Superior Hiking Trail #3-2 - Castle Danger to Gooseberry Falls State Park

Happy 100th post to me, thanks for reading! 

Superior Hiking Trail

Map 3 - Section 2

Castle Danger to Gooseberry Falls State Park

Date Hiked - May 11th, 2025

Miles - 14.2

Elevation Gain - 925 ft. 

This marks the point where I stopped trying to Hundred Percent the trail in complete sequential order.

I made no attempts to hide my disappointment with the majority of Map 2. Three hours of driving, no ridesharing available, only to end up wandering through brown grass, ticks, swamps, and not much else, I was on the precipice of abandoning the concept entirely. Therefore, skipping ahead a bit (and returning to do 3-1 at a different time), this reinvigorated my enthusiasm for the trail itself, even if the lack of ridesharing outside of Duluth caused this to be a much longer hike than intended. This would lead me to traverse other sections of this trail with a few hiking friends, or at the very least, bring other people to the North Shore with me who could hang out in the city and then come get me at the appropriate time. Though, due to life circumstances and proximity issues, the continuation of my progress would come at a much later date, as if the series of hikes in Washington didn't already indicate as such. 

Immediately this section starts with climbing up some giant-ass rocks to a lovely aerial view of the Gitchee Gumee. This is what was missing from the majority of Map 2, as the name implies some proximity to the lake itself, but a snowmobile trail through the trees considerably off the shore didn't provide nearly as much. The view from Mike's Rock far exceeds the expectations of such a name. I'm sure Mike is lovely, but in my head, I picture some guy standing on a boulder claiming it as his because he touched it first. 

The descent into the area of the Gooseberry River is a challenge of its own. Even in mid-May, a lot of the dead leaves from the ere winter still carpet the majority of the trail, and can make for an unexpected, involuntary launch down a jagged Slip'N'Slide if one isn't careful. While I wasn't expecting to run into many people on Map 2, the weather, the rising temperatures, and the proximity to Memorial Day had me a little more (pleasantly) surprised at my trek of solitude as the trail wound its way toward one of the most popular parks in the state. Once the river starts to bend, one has a choice of continuing on the main trail or taking a rather comparatively lengthy spur toward Gooseberry Falls State Park. Given that Lyft wasn't pinging anything and there would still be the hike back to the car to consider, I opted to journey the three miles to the visitor's center. I thought maybe being near such a touristy area might change my fortune, but I suppose nobody's taking a Lyft to Gooseberry when it already doubles as a rest area. 

I didn't even know there was a Fifth Falls farther up (down?) the trail, and it's considerably wider than the more famous and visited lower sections. That alone was worth the return trip.

Minnesota State Parks Revisited - January 4th, 2025 Redux - Gooseberry, Split Rock, Tettegouche, Temperance River, Cascade River, -30 Degrees

 

Gooseberry Falls State Park, Split Rock Lighthouse State Park, Tettegouche State Park, Temperance River State Park, Cascade River State Park

Date Hiked: December 13-14th

Trail Hiked: Gitchi Gummi Trail, Day Hill Trail, Shovel Point, Lookout Mountain Loop, Carlton and Tofte Peaks

Distance Hiked: 10.8 miles, 8.2 miles

Elevation Gain: 1437 ft,, 1152 ft. 

Duration: 4h 21m, 3h 31m

If I have a trait that can be considered both a blessing and a curse, at least in a hiking context, it's the drive to immediately outdo something that I considered impressive until the moment it was done. 

Burying bad memories underneath new ones to compensate is probably a close second. 

I've merged all these hikes into one entry. Four on the Saturday, one on the Sunday, I consider them a collective because of what they represented in my head at the time. If you've read my Hiking Club reviews, you know that my January 4th trilogy of hikes when it was -30 outside set the bar for what I considered one of my biggest hiking accomplishments of the year. 

