THE BIG ONE

The plan for Monday was to drive to Grand Portage State Park, which is just before the Canadian border. The park features some interesting history and the tallest waterfall in Minnesota. High Falls on the Pigeon River is listed at 120’. Did you know that Minnesota has waterfalls that big? I certainly didn’t. Obviously we needed to see it.

The Pigeon River forms the border between Ontario and Minnesota. So technically half of the waterfall is in Canada. In that sense, it is a little bit like a more famous waterfall on the border of Ontario and New York. Good lord, how big is Ontario, anyway?

It took a couple of hours to get there from the campground. It was a nice drive though, with more small towns and many views of Lake Superior. When we arrived at the park we started with lunch in a picnic area. Afterwards, we did the easy, 1.2 mile round trip hike to High Falls. It was an easy trail, and we took a quick side trip on a spur path that led to First Rapids. It’s a cool spot where the Pigeon River emerges from a deep, narrow gorge.

We returned to the trail, which ends with 3 platforms offering different vantage points of the waterfall. The waterfall is big, powerful, and impressive. It drops over a massive cliff into a turbulent pool down in a rugged gorge. Although the base of the waterfall isn’t realistically accessible, the developed overlooks provide good views. Fortunately the park wasn’t very busy, so the overlooks weren’t crowded.

The trail continues upstream to 20’ Middle Falls. That is a much longer hike though, at 4.5 miles round trip, and our time was limited. The name Middle Falls implies that there is another waterfall upstream, but there isn’t much information online about it. It sounds like Middle Falls and the other waterfall or waterfalls upstream are easier to reach from the Ontario side.

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