Superior Hiking Trail, Castle Danger-Beaver Bay
May 28-30, 2008, 28 miles
With a new wheel bearing in the Subaru and new hiking boots from REI (and consequently no money in my checking account), I set out for my second trip on the Superior Hiking Trail. My first was in the fall of 2003, also my first backpacking trip ever - one of Carleton's "pre-frosh" trips. This time I was alone, with somewhat more experience and a goal of walking far and burning calories. I chose the section from Castle Danger to Beaver Bay - one that provided a good combination of waterfalls, ridge walks, and lake views.
From the trailhead, the trail climbed steeply to Wolf Rock, with excellent views of new leaves and azure waters under perfectly clear skies.
Lake Superior from Wolf Rock
After Wolf Rock, the trail follows a wooded ridge for about three miles to Mike's Rock, another outcrop with more views of the lake. From there, the route descends through flat, wet forest until it reaches the Gooseberry River.
I found this tame deer next to the trail in the woods before the Gooseberry River. It looked too thin, and I wondered if its lack of fear might have been due to some illness. It watched me walk by but never ran away.
The trail follows the Gooseberry River - a slow meandering stream at this point - for almost four miles. I soon began to wish for a high ridge or deep forest rather than the dense willows along the stream, but this stretch did have its perks in the abundant redstarts and chestnut-sided warblers.
A fern patch near the Gooseberry River
Birds, especially warblers, were the primary highlight of this trip, and they were everywhere. Black-throated green warblers, redstarts (in the picture above), chestnut-sided warblers, and blackburnian warblers were the most common, but I also found magnolia warblers, yellow-rumped warblers, Nashville warblers, ovenbirds, black-and-white warblers, a mourning warbler, and a Wilson's warbler. White-throated sparrows sang day and night, and evenings brought Veery songs, drumming grouse, and the occasional whip-poor-will. I passed a calling broad-winged hawk on the first day, and I flushed a bald eagle from the Gooseberry River. Since I didn't bring my binoculars (because I don't like to hike with both binoculars and camera around my neck), I used pishing to bring in the warblers and whoever else was drawn to the sound.
I made camp near the river just outside Gooseberry Falls State Park, at one of the many established campsites along the trail. It was a cool, clear night, but not too cold, and I slept well.
Friday, a 14-mile day, started with two more miles along the Gooseberry River, which transforms from a meandering stream to a cascading torrent as it approaches the lake. This is the famous Gooseberry Falls that attracts so many visitors.
The new Highway 61 bridge over the Gooseberry River is quite an engineering feat, given that the road above is on a banked curve while the arch below is straight. The right arch is slightly taller than the left one to match the banking of the road.
Not the best picture, but how often can you catch a red-breasted nuthatch and a black-throated green warbler in the same frame? These little jewels came in response to my pishing and were about 5-6 feet from me when I snapped this picture.
Another shot of the black-throated green.
After Gooseberry Falls, the trail traverses ~3 miles of relatively flat forest before climbing to Bread Loaf Ridge, a flat-topped outcropping only ~1/2 mile from the lake that provides great views. Fragrant chokecherries were in bloom on the ridge, along with some unique rock-outcrop plants.
I found quite a few of these pink-and-yellow flowers on slender stalks, always in dry soil over rock.
I only found one of these on the whole hike. (The flower is ~3 inches across - that is a medium-large black ant for scale.)
From Bread Loaf Ridge, the trail descends into Split Rock State Park, where it passes this beautiful little waterfall before reaching the Split Rock River.
The trail follows the Split Rock River upstream for about two miles, passing many waterfalls as the stream cascades over hard rhyolite rock.
Somebody put a lot of work into this bridge, completed last year after the previous one was destroyed by an ice jam. The bridge looks strong but needs some metal reinforcement to prevent it from swaying side-to-side.