Day 4 (Monday) -- Cascade River

As we began the drive back south, we made our first hiking stop of the day at Cascade River. It is my understanding that Cascade River begins in a lake in the Boundary Waters, and eventually empties into Lake Superior.

After a very short hike, you can start to hear the water rushing, and then . . .

. . . yeowza! The river was high, fast, noisy, and those falls were damn impressive. Dan and I agreed that Cascade River was much more impressive than Gooseberry Falls, and much less crowded.

We continued up and along the river for a while, and the river continued to impress us. There were several areas where you could climb out on the rocks overlooking the river and falls.


Dan pointed this out:

I believe he used the phrase "stabbing the sky" to describe this dying birch tree.

After turning off the main trail into a less-travelled trail along the creek and up "Lookout Mountain," which we never made it to the top of, we returned to the river and hiked along to the end. There goes the river, under the highway and into Lake Superior!


Here comes the river:


River water rushing out and mixing with lake water:


Beautiful afternoon sun:


I convinced Dan, even though it was only about 50 degrees out, (and the lake water had to have been MUCH colder,) to go wading. Dan's feet:

I think this is my favorite picture from this trip.

After Dan dried his feet and put his shoes back on, we returned to the car and continued south, planning one more stop before dinner.