St. Louis River at Jay Cooke State Park
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Gateway to Lake Superior
The St. Louis River, which flows through Jay Cooke State Park and into Lake Superior, is the largest tributary in all of the Great Lakes. This river was an important trade route when canoes were the primary method for transporting goods. Canoes could not travel through what is now Jay Cooke State Park, due to the gorge and rapids, and this terrain resulted in one of many portages required between Lake Superior and the Mississippi River. Today, this gorge presents a beautiful hiking opportunity near the border of Minnesota and Wisconsin. Take a short hike and see the rapids before heading up to other State Parks along the North Shore, or spend a day hiking miles of trails within forests of coniferous and Aspen trees.
I’ve hiked at Jay Cooke State Park three times so far. During the fall of 2017, we stopped here on our way back to the Twin Cities after enjoying a weekend in Ely, MN. Our second stop was in January 2019 on our way home from a weekend of hiking frozen waterfalls. Although there are no waterfalls in Jay Cooke, we wanted to see the frozen rapids. My third visit was in May 2020. Schools were closed due to COVID, and I had mandatory Fridays off from work. I spent these Fridays off hiking with my boys (then seven and eleven); and on this visit, Jay Cooke was our only destination. We enjoyed 9 miles of trails.
Swinging Bridge over St. Louis River
Location and Parking
From I-35, Jay Cooke State Park is just off of Hwy 210, 5 miles from the interstate. There is one main parking area at the River Inn Visitor Center that is used to access the majority of the trails in the park. The Visitor Center has bathrooms and a small gift store. An annual MN State Park Pass is needed to park here, or a day-pass can be purchased in the Visitor Center.
This post stands on its own, but it is a part of a larger network of posts I’ve written regarding things to do along Minnesota’s North Shore. This is a link to my full North Shore Guide for anyone interested. It’s an external link so you won’t lose your spot. I will also re-post this link at the end.
View of St. Louis River from the Swinging Bridge in January 2019
Lodging Options
Jay Cooke State Park is just over 2 hours from both Minneapolis and St. Paul, making it a possible day hiking option, although this is going to be a long day. Closer lodging options are Duluth, MN, and Superior, WI, both just over 20 minutes from the park.
Jay Cooke State Park has a campground, as do all of the MN State Parks along the North Shore, except Grand Portage. The first MN State Park north of Duluth on MN-61 is Gooseberry. This is a little more than an hour away from Jay Cooke.
For North Shore vacations, one of my favorite small towns to stay in is Tofte, which is about mid-way up the Lake Superior shoreline. Tofte is about 2 hours north of Jay Cooke, and the town is big enough for a few hotels and restaurants. There are also cabins available for rent up and down the entire North Shore.
Hiking at Jay Cooke State Park
For a shorter visit at Jay Cooke, start out towards the river, downstream of the Swinging Bridge from the parking lot. This will be your best view of the Swinging Bridge. Then cross the Swinging Bridge and head upstream, hugging the shoreline on the cliffs above the St. Louis. Eventually, these rocks level with the river, and there are some pretty angles for close-ups of the rapids. Including a walk back to the parking lot from here would still be under a mile.
For something closer to two miles, follow the above recommendations, but before crossing the bridge to go back, head downstream a half mile along the River Trail. There are several rapids below the bridge as well.
For a full day of hiking, tack on a visit to Lost Lake and loop back along the Summer Trail.
Below is a map that I will use throughout the rest of the post. I use colors for the trails to help me explain where in the park to find different things. These colors will not mean anything to you while you are in the park, however. There are also hyperlinks in the captions below. Click on the trail name, and it will pull up that section of the post with pictures and a trail description. There will be a link back to this map at the end of each section.
Downstream of Swinging Bridge (yellow) - This short walk is approximately 200ft in distance, with a change in elevation of 20ft. There are rocks to climb around on in the river and spots to dip toes in.
Swinging Bridge Up to the Rapids (blue) - It is approximately 0.6 miles to cross the Swinging Bridge and hike the loop near the rapids upstream of the bridge, and return to the parking lot. The elevation gain about 80ft.
River Trail (green) - The River Trail (one-way) from the bridge to where the trail moves back away from the river is 0.4 miles, with an elevation change of 35ft.
Silver Creek to River Trail (purple) - To turn the above hike into a loop, add 1.17 miles of flat trail.
