Outrunning Migation - Part 16 - Chasing Waterfalls (Cascade River)

Still feeling pretty good on the day I decided I would head back towards my hotel in Tofte after a great hike at Grand Portage State Park, but I would divert and begin to explore Cascade River State Park first. This would give me 3 parks on the day and put me a bit ahead of schedule so I could maybe do something a bit extra on my way back to home the next day.

That is a dude, just having fun like he's a kid again.

This decision did mean I would end up short changing Cascade River State Park a little bit. I ended up looking at trail segments so I could chase the waterfalls a bit as well as the lake edge. Beyond that I didn't wander a lot of trail space only clocking in about 2 miles in roughly 2 hours of slow hiking. I really enjoyed the park and found myself mostly alone during my entire visit. I got a nice look at the mouth of the river dumping into the lake along with a pair of Common Merganser hunting close to this area as well.

This pair of Common Merganser was working the mouth of the river as it dumped into the lake. Presumably fishing was really good in this spot.

The river itself produced some excellent falls to view and the narrow slot canyon this river flows on makes for some fun roiling/boiling water as it drops down into pothole after pothole on the way to the lake. To be honest I really did short this park as miles of trails with a few good looking overlooks were skipped in favor of making my trip down shore much easier. My bird list was just 10 total species as much of the time the falls drown out bird song and I was using the afternoon hours that would typically be quiet anyway.

 

This view appear to be the one on the entrance sign itself.

My best find was a Northern Harrier flying over the landscape at one point, which seemed a bit out of place because I was standing in the woods at the time so likely a bird just riding some wind currents while looking to move back to a swampy open area for true hunting grounds.


I also see a number of trail segments that are a nice big loop off river so the presumption is that some outstanding birding and habitat await in this park. I'll chalk it up to a future exercise and look forward greatly to visiting this under mentioned park in the future for some next level hiking.


The Great: The waterfalls on the Cascade are excellent and a bit more unique than the others you see on the north shore due to the narrow canyon like look of the river space. Birding was a bit weak, but again I stayed close to noisy waters and was out front of peak migration for this part of the north.


The Meh: I don't have much to be say towards the drawback side because it wouldn't be fair without doing a much larger hiking effort in the park. It was quiet, even with several trails near the road, though I suspect the lakeside trail that is between the highway and lake might be a bit loud so something to think about.


The Verdict: I must come back in the future. I left way to much on the table to not come back for a bigger hiker. I look forward to doing so in the future.