Jay Cooke State Park 001

Along with some friends I conducted two photo workshops this last weekend. One on photographing birds and wildlife at the North House Folk School in Grand Marais and the other on photographing wild flowers at Jay Cooke State Park. But the excitement was not in the wildflowers due to the huge amount of water coming through the St. Louis River gorge.

JayCookeStatePark001

Jay Cooke State Park 002

I cannot remember seeing this much water coming through Jay Cooke State Park. Standing on the swinging bridge was incredible.

JayCookeStatePark002

Jay Cooke State Park 003

Some extreme kayakers came over the falls while the class was photographing the rapids.

JayCookeStatePark003

Jay Cooke State Park 004

I could not imagine kayaking through rapids like that.

JayCookeStatePark004

Jay Cooke State Park 004

As they came under the swinging bridge they had a very short margin of error to get themselves across the current and into the eddy where they could take their kayaks out of the river.

JayCookeStatePark005

Jay Cooke State Park 006

I don’t think any kayaker could have continued beyond that point into the lower valley.

JayCookeStatePark006

Jay Cooke State Park 007

As the sun was setting some of us went to view the water coming out of the dam.

The noise was like a huge freight train bearing down on you.

JayCookeStatePark007

Jay Cooke State Park 008

The evening light made for some great slow motion shots of the water crashing over the rocks.

JayCookeStatePark008

Jay Cooke State Park 009

JayCookeStatePark009

Jay Cooke State Park 010

The next morning I walked up to the canal behind the dam to experience a completely different look to the St. Louis River. A lone kayaker was heading out to fish. We shared some of our military experiences before he headed across the canal in search of smallmouth bass. The scene was surreal. It looked like the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. I could just imagine what was going through this soldier’s mind after what he had been through defending our country.

JayCookeStatePark010