Adventures up the North Shore: Part 2

I think I should have named this mini-series of articles “Naps Up the Shore”. It seems like every time the sun combines with a Lake Superior shore view, I’m not able to do much aside from lean back and close my eyes.

This proved true on Sunday when I found myself laying out on a nice, big stone and wood plank picnic table overlooking the lake at Gooseberry Falls State Park. The picnic tables at Gooseberry are one of the many structures at the Park built by the 1930s-era Civilian Conservation Corps. The wood was obviously pretty stiff but I still managed to get in a good 10-minute nap while I tried to pretend it wasn’t 40 degrees and breezy.

Gooseberry is the most accessible state park north of Duluth on Lake Superior, at just an hour’s drive, and a popular one for many good reasons. The spectacular waterfalls at the park are convenient to walk to, the visitor center is top-notch and the trail down to the lake leads you to a section of beach where polished pebbles and large, craggy rocks alternate as you walk down the shore.

My visit on Sunday was the first time I had seen Gooseberry’s water falls in liquid form. The falls are a popular ice climbing spot, where RSOP leads winter trips and watching the whitewater crash over spots where I had kicked in crampon points and pulled myself up by ice tools was a little surreal. I wondered how many of the visitors I saw that day traipsing around on the rocks at the base of the waterfalls had seen them in their equally-spectacular winter form.

Gooseberry offers 18 miles of trails in all, some of which double as cross-country ski trails in the winter. For the first-time visitor, the trail down to Lake Superior is a must and takes you by two of the waterfalls and provides overlooks of Gooseberry River (at least until the trees fill in) in a 2-mile down-and-back easy hike.

Cyclists also have more reason to visit Gooseberry now that its 2.5 mile section of the Gitchi-Gami Bike Trail are completed. This paved trail runs along Lake Superior’s shore and currently almost 25 miles are completed (out of the eventual 86 miles that are planned).

On the drive up to Gooseberry, I visited Russ Kendall’s Smoke House. This beloved institution, on Scenic Highway 61 in Knife River, sells fish and jerky that’s smoked on site, cheeses, and touristy knick-knacks. I’ve been hearing about Russ Kendall’s since I moved to Duluth and bought fillets of Sugar-cured Smoked Silver Salmon and King Salmon from their deli-style counter.

I snacked on one of the fillets on the aforementioned picnic table and it didn’t disappoint: the sugar used in the curing process seemed to retain the flavor of the smoke in a way that I hadn’t previously tasted. I’ll definitely stop by Russ Kendall’s again and their hours of operation (9pm – 6pm every day, except Christmas) make it easy to visit.