Have been here 1x each year for the last 4 years and will keep coming back. The shower areas are a bit old, but nice to have flush toliets and a shower. The swinging bridge was repaired again, so fun to hike over the river in the forest. Will be back again.
Always a favorite park to visit when I was a kid back in the 50s. I'd heard the famous Swinging Bridge had been wiped out in the 2012 St. Louis River flood and has now been re-opened. I visited for the first time in decades at the height of beautiful fall color in the river valley. They've done a tremendous job on the rebuilt bridge! It's not as swing-y as it was in the 1950s but I watched kids have a ball jumping on the bridge high above the river and scaring themselves as it swayed and bounced. The road through the park is still under construction from the washout but you can get to the campground, picnic areas, and hiking trails. Beautiful landscape.
I absolutely love this place! The new suspension bridge is up and the hikes on the other side are amazing as ever. Every trail you take is beautiful with the fall colors and there's hikes for every type of hiker from beginner to expert. We stayed at one of the walk insights at the campground because all the backpack insights were closed due to flooding from last year. :(. But we will definitely be going back again next summer and fall. :)
Whats Open: The swing bridge, both the park headquarters building and the river inn interpretive center (with picnic tables and a fireplace), all campsites and camper cabins, most trails and access to the park from Carlton (West) on hwy 210.Whats Closed: Hwy 210 from the east and portions of some trails along the river.According to a park ranger I talked to, the state was not sure if they wanted to repair 210 east but decided to do so and it should reopen sometime in 2016. Overall the park is in good shape considering what it went thru during the flood and will provide a great camping, hiking and biking experience.
I have always enjoyed this park. glad to see they are recovering from the flood. hadn't been up there in a few years. there is plenty of spectacular scenery and lots of good hiking and biking trails. especially when you link up to the Munger trail. the campgrounds are nice and usually busy. the staff is very helpful. there is still a section of the park that is not accessible due to the damage, but the main area that most people visit is open.
This was the final stop on the way back home for our North Shore vacation. This campsite is about 20-25 minutes south on the interstate from Duluth. Though recently ravaged by floods in 2012, it's a beautiful area. The iconic swinging bridge over the St. Louis River is now repaired, so the trails on the opposite side of the river are now back in play. The geology here is really something else... lots of rock formations you won't see at other sites.Another neat spot is the Thomson Pioneer Cemetery. If you don't want to hike all the way there you can park just off the highway at it's base and walk up the staircase. There are a decent amount of gravesites, and a lot of the headstones have decayed, broken down or been destroyed. There are a few still standing, and the dates of death range from the 1850's to late 1800's. The ground is also sunken in many spots, which we assumed to be the actual burial sites. An interesting trip through history here. The campsites were great. Each one was nestled in a bank of trees, and ours was located right near a large rock formation. Really cool to be nestled next to natural earth crust formations. The restrooms and showers (4 in both the men's and women's) are modern and well kept. Would definitely visit again. Would have loved to have done more hiking but after doing so much in the first days of our trip at other state parks, we were a little worn down. Overall, another great Minnesota state park.
Really enjoyed this park! It was my first time visiting and absolutely enjoyed it! The (smaller) falls are really neat to see and we enjoyed hiking around the area as well. We found a quiet area and went ankle deep in the water and found agates. It was a blast!
We stayed at the campground for 2 nights and had a great time. The park is absolutely fabulous and the new swinging bridge is gorgeous! There are great trails around there and a couple extra lookouts to the river you can find from trails. Love it! Absolutely stunning
We live near here and always enjoy hiking at Jay Cooke. Sometimes we just take a short hike at the suspension bridge or sometimes we will go off trial and just hike around on our own. The carved out river thru the rocky terrain is fun to hike and gives a great view. We really like just walking around on the rocks and explore.Winter here is also fun. We will dress up warm and hike the trails and find areas to jump off and slide off into snow drifts and then work to climb back up and repeat. Gives a nice winter escape for us up in the snow and cold!
We hit this park on our way out of town after visiting our daughter at UMD. The views are spectacular and the weather was perfect. Lots of trails and photo opportunities. Bring water and make sure you go to the bathroom before you start hiking. We brought a stroller for our three year old and it wasn't very easy to navigate most of the trails, but we made it work. It was very pretty. You do have to pay to park, the cost is $5.00, which is for a day pass, very affordable and worth it.