This Minnesota State Park is amazing and we did not get to spend as much time here as I would have liked! This is a somewhat tragic theme to a lot of our trips, so many places to go and so little time! While we managed to squeeze in 2.5 hikes (loved them and would recommend!), we only got to see one tiny little slice of the park. True to the Land of 10,000 Lakes, Tettegouche State Park has several lakes plus a river within its boundaries, so plan to leave more time than we did so you can experience it all. We were there for 6 hours. I would recommend at minimum 1-2 days, and more if you’ve got the time.
The visitor center is big, beautiful and busy. One of the things to note is there are several hikes that start from the visitor center itself. If you go on one of these hikes, you do not need a state park vehicle parking permit. The parking permits are $7/day or $35/year. You need a vehicle permit to access the deeper parts of the park or any trail not starting at the visitor center, and they can be purchased at the visitor center. We were just passing through for an afternoon, so we did the hikes from the visitor center parking lot (further details below) and stopped in at Palisade Head but if I was doing it again, I would buy the day pass and go exploring further.
If you are an able-bodied person anywhere in the vicinity of Palisade Head, it should be a criminal misdemeanor to drive past without stopping at least once in your life. Palisade Head is the top of a cliff, looking out over Lake Superior. Located less than 2 miles from Tettegouche State Park visitor center, it’s a fast stop because you just drive to the top and walk to the edge. No hiking involved yet the views are absolutely amazing. You can marvel over the cliffs and peer down at the waves crashing on the rocks below. There are no facilities at Palisade Head – just bare rock and a small parking lot but everyone should pause here and admire the glory of nature. Keep a tight grip on kids and pets however because not only is the cliff present but there are also some very deep crevices in the rocks that someone could fall into. On a bright sunny day, the water is a clear turquoise color that will make your heart do a little dance.
The first hike we went on was Shovel Point Trail. It’s a 1.5 mile round trip hike that leaves from the visitor center and mostly follows the Lake Superior shore line, giving amazing water views at times. The end is the most beautiful part, so don’t quit early! It was rated as a moderate to moderately difficult hike, but I would say moderate is a bit of a stretch. It was more like a Just Barely Moderate or maybe On The Harder Side of Easy. We had a 5 year old in our group who did it just fine. We passed people who did it in flip flops. There are a lot of stairs in places and some uneven footing but nothing that makes you wonder if you’re going to collapse and spend the night under a tree. There is a tall cliff that you can fall off of so keep pets and impulsive children on a short leash.
After Shovel Point, we returned to the visitor center and ate lunch at a pavilion in a stiff freezing cold wind. Technically the temperature was in the sixties, but it was July and I was dressed for summer, OK? Moving kept us warm, so as soon as we finished chowing down, we hiked the other direction from the visitor center on the High Falls Trail.
This is a 3 mile round trip trail that’s out and back on the same path. It does have an optional off-shoot to visit Two Step Falls. We did this extra branch as well and it added approximately 0.75 miles to the hike. High Falls (and Two Step Falls as well) are rated Moderate to Moderately Difficult and I would say that’s accurate if you average everything out. For the majority of the time, the trail winds along above the river and its mostly easy walking with minor elevation changes on a well-marked trail. But when it comes time to go down to the river and see the falls, you must do the stairs. And the stairs are no joke. They’re steep and plentiful and make your leg muscles wail in agony. Going down is fun of course, it’s the coming back up that gets the deep burn going. But the water falls are gorgeous, so I would recommend enduring the agony.
Once you make it to the High Falls, you can explore around the edges and even up above the falls. As mentioned previously, we had a 5 year old with us, who did just fine on this trail and would have happily spent hours chasing the crayfish in the shallow rocks along the edge. We were there in July, the height of travel season and there were just a handful of other hikers on the trail. If you have several hours, this would be a great spot to hike to, have a picnic and let the kids cool off wading in the water.
There are NO HANDRAILS at Palisade Head! Pets, kids, people on roller skates – all can just go plunging off the edge. Its a large expanse of bare rock so you can stay far back from the edge and still take in the beautiful views. Plus, there is a small section where someone built a rock wall for those people who like something sturdy between themselves and a 100 foot drop.
This park had far more to offer than I realized before we got there, so I sadly underestimated how much time to allot. Read all about it if you’re going!
Other fun things to do: