A beautiful state park! The campground and trails are incredible and very well maintained…read more We stayed at site 55 in the lower campground. A great site and fairly secluded considering it was in the middle of the campground. They have beautiful sites that sit right at the shoreline of Lake Superior but the downfall to that is your right next to the public picnic area. So scenic view, yes, but can get quite busy around your site. The lower campground only has pit toilets but the upper campground is about a 8-10 minute walk where they have beautiful bathrooms! If you're camping in the lower campground, the turn into the park is BEFORE you get to the main entrance. It took us a bit to figure out how to get to our site. But now we know! One thing that surprised me was how quiet the campground was. The moment it hit 9:30/9:45pm it was SILENT. A high level of respect for the "quiet hours" but I will say highway 61 is very close to the sites so you will hear highway noise all day and night. It never bothered us but worth the mention if you're a light sleeper.

Spending time along the north shore is always a joy. It's a hike to get to from the cities, but the…read moredrive is worth it. I appreciate the camping location off the highway but a quick walk to the lake from the campgrounds. Listening to the waves crash from the campsite is such a calm and relaxing experience. It is a little strange to have parking outside of the actual park for people to visit the two sections on either side of the river. A little inconvenient if you're in the park and want to walk over that way, in my opinion. This is one difficult locations to book for camping if you're looking for a weekend. There is no dump station at this park, so we usually have to drive about 40 min to another park with one.

If you are choosing just one trail to hike in Lutsen, this it it. This easy 2.5 mile loop trail…read moreoffers stunning views with multiple scenic spots of Oberg Lake, Lake Superior and surrounding mountains. It's especially magical at sunset and during fall, when the landscape is alive with vibrant colors.

This trail is beautiful to hike in the fall! It's not to far off the road, so accessibility is…read morenice. I would say it's my favorite trail in Tofte. It offers great views of Lake Superior, the rich greens of of trees, and Oberg lake itself. The trail seems well maintained and it's pretty easy to figure out where you're going!

Beautiful! And well worth the stop. Day pass costs $7 dollars. Really enjoyed my visit to this park…read more10/10.

Cascade is a gem of a state park on the North Shore that truly has something for everyone…read more If you're looking to just visit the waterfalls, it's an easy walk less than a mile from the roadside parking into the falls! Great for children and folks who don't want to walk far. If you're looking for more, there are several trails you can take! We ended up doing a 4-mile moderate hike to the lookout point in the park - and it delivered with stunning views of Lake Superior and the trees from up high. I'll definitely be doing this one again in the fall for foliage views! I'll let the photos do the talking for this review :) The trails are mostly well-maintained, the scenery is wonderful, and we're so lucky to have yet another stunning, waterfall-laden State Park on the North Shore.

Because this state park has a rest area, the admission is free. You only need to pay entry if…read moreyou're going to the campground or driving down to the Lakeshore. You can see the Falls and hike the upper areas for free. Friendly staff, small nature, center, restrooms, vending. Ample free parking. The fall cells are pretty cool. It was fairly busy so there were a lot of people around. If you walk to the other side of the highway and hike up there, there are far fewer people.

Gorgeous state park north of Duluth in Northern Minnesota that you should definitely take the time…read moreto visit. We were lucky enough to go on a Monday in April when it wasn't that crowded. It felt like we had the trails to ourselves. Still lots of snow on the trails, and the river and waterfalls were covered in snow and ice that added to its beauty. We had a great time exploring for two hours before heading home. There is a decent sized parking lot (though I'm told it gets packed in warmer months). The visitors center is clean, informative, spacious, with a neat gift shop to satisfy all of your outdoorsy heart's desires. The best part: visitors center, parking, trail access: it's all free!

