Temperance River State Park

In late August, my son and I ventured north of Duluth to explore and camp at Temperance River State Park. Neither of us had ever been to this park, so it was going to be a new experience for both of us. We picked this park to camp at due to its proximity to miles and miles of the Superior Hiking Trail. Before we booked our reservations at the park, we did our research to find a good location to hit the trail from daily. This park was the place to be for hiking.

After a four hour drive, we arrived at the park. The park is located along Highway 61 and sits right on the western shore of Lake Superior. When we arrived at the park, we found the park office and check in. We learned that our campsite was not located anywhere near the park office, and was in fact located about ¼ mile back down highway 61. So we got back in the car and headed south. As we pulled into the campground, the road took us on a loop that drove up close to the Lake. We were hoping our camping spot would be located right near the water, but that was not the case. We traveled inwards from the lake and found our campsite. We set up our tent, got everything ready and made a simple meal of hot dogs, chips, beans and smores. Nothing beats a cheap hotdog cooked over a hot fire!

So we were already for a night of good sleep in the tent. However, much to our dismay, we soon learned that our campsite backed up to Highway 61, we just couldn’t see the road through all the trees. As we laid down and attempted to sleep, all we could hear was cars cruising by on the road. Finally, about 11:30 p.m. traffic seamed to slow down and we finally fell asleep. But not for long. At exactly 6:30 a.m. we heard the unwelcomed sound of semi- trucks braking down to 45 miles per hour, the speed limit in front of the state park. Once they got past the park, we could hear them shifting back up to a higher speed. Lesson learned, don’t camp along Highway 61 unless you are super close to Lake Superior and the waves coming in can mask the car noise.

Other than the obnoxious vehicle noise, this was a great park. It sat right on the shores of Lake Superior, which is visually stunning to look at no matter the time of year. Another perk of this park was the location to the Superior Hiking Trail. We did not have to drive to any trailhead, merely walk across the Highway, hike through the park and connect up with the trail. Another bonus at this park was the drinking water. Not too far from our campsite was an artesian spring. It flowed constantly and we filled up our water bottles before every hike. We actually brought water from home to drink, but the parks water tasted so good that we used our water to wash dishes. On our last day at the park, we even filled up our bottles to take a little taste of the park home with us. Lastly, from the perspective of someone who lives in a major metropolitan area, the darkness at the park was awesome for stargazing. We even saw shooting stars several times every night.

I would highly recommend this park to anyone interested in visiting the north shore or hiking on the Superior Hiking Trail. My only recommendation would be to reserve a campsite along the water’s edge so you don’t have to listen to traffic going by.

Superior Hiking Trail

The 4^th week of August ended up being the week we checked out the Superior Hiking Trail, located in Northern Minnesota. We attempted to go earlier in August, but due to the State of Minnesota’s new campground reservation policy, we could not plan a semi-spur of the moment trip. Apparently, all sites can now be reserved a year in advance, and if you don’t know quite when you can go, and don’t reserve at least 9 months to a year in advance, you are going to have a hard time getting a site to camp at. More on that in a later posting.

We headed up north to our camping destination, Temperance River State Park. We had never been to this park and did not know what to expect. We arrived in the afternoon and checked in at the park office. We were told that our site was located in the lower campground, not the campground where we checked in at. This turned out to be both good and bad, more on that in a later posting as well.

The first trail we attempted was the Temperance River Trail. We began this trail on Tuesday afternoon and hiked about 5 miles that day. The trail followed the Temperance River, basically from the end of the river (which ends in Lake Superior), following the river westward. The trail was relatively flat, there were a few areas where we had to go up some rock type steps, but it basically ran up one side of the river to a bridge. You could then cross the bridge and walk back down to Lake Superior. When the trail entered the state park, it was basically a series of stairs you followed down to Lake Superior. Once you reached the lake, you could climb out on the rocks and rest, which is exactly what we did. My son and I sat out on the rocks for an hour or so, just watching the waves come in and crash to the shore. It was a beautiful day and was nice just to sit and enjoy the view. This was a nice trail because once you got past the first mile or so, there was no one else on the trail.

On Wednesday, we decided to tackle the Carlton Peak Trail. This trail left from Highway 61 at a parking area for Temperance River State Park. The trail follows the Temperance River for a few miles and then turns inland. The trail was marked quite well and easy to follow. We hiked through forest and a few marshy areas. In one such area, I must have scared up some ground bees, because shortly thereafter my son started screaming at me to run. By the time we had slowed down, he had acquired 3 nice bee stings. Lucky for him he is not allergic to bees and had a knife along and was able to get the stingers out of his leg.

The trail continued on until we reached a very rocky area, which was the assent to the top of Carlton Peak. This was the hardest part of the hike, and included a very quick ascent to the top of the peak. We were not sure if we were even on the trail as we basically climbed up a sheer wall of rock to reach the top. Once on the top, we took in the view and sat down to rest. According to the guidebooks about this particular trail, we were supposed to be able to have a great view of Lake Superior from the Peak. What we noticed instead was the view to the lake was blocked by trees, but the view of the forest behind us was pretty spectacular. After a short rest, we started back down the peak and headed back to the trail to return to the trail head. This trail was an out and back, so we saw pretty much the same scenery on the way back. We came across the bee area again and this time thought we had made it through unscathed. My son was commenting on how we had passed the bee area, and just then, “bam” another bee got him and he again yelled at me to run. We got past the bees with only one sting for him, zero for me.

Guess being the trail blazer has its benefits.