One of Minnesota’s greatest mysteries is that of the Devil’s Kettle. Located about 20 minutes northwest of Grand Marais, Minnesota up highway 61 is Judge C.R Magney State Park. Here, the gorgeous Brule River flows through winding terrain towards Lake Superior. As the magnificent river makes its way towards North America’s largest freshwater body of water, it makes an 800 foot descent in about 8 miles. This creates many outstanding waterfalls that cut through the rocky topography of the northland. 

A few miles up the Brule, there is one waterfall that is a bit different from the others. The stream splits in two as it cascades 50 feet over a rocky ledge. On the east side, it flows smoothly over the rocks. The west side, however, is where the mystery lies. On this side, the rushing water funnels into a cavern that seems to lead to nowhere. It never fills up, and you cannot see an ending. Because of this interesting phenomenon, it was appropriately named the 'Devil’s Kettle.' 

For decades, geologists from all over the northland were perplexed by the kettle. Rumors ran rampant as people tried to figure out what was happening to all the water. Some claimed that it led to an underground cave, others said that it flowed through a lava tube down deeper in the earth. While these were logical guesses, the type of rock in Judge C.R Magney State Park does not coincide with underground caves or lava tubes. 

The next most logical thing to do was throw things down the Devil’s Kettle to see where they come out. People threw everything down there from sticks and logs to ping pong balls. Allegedly, a group of people even threw a car into the kettle, but this seems highly unlikely due to both the size and the inaccessibility of the kettle itself. With everything being dropped into the mysterious funnel, nothing had ever been seen again. 

In 2017, a Minnesota hydrologist named Jeff Green decided to find out what was happening once and for all. He and a group of his peers measured the amount of water going over the falls along with the amount of water near the base of the falls. With results being very similar, it was determined that the water flowing into the Devil’s Kettle was deposited right back into the Brule River somewhere near the falls.

Each feature of the Devil's Kettle Daypack was designed with other existing Frost River packs in mind. Its ability to comfortably double its capacity with external additions makes it one of our more versatile and technical daypacks yet. Whether you are looking for a new go-to pack for hiking the Devil’s Kettle yourself or trying out your bushcraft skills, this new pack is destined to be a favorite of many. Made for attachments, this daypack has four heavy-duty leather lash squares, a molle webbing panel, and two solid brass Frost River G-hooks on each side. This allows you to easily add external capacity to the Devil's Kettle Daypack. Feature-Full It's all about the external features on this pack. Two zippered pockets work to stash easy-access items. This pack may be smaller size than most, but we've added our canvas padded backstraps for hauling all of the extra weight that you can attach to the exterior. All handcrafted by Frost River in Duluth, Minnesota USA.