The Kadunce River on the northshore of Minnesota is one of those rivers that you never know exactly what you’ll get. Sometimes, it’s a raging whitewater river (Opens in a new window), sometimes it’s calm and easy to hike up (Opens in a new window), in winter, sometimes it’s ice and sometimes it’s snow covered (Opens in a new window). We hiked up the Kadunce on Daylight Liberation Day and found it to be mostly snow covered, except for the fall in the grotto, which had frozen to the rock and water had come over the top making it a rather difficult hike up (all ice and no snow). Luckily, I packed crampons and an ice axe (A little 40cm alpine tool I bought years ago and hardly ever use — but it’s light!), which we used to head up. We made it up the river as far as the telephone lines, but then were turned back by a half-collapsed 30-foot ice fall and rumbling bellies. Plus, we wanted to ski the Devil Track River and were running out of time. You know the sun sets early — 7pm!!!!
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