West Ridge Trail to Summer Trail To Silver Creek Trail (red) - To enjoy a longer hike, add 5.3 miles and an elevation gain of 500ft and make a large loop around the south side of the park. This trail goes through forest and meadows, and crosses a stream.
Lost Lake (orange) - The trail out-and-back from Silver Creek to Lost Lake adds 2.25 miles with an elevation gain of 150ft. This is a pretty trail that eventually follows a stream that connects Lost Lake and the St. Louis River.
Downstream of Swinging Bridge
Follow the “trail” I have marked in yellow. It starts off as an obvious path next to the Swinging Bridge, and then make it up by hopping across the rocks and enjoy the river.
The most prominent feature of Jay Cooke State Park is the Swinging Bridge, which hangs over the St. Louis River. The best spot to take pictures of the bridge is downstream of it. From the parking lot walk towards the bridge, but don’t cross it. Head downstream of the bridge. There are lots of rocks that can be hopped across if the water is low enough to find the best angle. Additionally, this is my favorite spot to take my boots off and enjoy my feet in the river. This is a short walk from the parking lot (approximately 200ft). The rocks do take a bit of navigation to get around, but it’s a perfect spot for younger kids to play.
Downstream looking back at the Swinging Bridge
Even after a 9 mile hike in 2020, my littles had extra energy to hop around on the rocks. Something about the excitement of trying not to fall in the cold water.
Cold and wet hands after playing in the water, but a huge smile - Oct 2017.
Swinging Bridge up to the Rapids Loop
Follow the trail I’ve marked in blue, across the bridge and then upstream towards the rapids. Return the same way, or turn it into a loop for similar distances.
I’m not sure what the official park trail name is, or if it has one. After crossing the bridge, follow the river upstream as close to the river as possible. There is a rock ledge visible from the bridge that is right next to the rapids. That rock ledge is the best spot to take pictures of the rapids. The hike to the rapids and back to the parking lot is about 0.6 miles, with an elevation gain of approximately 80ft.
This is a picture from the Swinging Bridge looking downstream of the St. Louis River
This is the same view as the above picture in the winter.
Looking upstream from the Swinging Bridge, the St. Louis River flows almost turbulently around a small island.
From the Swinging Bridge, these are the rapids on the right side. I haven’t walked upstream on the north side of the river yet to see if there are better views of these rapids accessible from the trail.
From the Swinging Bridge looking upstream, these are the rapids on the left side. There are a few crisscrossing trails after the bridge. Stay as close as possible to the river. The trail will lead out onto the rock ledge visible above the rapids.
Walking up the trail from the bridge to the rapids. The trail heads up a slight amount but it is not very steep. As with most North Shore trails, expect the trail to be covered in exposed tree roots.
Above the rapids, it looks like beavers were trying to dam up a portion of the river.
If the water is low enough, it’s possible to get quite close to these rapids which were first visible from the Swinging Bridge.
I absolutely love winter hiking with my boys! Rather than walking back to the Swinging Bridge, we got our penguin on and just slid.
River Trail
For a little bit longer of a hike, check out the River Trail (green) before re-crossing the bridge.
The rapids continue downstream of the Swinging Bridge, which can be viewed from the River Trail. The River Trail (one-way) is about 0.4 miles from the bridge to the point in the trail that it veers away from St. Louis River. Return the same way, or make it a slightly longer loop by adding the Silver Creek Trail.
Rapids downstream of the bridge, visible along the River Trail
This was the steepest part of any trail we hiked along at Jay Cooke.
Silver Creek Trail to River Trail
To make the hike into a loop, connect the River Trail with Silver Creek Trail (purple). The section of Silver Creek highlighted in purple is 1.2 miles. This is a relatively flat hike.
I’ll be honest that I don’t think the Silver Creek Trail is all that exciting, compared to prior trails with loud-gushing water and stunning rock formations. Silver Creek Trail becomes quiet, both because the sounds of the rapids can no longer be heard, and the crowd thins out slightly. The trail is pretty flat, and the grass and hard dirt trail is surrounded by tall trees.
Silver Creek Trail through the forest
Spring flowers in May
Hiking through more trees in the fall
My hikers in Oct 2017
West Ridge Trail / Summer Trail / Silver Creek Trail
The largest loop around the park includes West Ridge Trail, Summer Trail, and Silver Creek Trail (red) joining up with the River Trail (green). The entire loop is about 6.25 miles, with an elevation gain of 700ft.
During COVID, the kids didn’t have school or sports, church was closed, and there simply wasn’t much to do, but getting outside of our house felt extremely important for my mental health. So I took the boys hiking on Fridays. We took our time, and hiked through State Parks. In May 2020, we drove up to Jay Cooke. We spent about 5 hours in the park and hiked the whole loop of West Ridge Trail, Summer Trail, and Silver Creek Trail, as well as the spur out to Lost Lake. In total, we hiked 9 miles.
This was a perfect day for us, given the circumstances that we were in. We looked under interesting logs for bugs, played the stick game every time we crossed a bridge, and made up stories while we walked. I don’t know that this is how or where I would choose to spend a day today. This was a nice hike to stretch our legs at, but beyond Lost Lake, there wasn’t anything particularly exciting about this trail, and 9 miles is a pretty long hike for seven and eleven-year-olds. It was perfectly quiet. The flowers were beautiful, and it wasn’t a hard hike, just long. It’s wonderful though that these peaceful places exist for us to explore in the moments we need them.
Hiking through the forest along West Ridge Trail
Along the Summer Trail, it opens up into a meadow, with fields of gorgeous yellow flowers in late May. Have a guess at what the flowers are? Dandelions! When I’m not trying to pull these suckers out of my garden, I can admit, they really are pretty.
Walking back into the forest
Yep - more trees
There was one stream crossing. We stopped and had lunch here. The boys played in the water for a bit, and we raced lots of sticks under this bridge.
Stream flowing past the bridge on the Summer Trail
More trees - this was a great spot to breath.
Lost Lake
The spur hike out to Lost Lake (orange) is 1.1 miles (one-way) from the Silver Creek Trail to the backpacking campsite.
The boys and I really liked the hike to Lost Lake. The forest thins out, and the trail eventually follows a stream that connects Lost Lake with the St. Louis River. There were several signs of recent beaver activity, although we weren’t quite lucky to find the actual beaver responsible for the downed trees.
The shortest way to get out to Lost Lake is by following the River Trail downstream to the Silver Creek Trail, and then out to Lost Lake. An out-and-back hike is 6.4 miles, with an elevation gain of 625ft.
One other note about this part of the park is that there are backpacking sites. Obviously if these sites are occupied, then it would be like walking into someone’s living room uninvited. I’m not sure how popular these sites are, but that could limit the ability to actually get to Lost Lake. If the campsites are unoccupied and a bathroom is needed, these campsites all have open-air pit toilets. This means there are no walls around it, but they are hidden away down small trails from the main site. It’s always good to know what options are available when nature calls.
The trail starts out similar to Silver Creek and Summer Trails with a grassy floor surrounded by trees.
Eventually, the Lost Lake Trail joins up with a small stream
The forest thins out into a beautiful meadow valley. Especially during COVID, big open spaces like this were exciting and freeing. And we had this valley completely to ourselves! One of the best parts of being willing to walk a bit further.
This tree was our first beaver sign. Obviously still a work in progress.
This downed tree was recently cut down. We spent a long time searching for this beaver, but unfortunately didn’t get a chance to see him.
Lost Lake isn’t big. I think we just enjoyed the open feeling of this part of the park.
Other Outdoor Things to Do within an Hour Drive
Below are hyperlinks to other posts I’ve written about things to do that are located within an hour’s drive from Jay Cooke State Park.
Canal Park
(north) Watch ships come in and out of the Duluth harbor while enjoying the aerial lift bridge raise and lower. There is also a light house to wander to.
Park Point Beach
(north) This is the only sandy beach I am aware of along Minnesota’s Lake Superior Shoreline.
Two Harbors, MN
(north) Not a hiking recommendation, but Betty’s Pies really is a fantastic place to stop for pie!
Gooseberry Falls State Park
Hike to three amazing waterfalls in 1.3 miles. Additional hikes included within the link.
Iona’s Beach
(north) This is a free beach on the Lake Superior shoreline, full of beautiful pink rocks.
Link to Full North Shore Guide from NatureImpactsUs.com
For more ideas of things to do up and down MN-61 along Lake Superior, visit my North Shore Guide.
More from www.NatureImpactsUs.com
To see additional things I’ve written about hikes around the country, click on a pin, and then click on the hyperlink. Use two fingers to zoom in and move around the map.