Unfortunately, those are laced with bad and redacted memories now, and when put in the position where the time and context are right, even something that stupid and dangerous needs to be outdone. I was at my favorite inn up north, the weather was nearly identical to January 4th, and instead of having to drive up there, I woke up right in the middle of all them already. -30 wind chills, overwhelming bright sun, sea smoke, Minnesota State Parks, but also, about 450 hikes in between created a capstone for a year that began with checking boxes and ended with returning to frozen roots/routes. 

Yes, two of these parks I did a few weeks before January 4th, but I didn't want to just outdo time and distance. Why continue highlighting a day with three state parks hiked when I could do four under the same dangerous circumstances? It made sense in my head at the time.

First, my old friend Gitchi Gummi, before I had the amazing thought that maybe ice spikes would be a good idea when walking on cliffs while they're covered in ice. This time, it was a breeze, and at times I could even feel my face for a few seconds. 

Second, Split Rock. With the snow at least ten inches deep, the daylight being limited, and at least two parks to go to complete my arbitrary quest, I opted for the Day Hill loop as opposed to the full Hiking Club route. While pursuing the Hiking Club would've made this a problem, I was doing this strictly because I felt like it, and perhaps also working on my Hiking Club Adventure Labs (4 done, 8 to go). 

Third, Tettegouche. It's still a point. With Shovels.

Fourth, and the official end of my ice spikes, Cascade River. My best-ranked Hiking Club state park, and that still stands after revisiting many of them when it's not Jupiter outside. 

Then on Sunday at Temperance River, I combined this ridiculous quest with my ongoing pursuit of hundred-percenting the Superior Hiking Trail, so I'll delve in more deeply on that entry. In January, all the hikes combined didn't match the distance or elevation gain from this one alone.

The view from Carlton Peak alone made it all worth it. 

Minnesota Hiking Club #16 - Gooseberry Falls State Park

 

Minnesota Hiking Club

#16 - Gooseberry Falls State Park

Date Hiked: December 22nd, 2024

Other Hikes That Day: Split Rock Lighthouse State Park

Wanderloon Ranking System Score: 3.92

This is where it all started, in more ways than one.

Yes, this was my first stamp and my first Hiking Club trail of this speedrun, but it's more than that. This was the first Minnesota State Park I ever visited, years ago before I even lived here. I walked on a waterfall for the first time while I was on spring break from university. An unseasonably warm day, I was in a t-shirt and standing on a frozen waterfall on a lovely March day. That was the first time I even knew about the North Shore, let alone Split Rock Lighthouse, Two Harbors, or anything else. I owe Jerry a great deal for taking that road trip with me. He didn't have to go with me that day, I was just his kid's friend and he'd met me one time. Yet, he not only did that but wrote me a letter of recommendation for grad school. Wherever he is, I hope he's well. 

I say this was my first Hiking Club trail in more ways than one too. 

The Hiking Club and Passport booklets had been sitting on my table. A brief foray into a hiking-specific Instagram led me to discover that the Hiking Club was even a thing, and when I saw there were two options, I was a bit extra (as always) and decided to do both. It wasn't until I got the yearlong pass that I opened up the book and started figuring out where to go. Most of the names I didn't recognize, as I'm not from here and have mostly traveled along the eastern border of the state, both north and south. The two names (other than Fort Snelling, it was winter and I couldn't go there) that I knew: Gooseberry Falls and Split Rock Lighthouse. Those I could do.

But also, I'd hiked this exact trail before without knowing I could get credit for it. 

On a long Geocaching hike when the weather was perfect, I wanted to see Gooseberry but also needed to be far away from the hoards of tourists. I saw a single Geocache way out in the park, and the only way to get to it was to cross the bridge over the falls and follow a trail out to a cliff. I got that find, and the view I would see from that giant ridge down into the valley looked very familiar when I did my first Hiking Club trail. Though this time the trail was covered in ice, and those cliffs were a lot scarier upon realizing one bad slip and my booklets would remain forever one and only. 

Yes, this is personal and anecdotal, but what the hell else am I gonna write about Gooseberry Falls State Park that nobody else has? Multiple tiers of waterfalls, frozen in the winter, a ubiquitous rest stop always. The Hiking Club trail is on the side without all the people, tread carefully. It's a long way down. It's awesome.