage fire-damaged wood.

In 1957, a 940-acre parcel of forest along the Brule River was set aside as Brule River State Park. The park became Judge C. R. Magney State Park in 1963 when the Minnesota legislature selected this park as a memorial to the late Judge Magney, a lawyer, mayor of Duluth, justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court, and a strong advocate of Minnesota State Parks, especially those along the North Shore. With his influence, he was instrumental in establishing 11 state parks and waysides along Lake Superior. Over the years, parcels of land have been added to the park which today totals 4,642 acres.

Park Features

More than half of those 4,642 acres have no trails. The upper two-thirds of land this park occupies has almost no trails. The only trail runs parallel with the Brule River and eventually veers off to connect with the Superior Hiking Trail. There are 9 total miles of hiking trails in the park. This park has a good amount of semi-modern drive-up campsites. Fishing opportunities are plentiful here on the Brule River or a tributary, Gauthier Creek, for Brook and Rainbow Trout. The Spring time brings on the Steelhead run and Fall host the Salmon run.

Here are my shots of Judge C. R. Magney from a recent visit.

Cascade River State Park

Cascade River State Park is the sixth park you will encounter while traveling the North Shore. This park doesn’t have much of a presence right off the road; there is a wayside that looks out over Lake Superior, but the best parts are along the easy hiking trails opposite the lake. These cascades are spectacular. The River cascades over one ledge after another as it drops 900 feet in the last three miles as it makes its way to Lake Superior. The volcanic canyon is home to many fragrant cedar trees and we even stumbled upon some lady slippers in bloom. The 18 miles of hiking trails loop up around Lookout and Mouse mountains as well as parallel Lake Superior right along the beach (1.5 miles) where you will find seven picnic sites. This park offers a variety of camping options which include several semi-modern drive-up, two group camps and five back pack-in sites.

I think this was by far our favorite park of the trip. The cascades are just so beautiful as our your complete surroundings. I definitely would like to make plans to return here in the Fall for the leaf color. From Temperance River on up is my favorite stretch of the MN North Shore. I stumbled upon the Trifecta: Three Parks. Three Trails. Three Days. This would be absolutely fantastic to do – especially along this stretch of the North Shore.

Park History

Years ago, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) had a camp at the Cascade River. The men in this camp worked on a variety of conservation projects. Today, you can see some of their handiwork on the trails that wind along the river. One enrollee told how they cut and moved the large pine logs from Cascade down to Gooseberry Falls State Park to finish buildings in that park. From the beginning, Cascade was thought of as a state park, but it wasn’t until 1957 that it was officially designated as such. – wikipedia

Here are my shots from my recent visit to Cascade River State Park.