My Old Enemy…. Stairs!

[lydamorehouse]

 Since we were due for another grocery run, Mason and I decided to check out Judge C. R. Magney State Park and the (in)famous “Devil’s Kettle” waterfall.  This year I picked up a guide to the waterfalls of Minnesota and so I had read that there would not only be a lot of uphill hiking, but also… stairs.

 

Image: so many wooden stairs.
 

 

I’d thought, given all my recent hiking, that I was up for this. I mean, I am asthmatic, I knew the stairs would be trouble (I am never without my recue inhaler.) However, I figured the rest of the trail would be fine. It was? But, with Mason along I really noticed just how slowly I tackle these hills. Luckily, my boy is deeply patient. 

 

Image: my big smol, waiting.
 

 

This, however, was extremely worth it, from the start.  

 

 

At the beginning of the trail head, you cross the rapids of the Brule River.  There’s just something about a rushing river? I love the sound of it, if nothing else. Once up the steep trail and down the 117 steps, you come to the lower falls. 

 

 

The lower falls are magnificent on their own.  If this had been the destination of any of my previous hikes, would have been deeply satisfied with this view alone. When Mason was smol, we would likely have spent hours here, playing on the wet rocks and watching the spray. 

 

Only another 700 feet to Devil’s Kettle, however, so we pushed on. 

 

It was a tough 700 feet? But, we made it and, again, totally worth it.

 

 

The waterfall on the left is considered “Devil’s Kettle” because the water goes in at speeds and never comes out anywhere people have been able to discover. There have been several attempts to figure out where it goes—dyed water, a ping pong ball, etc. No one has ever found any trace of anything that’s ever gone down into the kettle. Lake Superior is not far away, so the best guess is that the water travels through a series of underground caves and empties somewhere out in the big lake. 

 

Today (Tuesday) it’s 10 am and we’ve already had a big adventure. Somehow, Shawn and I managed to tip the canoe! We always hug the shoreline (and I’d stopped to pee,) but we were both safely back in the boat. Somehow, in our maneuvering out from the shoreline, ope! Over we went! Completely. It was slow? Like horror-movie slow? And, then we stood there in waist deep water wondering how the heck we were going to tip the aluminum canoe over and get the water out. Believe it or not, we managed it! I was soaked enough that I decided to take off my hoodie. I moved my phone from my shorts pocket to my bra (which was mostly still dry.) Shawn was in jeans and didn’t take anything off and she came back far more frigid than I did. Hot showers got us all in ship shape, however. 

 

My phone is currently working? We’ll see if that lasts.