Western U.P. of Michigan Waterfall Tour

[Northern Explorer]

For our big three-day Memorial Day weekend the wife and I packed up the truck and headed to the western end of the U.P. The trip was light on off pavement travel but heavy on hiking and scenery. My main focus was testing out my recent FWC modifications (12 volt refrigerator, shower and inverter) to insure that they will work properly on my upcoming summer trips. This is one area of the U.P. that I will definitely return to in the near future.

We decided to check out the Black River scenic area and the Porcupine Mountains State Park.


The road into the Black River campground passes right by Copper Peak ski jump.


This is a huge jump


Another view of the jump from the road


After we checked into the campground we decided to check out the Black River Harbor that opens up into Lake Supeior.


We then headed up river to hike and view the series of five waterfalls that are in the area.


Bad picture of Rainbow Falls


Just a few steps


Sandstone Falls


Striations in the rock nearby

[taco2go]

Great area-and nice photos (and truck). Did you get up to the crest on that hill? I have a picture somewhere from a trip several years ago.

Looks like the U.P. is getting nice and green.

[Northern Explorer]

Didn't get to the crest of the hill. I guess you can take the chair lift and elevator up to the top of the jump during the fall color tour. There is a lot more to see in this area then what I had time for.

[Northern Explorer]

Potawatomi Falls


Gorge Falls


Great Conglomerate Falls You can get an idea of the size of this one with the person in the picture.


Mandy was a little tired by this point so we decided to go set up camp


Campsite at Black River campground (I brought the picnic table with me I swear)


This was a really nice campground. 40 sites and only about 10 were taken. Lots of space between the campsites. Nice clean bathrooms with flush toilets but no showers. This was perfect because it gave me a chance to try out my camp shower which worked great along with my other camper upgrades.

The next day we are heading off to the Porupine Mountains

[upcruiser]

Nice! We almost came over to Black River this past weekend to paddle it. Would have been funny to run into you over there. Copper Peak is crazy. Seeing that jump in person is a cool experience.

[Haggis]

Thanks for posting up pics of this area. We'll be heading up that away in a little over two weeks. The Porcupine Mountians are on our list of places to explore on our UP trip and your pics got the family even more excited about going.

[Northern Explorer]

Sunday morning we packed up camp and headed north to the Porcupine Mountains. We drove in on highway 107 (northern end of the park) and drove straight to the visitors center to pick up a Michigan State Parks and Recreation Area vehicle permit. This year I was smart and purchased one that was good for the entire year. $6.00 for the day or $24.00 for the year


After picking up the map and touring the visitor center we drove to Lake of the Clouds to do some hiking. There are many many miles of hiking trails in the park. We plan on going back someday to do some backpacking.

Lake of the Clouds


After a few miles of hiking we decided it was time to check out some waterfalls. According to this web site there are more than 60 waterfalls in the park and according to this website there are more than 90 waterfalls in the park. Either way we only had time for a few.

We drove south, in the direction of our campsite near Black River, on South Boundary road. In the winter, this entire road is groomed for snowmobile traffic and is not open for vehicle use. Along the way we stopped at Little Carp river to check out two waterfalls.

Overlooked Falls


Greenstone Falls


We met a friend along the way


more to come

[Rattler]

Looks like you had a nice trip! We will have to check out that Black River Basin.

There is supposedly WWII bomber remnants to hike back to somewhere in the Porkies. A guy on greatlakes4x4.com did a trip report a couple years ago about his hike to it. Here is a link to his report:

http://www.greatlakes4x4.com/showthr...ne+WWII+bomber

[Northern Explorer]

Thanks for the link.

We continued to drive south west on South Boundry Road until we reached the Presque Isle River recreation area. This includes a campground, picnic area and a trail network along the river leading to three waterfalls and a suspension bridge.

Nawadaha Falls (most upstream falls within the park boundries)


Manido Falls


Manabezho Falls


There are several other falls upstream but they are outside of the park boundries.

Further downstream the trail crosses a suspension bridge and continues to the Lake Superior shoreline.


View from the bridge looking upstream