Jay Cooke State Park

I just remembered I had some pictures to post of my visit to Jay Cooke State Park near Duluth last weekend. The fall colors were, overall, pretty good, although the park rangers who wrote up the report for the park on the DNR website made them sound better than I found them to be.

In any case, it was another fun visit to a state park. If you're not familar with Jay Cooke State Park, very briefly, I give you a little descrption. It's situated about 15 miles to the south-southwest of downtown Duluth. The beautiful St. Louis River flows through the middle of the park and is the primary attraction. The river features very deep canyons and raging rapids and waterfalls, though a calmer section of it is also located within the park's boundaries. The park also features miles and miles of hiking trails, most of which follow the path of the river.

Take a look at these pictures I took:

Although not every tree had changed, there were some pretty vibrant colors near Oldenburg Point


The view from Oldenburg Point


Giant rocks made of slate are exposed all over the park, particularly near the river


Trees weren't the only vegetation changing colors


Along the river, after crossing the swinging bridge


The colors along the river


This was taken while standing atop a large rock overlooking the river


The rock used to get the picture seen above


More rocks and colorful trees


Yellow trees


An overview of what the river looks like after crossing the swinging bridge


Some more rocks that people were standing on alongside the river


A very, very soothing part of the river. The water here was trickling very slowly and gently over the rocks, sounding like one of those machines that people buy to help them sleep


A calmer section of the river, as evidenced by the reflection of the trees in the water


More reflections in the water


The swinging bridge to get across the river. It can make you dizzy if you go across when alot of other people are on it, because it really does move alot, especially in the very middle.


A view south of the bridge


A view north of the bridge


Many wildflowers were still in full bloom


Canoeists on the calmer part of the St. Louis River


A view from the scenic overlook off of MN Highway 23. This land is still within the park's boundaries.


Another view from the scenic overlook


A purely accidental shot along the highway. I was going to take just a picture of the railroad yard with the buildings of downtown Duluth in the background, but ended up clicking my camera at precisely the same time as I passed the Duluth sign along the highway.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures. The DNR does, as I sent some pictures in from this and my last trip to look at fall colors and they were all published onto their fall colors website.

Savanna Portage State Park

I would have liked to have been able to write more about the pictures I’m about to present to you, but since my time to do such things as been small as of late, you’ll have to settle with a shorter, less explanative post. Basically, I just wanted to share some of the pictures I took over the weekend before they become too old to be considered recent. The pictures you can see below were all taken at Savanna Portage State Park, about 15 miles north of McGregor, MN in Aitkin County.

There were a couple of reasons why I was at this state park last weekend, but the primary one was to look at the fall colors. The Minnesota DNR’s web page is keeping close tabs on all of the fall colors in every state park throughout the state, and I read that Savanna Portage was experiencing some really nice colors. Along with seeing the colors, I also wanted to get out and do some geocaching. Much to my surprise, I discovered there was a geocache within Savanna Portage State Park.

Although I had planned to go the other caches around the park, I didn’t actually get to them. Not only was Saturday the opening of the small game hunting season – which meant there were a lot of hunters out and about in the woods – I also really enjoyed the park, and did not want to leave until I saw all of the major attractions that it offered.

Check out the pictures below. As you can see, while some trees were visibly pretty vivid, the majority of the trees have not yet begun to change colors, or have done so only slightly. In any case, I still had a really good time; it was a great way to spend a nice Saturday afternoon.


Some colors can be seen off the shore of Loon Lake


Here's some color on a tree next to Loon Lake


Another shot of Loon Lake


Colorful leaves and Loon Lake in the background


This deer was roaming around the side of the main road that goes through the park


One of the scenic overlooks in the park. The spot this picture was taken at is a continental divide. All of the water downhill from where I was standing flows into Lake Superior (eventually the Atlantic Ocean) and all the water behind the spot I was standing at flows into the Mississippi River (eventually the Gulf of Mexico). Way back toward the horizon, about 5 miles away, also marks the St. Louis-Aitkin County border


The main road in the park, and a sign directing hikers to the scenic overlook


A shot of Lake Shumway. Two people can be seen fishing in this picture.


About half a mile north of Lake Shumway was the very interesting "Interpretive Bog Walk," where I learned a lot about life in a bog. Here's a picture of the bog itself.


This is a picture of the mossy floor of the part of the bog that has dried up.