This is such a fun beach and about an hour-ish north from Duluth!…read more There is a small parking lot(free) and if you get lucky, you may be able to park there! Otherwise there is street parking and overflow!(both free) There is a golf cart that takes people back and forth from overflow to the beach for free! He does work off of tips, so be sure to throw some money his way! He is super nice, places music and has a cool bubble machine! You will walk down a short path and then... BEACH TIME!!! The beach has some areas with coarse rocks and then fine black sand! The beach is kept pretty clean and there are garbage cans as you are coming onto the beach and leaving. There are fire pits and picnic tables on a first come first serve basis. There are rocks for kids to climb on and stay entertained! The water is always cold, but on those hot days, it feels so good!!! It is a smaller beach and is gorgeous. We like to stop at the Rustic Inn, grabs some slices of pie, and eat the on the beach! Respects the area and make sure you leave with your trash! Together we can keep this beach as outstanding as it already is! **I dropped a star because there is no toilet, only a Biffy)

We didn't get to spend as much time here as we'd have liked to, as we were traveling with the…read moreparents & they prefer "from the car" experiences. We will be making a return trip for a more in-depth venture. The "black sand" is more like ground rock - don't expect a powder feel. Still, it's rather cool & a great place to stop, especially off-season!

Get there early to secure a spot or wait until about after lunch time. This is usually when campers…read moreare heading out for the day/leaving from their stay! Super easy to set up, however to get spots along the lake, you need a reservation scheduled at least 1 week in advance. 2-3 vault toilets for both male and female and no shower. They have a fire pit and most have picnic tables at each spot. Definitely recommend bringing your own wood, toilet paper, wipes, and hand sanitizer in case the site manager isn't around.

This was the one-time when it paid-off not to plan ahead. It was a rare July weekend when my…read morepartner & I both didn't have plans so we decided to go "up north" camping. In MN, reservable campingsites fill up fast, sometimes a year in advance so when we looked, everything was booked. Luckily, there are many campgrounds in the state that are walk-in or first-come-first-serve only. We chanced it and drove up north 4 hrs from the Twin Cities on a late Friday morning. When we arrived, all the lake-view campsites were taken but there were plenty of other drive-up sites available. We picked campsite #8 since it was one of the more spacious ones. It also felt far enough away from others and was a decent ways from the toilets (which I learned the hard way you shouldn't be too close to). The toilets are just like an outhouse but they were clean and included TP & hand sanitizer which was nice. The campgrounds have a boat access area to the lake with a dock that made for a good star-gazing spot. We walked over here at about 11pm and saw a brilliant night sky with layers of stars and the Milky Way was visible. I'm just sorry that I can't share any photos of the night sky to prove it. Believe me, I tried but my iPhone looks like I took a picture of a black rectangle -__- OVERALL TIPS: - This campground is located in Superior National Forest and has a small hiking trail near the campsites to check out. It's ok, but I recommend spending most of your time exploring the nearby George H Crosby Manitou State Park for more exciting and varied hiking paths. - Bring cash & small bills! You'll need the cash to pay for your campsite using small envelopes available when you enter. There's no onsite staff & unless you're ok writing down your credit card info or paying over the amount, bring plenty of $5 dollar bills and $1s. You'll want cash for the state park fees as well. - Get here as early as you can to get the best campsites. Look at all the empty ones before settling. I wanted to jump on the first open one I saw, and when I kept looking, they got better and better. There were still open sites at 11pm on the weekend after Fourth of July so shouldn't be too hard to find one. - Don't count on wood to be available. They were all our of wood bundles to purchase on-site. We had to drive back in town a ways to purchase wood for $7 at a gas station. - Drive a car you don't mind getting dirty. There are only dirt roads near here. It kicks up a lot of dust & makes for one bumpy ride. - Try to time your visit when there isn't a moon & you'll be able to see amazing layers of stars. - Remember to be a good camper & leave the campsite as-good if not better than you found it! Each campsite has a picnic table & firepit. We lucked out with the previous folks leaving a bunch of kindling for us & the firepit was nice and clean with no garbage in it like I've seen at other campgrounds. I was pleasantly surprised by Ninemile Lake campgrounds! It made me a believer in the goodness of impromptu trips. Overall, I loved the huge pine trees, how quiet & dark it got at night, & folks were pretty friendly. We were the only POC campers though. I'd definitely recommend staying here, as long as you're ok not having showers and flush-toilets. It's pretty rustic but doesn't "roughing it" make it more exciting?! -Says the person with a queen-size air mattress in her tent, wuhaha :)

