Cascade River State Park

The Cascade River gets its name honestly. In its final run to Lake Superior it tumbles down one rock ledge after another, dropping roughly nine hundred feet over the last three miles, so instead of one grand fall you get a long series of cascades chained together down the gorge. The largest and best known are close to Highway 61, reachable by a short walk from the wayside parking, which makes this one of the easiest waterfall stops on the whole North Shore.

But the park rewards anyone willing to climb. Wooden stairs and railed footbridges cross and recross the river as it drops, and from the main observation deck you can look up at six cascades stacked above you and one more below, all at once. The rock is dark volcanic basalt, so the white water stands out sharply against it, and the spray keeps the mossy banks a deep, wet green through the warm months.

Beyond the falls, the park holds miles of hiking trail that climb from the lakeshore up into the Sawtooth Mountains. The signature climb leads to Lookout Mountain, where a rocky overlook opens onto a sweeping view across the forested hills to the vast blue plate of Lake Superior. On a clear day the lake stretches to a flat horizon like an ocean, which in a sense it is, holding more fresh water than any other lake on earth.

The busiest of these paths were laid out and built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s, the young men of the Depression-era work program whose neatly cut stone steps and timber work you can still see and walk on today. The park connects to the long-distance Superior Hiking Trail, which threads the entire North Shore, and to the North Shore State Trail, so it works as both a quick roadside stop and a gateway to serious backcountry hiking.

This is boreal forest, the northern woods of birch, balsam fir, and spruce that carpet the Sawtooth Mountains, and in early summer the ground blooms with pink lady's slipper orchids, bunchberry, and club moss along the trails. It is quiet country where you are far more likely to hear the river and the wind in the spruce than another hiker once you leave the main falls.

Each season shows the park a different way. Spring snowmelt makes the cascades roar their loudest, summer brings the greenest gorge and the longest hikes, and autumn sets the birches ablaze in gold against the black rock, which is when many people say the North Shore is at its finest. In winter the falls freeze into pillars of ice and the trails turn to cross-country ski and snowshoe routes, so the park never really closes, it just changes its clothes.

The park lies right on Highway 61, the North Shore Scenic Byway, about nine miles southwest of Grand Marais and a short drive from the Lutsen area. The main falls are an easy walk from the wayside parking, so even travelers short on time can see the best of the river, while those with a few hours can climb the gorge and tackle Lookout Mountain. Grand Marais to the northeast is the closest full-service town for food, gas, and a room.

Come dressed for the woods and the weather, since the North Shore stays cool and the gorge stays damp. Watch your footing on the wet stairs and railings beside the fast water, keep an eye on children near the drop-offs, and give yourself time to simply stand on the observation deck and take in a whole staircase of waterfalls at once. It is one of those rare places where the biggest reward asks the least effort, and yet keeps giving more the higher you are willing to climb.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.