- Trip start, Duluth stopover, and the International Wolf Center
- Duluth Round 2
- North Shore of Minnesota
- Isle Royale National Park
- Bayfield, Apostle Islands, and Hayward, WI
- Waterfalls, the Porkies and Bond Falls
- Pictured Rocks and the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum
- Mackinac Island
- Dunes, friends, and the end of the trip
After our short stint in Wisconsin, it was time to head to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, locally known as the UP. In fact, people up here call themselves “Yoopers,” (think UPers). I get that kind of thing; after all the University of Washington is called UDub (the W — or Double U is shortened). Anyway, everyone’s got their regional thing going on…. So, the brag for the UP is their waterfalls, so we decided to spend some time checking them out. By the way, the woman at the Michigan Welcome Center reinforced this point. At that point, we were pretty much unscripted and just looked at the map for the highest density of waterfalls. Our first surprise was a method they use for road maintenance when applying hot tar to fill in cracks — they cover them with toilet paper! The theory is that the hot tar won’t stick to your tires (or feet) when you go over them. Ingenious, and quite a nice gesture by the road maintenance crews. You can’t help but wonder, however, if this might have contributed to last’s years toilet paper shortage… Anyway, as we were driving, we discovered the Black River Scenic Byway ran close to 5 waterfalls within a mile, as they cascade down from the uplands down into Lake Superior. The Black River gets its name because of the color of its water — it’s very clean, but gets dyed from the tannins leaching from the bark of the surrounding hemlock trees. As in other places, the drought took a toll on the flow of these falls and ultimately we only visited three. What was pretty unique about this area was the rock formations. Here you not only had sandstone, but also conglomerate — a rock formation that is made up of volcanic rock fragments that were eroded and deposited through sedimentary processes. It looked more or less like concrete. We then headed to our hotel on the lakefront where we were treated to some amazing wind-swept waves. It reminded me of the north shore of Oahu! Then it was time to hit a laundromat. You can only wear the same clothes so many times in a row.
The next day we were off to explore the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park, known locally as the “Porkies.” At 60,000 acres, this is the largest (and I think the first) state park in MI. The mountains here look out of place because this area had a major rift and lava flow about a billion years ago — long before the Rocky Mountains were formed. Our two favorite places in the park were Lake of the Clouds and Summit Peak. In the first case, you do a short climb to an amazing view — standing along a steep escarpment, you look down on the lake and the dense forests that surround it. This is the most popular stop in the park and it’s easy to see why. In the second case, you hike up to the highest point in the park (1958 feet) About half the trail is on packed dirt and then you hit the raised walkways, stairs, and viewing tower. The views from the tower were pretty amazing across the miles of unspoiled wilderness adjacent to Lake Superior.
But we weren’t done with waterfalls for the day. While off our intended route, we decided to head down to Bond Falls, the second largest falls in MI. The falls are created as the middle branch of the Ontonagon river tumbles over a thick belt of fractured rock, dividing it into numerous small cascades. The total drop of the falls is approximately 50 feet, and this time we were rewarded with a decent flow. Once again, there were raised walkways to keep people safe while avoiding erosion on the dirt trails.
At that point, it was time to head east to Munising and Pictured Rocks.
This entry was posted in Michigan, Travel, United States
I am a traveler and sometimes clay sculptor, following a long career working in consulting. My work allowed me to travel the world extensively and I was hooked. Today, I travel with my wife/best friend to explore new places, meet new people, and learn new things.
