Hey everyone,

I survived my trip up to Tettegouche and Cascade River State Park. I took off about 5:30 Friday morning and got back about 10:30 last night. The trip was absolutely great. The only thing I would have changed (if God) was to minimize the amount of mud on the trails, but it was still a lot of fun.

I got up to Tettegouche around 9:00 and hiked up for around four hours. It was fantastic because there was barely anyone else there. I met a couple of people who were serious hikers and they showed me a couple of things I would have missed completely (a couple of moose tracks). It was great for the casual hiker to get a little training in by them. It was just sad though to think they had the whole week to go hiking on the Lake Superior hiking trail and I had to make this a day hike.

I had originally planned to make it up to Nipisiquit Lake due to what I had originally supposed should have been a challenging but passable pass, however, I came to a very muddy trail which I ultimately decided was more than what I was prepared to tackle for the day so I turned around and decided I would hit up the Cascade River State park (I staple of my travels up there the last couple years and always a relaxing walk).

I made the hour drive to the Cascade River state park and got a couple of great pictures. I took a couple of new routes this time than I had in the last couple of years and was rewarded with a nice secluded area to have a little picnic and reading time. I also discovered that I can read maps if needed and my sense of direction isn't too bad when I put my mind to it. So after 3 1/2 hours at the Cascade River state park I thought it was a good time to start heading back home. It was really a shame that I couldn't stay longer, but as I would soon realize on my way back, what was fairly deserted on Friday would have been very crowded on Saturday. The traffic heading North on my way back was packed and I feel bad for the serious campers and hikers that will have to put up with all the amateurs (like me) who are vacationing up there for the weekend.

Overall if you have a chance to head up to either of the parks and want to do some hiking for a day or two, you really have to check these out. Tettegouche is definitely the more challenging of the two parks, but seems like it may get less tourists than Cascade River. Either way both of these are much more popular than the overly commercialized Gooseberry Falls (but Gooseberry is still fun nonetheless).

Be sure to check out a couple of the pictures I took. I'll get around the labeling them soon.

-Trevor