Devil's Kettle - Day 288

  The scenic highlight of the day today was Devil's Kettle on the Brule River. When I was here before it was early spring. There was so much water that the really interesting thing about the feature was impossible to see.

Here's the Brule River. You know I love all the rocks.


Looks like an "end of the world" moment downstream.


The water splits into two channels.


And becomes a double waterfall.


So where's the kettle? And why does it belong to the devil?

The right channel falls to the riverbed below like a normal waterfall. The left channel falls into a huge mysterious hole (the kettle) in the rock. Where does it go?


That exact question has been asked by many. This is an excerpt from my book, North Country Quest, that provides various answers. Choose any one you like. Science is fine, but stories are fun.

The guys are talking about packs and fabrics and titanium and tenths of ounces as we hike our first mile of tourist-easy trail and reach Devil's Kettle, a double waterfall with a descent of 190 steps to the base and a secret. Our energy is high and the steps are easily conquered, but the mystery of the falls remains. Here, the Brule River splits into two halves before plunging over a 50-foot cliff. One half drops to the river bed and continues toward Lake Superior. The other half disappears into a hole and... well, that's the big question. Where does it go?
Theories abound. That the stream changes direction and flows back to Canada. It flows underground and emerges from a secret cavern into Lake Superior. The missing water is diverted and actually joins the Mississippi watershed. It's a bottomless pit. Ping pong balls, logs, even a GPS tracker have been thrown into the kettle, but none has ever been observed, by any means, to emerge. Cue the spooky music.
In 2017, the DNR thought to measure streamflow above and below the falls. They are the same. Apparently the two streams are re-joining somewhere very near the plunge pool. A dye test was proposed to find out where, but it was never performed. The mystery lives on.

These three white cedars seemed to be huddled in some sort of confab or protective conclave over the river.


There is indeed a big storm coming, but it looks like I may be able to slime out a few wet miles tomorrow before it gets worse than drizzly. Right now, I'm planning to hike tomorrow.

Today, I had to choose between 13 miles and 18, because there were no access points between those two choices. I really didn't think I could do 18. Even with the trail not being very difficult (hilly) yet, I've only been able to manage 2 mph.

Miles today: 13.0. Total miles so far: 3417.3.

See SHT- Here I Go