An amazing gem for those looking for a more secluded experience with nature on the North Shore. The…read moreparks along the North Shore are all good, but this one really stands out as a way to escape the crowds and enjoy nature. Lots of cool hike-to camping sites.

This waterfall is gorgeous! The hike is very hard so be careful if doing this with kids. There is…read moreno pathway everything has been getting taken back by nature. There are two routes one 0.8 miles roundtrip and the other 1.5 miles round trip! They have a nice little parking lot as well! Highly recommend if you're adventures and love a good challenging hike!

Very easy trail with a huge reward. This trail is a combo loop/out and back. There are some planks…read morebuilt to help with some of the wetter parts of the trail The falls are beautiful. We saw people swimming in the water in mid-July. There were some interesting trees with exposed roots along the way. Interesting how a tree will go through anything to find ground to put its root. This was recommended to us from a ranger in the Soudan Mine park. So glad he told us about it.

We loved this waterfall hike. It was a lot of fun. They have a free parking lot so you don't have…read moreto worry about parking. They also have an out house so that you can go to the bathroom if you have to go before the hike. The hike to the falls is only like 3 1/2 miles each way. I would not recommend this site for people who have a harder time walking or have an issue with mobility it's not very handicap accessible. We went in the fall time during fall colors and it wasn't to crowded. The resort that we stayed at was actually right across the street so it was walking distance for us. This falls isn't too far from downtown Ely. This is a must see if you are in Ely. Love you from the falls his birthday. You can also kayak to this point and they have places to park the kayak. We actually Walked to the place so I'm not exactly sure the whole kayak route.

This was a fun little hike that we were recommended by an employee at the place we were staying. He…read morehad recommended it because we were looking for a flat and easy hike that would be doable for someone with limited mobility. While it was pretty flat, I don't know if I would've recommended this hike to someone under our circumstances. It's basically a lifted concrete path that's about 3 feet wide with no railing most of the way right over the lake and rocks. For someone with bad balance, this is definitely a risk and my dad wasn't able to make it to the end of the hike because we were too nervous about him falling off the trail. All that said, the views are beautiful and the lighthouse is really cool, though you can't go up into it. The wind was brutal and none of us had enough layers because we didn't realize it would be that intense, but everything was gorgeous so still worth it. It was also interesting reading the billboards about the history of the area, including the tragic shipwreck that resulted in the construction of the levee.

All I can say is, take the hike out, it's worth it even on a cloudy day. You get the whole…read morepanoramic view of grand marais.

How many times have I driven by and NOT stopped? Too many, definitely too many!…read more Thankfully, the parents were wanted a restroom stop after exiting Canada and before starting the drive to Betty's. (Our camel bladders would have held out for the next planned stop.) We roamed about while they used the facilities & browsed brochures, only to discover some of what we were missing through all of our travels in the area, going back to 2006! The footpaths are easy to navigate and accessible. There are overlooks that provide great views & photo ops - be sure to check out the falls! It's a short walk - great way to stretch the legs & please the eyes.

We drove up to Grand Portage while camping in northern MN. This is absolutely worth the drive. The…read morevisitor's center was full of Indigenous historical and cultural information including the Anishinaabemowin language. We hiked a bit to the falls and then down by the water (I believe it's Pigeon River) that separates the US and Canada. The views are stunning. Heads up - on your way north, the state park is the last opportunity to turn before the border crossing (and it's on the left).