State Park of the week: C. R. Magney

The next state park takes us far up the North Shore, through Two Harbors, Lutsen and Grand Marais to Judge CR Magney State Park. Judge Magney was the mayor of Duluth in the late 1910s and, later in life, an associate justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court. He was also a driving force in the establishment of many of the parks along the North Shore and his favorite, along the Brule River, was named for him.

The Park has any facilities and sights to see. It is almost a recent archaeological dig, with the foundations for a WPA camp from the 1930s interspersed amongst the campground. There is lakeshore along Superior (with wonderful pebble beaches all the way down to Grand Marais) and a beautiful section of the Superior Hiking Trail. The most famous sight in the park is, however, Devil's Kettle Falls.

The Brule, like many rivers of the North Shore, is rather placid until it tumbles over a basalt (I think) formation on its way down to the lake. However, while most rivers go over a falls and then proceed onwards, the Brule shakes it up a bit. The river splits in two over the falls. The eastern half falls on to a ledge, splashes, and goes on its merry way. The western half falls in to a deep, dark, foreboding pothole and seems to disappears. No one knows exactly where it goes, although it probably courses through groundwater cracks back in to the Brule or in to Superior a couple miles downstream. Still, it is quite something to stand at the top of the falls and watch half a river disappear.


On a warm day, of course, you can swim in the river. Not in the Devil's Kettle, but downstream below "Upper Falls" (which is, paradoxically, the lower of the two main falls). You do have to hike in a mile, which takes you up a steep hill on bluffs overlooking the falls and then down a staircase to the swimming hole. (Devil's Kettle is up another pitch, but well worth the trip.) This discourages some visitors, but its still a popular place. For solitude, however, you can walk north along the Brule River, where the Superior Hiking Trail becomes much narrower and less-used. Or, spot a car at the northern end of the park and hike downhill—you can leave a bike at the bottom to get back.

Devil's Kettle isn't particularly close to the Twin Cities—plan on 5 hours if you don't hit any traffic—but it is one of the more unique spots in the state and well worth a visit.

State Park of the week: Afton

We've been a bit remiss bringing your highlights of the state parks. Afton is close, its terrain is varied and scenery quite nice. As you drive through the gates (no need to stop with a daily rate HOURCAR) and down the road, you go from farmland to prairie to deep, green forest, and then back up to prairie. From the parking lot, there are miles of trails for hiking, running, and cross country skiing (and horseback riding, but I don't think you can carry a horse in an HOURCAR).

The main trail goes down to the beach on the Saint Croix. It's nice for swimming, and the water is temperate, although it is a bit choppy with lots of boat traffic on the river. There are buoys which keep the boats out of the swimming area (and yes, if you want to reenact the lyrics of a song which we can't print here, we do climb buoys instead of trees), though, so it's perfectly safe. The trails further along the river see fewer users, and while solitude can't be found on a summer weekend, a quiet walk through the woods is definitely in the cards. Up above the swimming area are a few dozen hike-in campsites, some in the woods and some up on the prairie. A word to the wise about these: they're all uphill, both ways.

Come fall, the colors will come to Afton, and in the winter, if the snow flies, the trails will be groomed (although they generally need a bit of snow to open). And the best part is that the park is only half an hour from Saint Paul, so it's an easy day trip (daily-rate HOURCARs can, of course, be rented by the hour) if you just have a couple hours to spend and want to get away from the rush. And, yes, you could bike there, too, although it'd be a bit of a haul; after 25 miles each way on a bike, all you might want to do is take a dip in the river.

State Park of the week: Tettegouche

For our second state park, we'll go a bit further afield from the Metro to the North Shore of Lake Superior. While the 66 Minnesota state parks are scattered pretty well throughout the state, the one road with the most parks is highway 61 from Duluth north to the Canadian border, with eight parks (and four smaller waysides) along the big lake.

Not too far up the lake is Tettegouche Park, one of the gems of the system. The park contains miles of ski trails, hiking trails, paddling, and ample opportunities for camping (both drive-in and hike-in). In addition, there are several cabins you can rent by the night set back in the woods for a nice getaway from the city without leaving behind all of the creature comforts of home.

The park also has several beautiful bodies of water, in addition to Lake Superior. One is the Baptism River. Like most of the rivers of the north shore, the Baptism falls down the escarpment near the lake. But instead of a deep canyon or a series of rapids, which are prevalent on many rivers, the Baptism falls over three impressive waterfalls, including High Falls which, at 70 feet, is the highest waterfall entirely within the state.


A bit further inland are several lakes, most of which are only accessible by foot. They are only open to unpowered craft and, despite intensive logging 100 years ago, the lakes are cool, calm and pristine for a paddle or swim. In the southern reaches of the park, Bear Lake sits in a deep gorge with deep, blue, clear and not-that-cold water. Whether you walk to it from the Tettegouche trailhead or from the nearby town of Silver Bay, it is a wonderful destination for a hot summer day (and it has a rope swing, to boot). It's one of my favorite sections of the Superior Hiking Trail, which winds through the park.

Tettegouche isn't much over three hours from the Twin Cities (a day trip is possible, but a lot of driving) and, of course, parking is free in any daily rate HOURCAR!

State park of the week: Fort Snelling

We recently put state park passes in all of the HOURCARs with daily rates. And each week we are going to be featuring a park the blog. Our first featured state park: Fort Snelling.

"Fort Snelling?" you might say. "Hey, that's right here in the Cities! What's the bloody point? Who would drive an HOURCAR there? Why not bike—it's right on a bunch of trails! Heck, you can get there easily on the bus (from Saint Paul) or the Light Rail (from Minneapolis)!"

Well, that's kind of the point. Most of our members, if they wanted to go to Fort Snelling (or Minneahaha Falls; bet you didn't know it was originally a state park), would grab their bike or Go-To card. Why bother driving? It's right in our backyard. And it's pretty darned nice.

There are miles of walking and bike trails to enjoy amongst the lakes at the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers. The trails are groomed for skiing in the winter (throw your skis in the HOURCAR when the snow flies for these or any number of other trails). You can get lost in the woods, that is, until a plane buzzes over or you run in to a bridge abutment. And it's wicked easy to get there.

Minnesota State Park Passes

HOURCAR recently put Minnesota state park passes in each of our daily rate cars. Each week, we'll profile a state park where you can drive the HOURCARs and not worry about paying the fee there.

Minnesota has 66 state parks and is the second oldest state park system in the country (did you know that?). The range from waterfalls to prairies, dense forests to deep underground. And a bunch are along some big lake.

If you have your own pictures from our state parks (whether you got there by HOURCAR or not, although pictures with an HOURCAR, or HOURCAR t-shirt, are great), send them in to us and we'll be glad to post 'em!