WAPPY GOOSEBERRY

We had our campsite reserved through Wednesday night. However, we had to be in Cedar Falls, Iowa on Friday. When I planned the trip, breaking camp Thursday morning and driving all the way to Iowa in one day seemed realistic. However, I began to doubt this as the trip went on. Packing up would take several hours. The 8 hour drive would take at least 10. It was a bad plan.

I booked us a free hotel room in Minneapolis for Wednesday night. That would break up the drive and get us to Iowa earlier on Thursday. Unfortunately, that meant that we had less time to spend in Minnesota. Although we had hit a bunch of cool spots along Minnesota’s North Shore, there were still many others that we hadn’t had time for.

On Wednesday morning we got up early and started packing right away. Skipping the whole breakfast cooking / eating / clean up process saved a lot of time. We drove to Finland, where we stopped for breakfast. There weren’t many options (1, maybe 2?), and it wasn’t particularly good, but it served its purpose. From there it was a short drive to a pulloff at the beginning of a short trail to Illgen Falls on the Baptism River. Illgen Falls is a mile or two upstream from High Falls on the Baptism River, which had been our first hike in Minnesota.

Christy decided to skip this one. I made quick work of the short, easy hike down to a cliff with a great view of an impressive waterfall.

From there we headed back towards Duluth. Our next stop was at Gooseberry Falls State Park. This park was a zoo when we stopped there on Saturday. Mid-day on a Wednesday it was slightly better – we got the last parking spot. Christy skipped this hike, but I carried Jackson. First up was Lower Gooseberry Falls. It is an impressive run of falls and cascades over several tiers. It is very popular though – there were people everywhere. Photography was nearly impossible. If you want to get good photos here, I recommend starting early in the morning on a rainy, midweek day. In January.

I reached the river at the upper tier of the lower falls and headed downstream, stopping at each appealing vantage point. My favorite was from an overlook on the river left side. That vantage point would be ideal for a photo, if you can get it without swarms of people in the way.

From there I headed upstream, passing the brink of the lower falls. I continued upstream a short distance to a great view of the upper falls. Upper Gooseberry Falls is smaller, but more photogenic. There were some people in the way when I arrived, but they left a couple of minute later. I took some photos and then headed to the Visitors Center, where I met Christy.

We drove from there to the south side of Minneapolis. We went out to dinner and then headed back to the hotel for the night. The next morning we met up with Christy’s friend Lindsey for breakfast. They had become friends while they were both living in Rocky Mount, NC in the late 90’s. It was great catching up with Lindsey!

Back to Minnesota

Back to Hiking and Backpacking Trip Reports

Home

Please remember to Leave No Trace!