Waterfalls Hunting

I’m so sorry that I haven’t blogged here for a week. Lots going on, but I won’t bother you with it now. Let me instead get right back to our camping trip in the UP last month. I can’t believe it’s been a full month already since we got home!

The morning of our second day there, Wednesday, we spent in search of new waterfalls.

On two previous occasions, we had tried to find the falls on the Gratiot River. The first time we ended up walking for miles on some logging road, the second time we ended up on that beach where the natives were playing banjoes and waiting for their sacrifice. (It really is worth revisiting that blog post here.)

This time I had not one but two resources to get us there. The book, “A Guide to 199 Waterfalls in Michigan”, called this the Upper Falls of the Gratiot River, while the brochure, “Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula Adventure Guide” named the falls Conglomerate Falls. Either way it was obvious that it was the same place. 

Amazing how easy it was to find with the proper directions. We walked in on the half mile road instead of driving, but the road was a narrow one-lane and it was a perfect day for a walk anyway.

 When we got to the end of the road, it was another one-third mile downhill on a weathered path to the cliff above the river and then along the river to the Upper Falls. 

Unfortunately with all the vegetation, it was hard to see the actual falls, but at least I knew it was down there so we could confidently cross this one off our list. The Lower Falls according to the waterfalls book is further down the river but there is no defined trail to get to it, so we thought we ought not try it. 

Next we stopped at Silver Creek, where there was supposed to be a falls a short distance upstream. We found the creek all right, but when I got down to it, there was no trail along its bank and not even enough of a bank to make my own trail. But it was still pretty down there. 

Last we were going to visit another new falls on the Eagle River, just north of Phoenix, but there were two other cars in the two-car parking area, so we came back the next day.

It wasn’t really much of a waterfall, more of a rapids, but still picturesque. It is right along the side of the road and I can’t believe we never stopped here before.

Who knows. I am sure that by the time we go back up to the UP next year, I will have new waterfalls on my list to discover.