Thursday, July 15, 2011 - A day of waterfalls and a few other things near Munising, MI

With me home this month between jobs, we thought it was a great time for a road trip especially when we found some great hotel rates.

We left early this morning for to the Upper Peninsula, MI.  Our first stop was Peninsula Point in the Hiawatha National Forest.  We visited the Peninsula Point Lighthouse and had a picnic lunch there.  It was a beautiful day with a high of about 72 degrees. All that remains of the lighthouse is the tower but you can climb it and you have a great view of Lake Michigan from the top.  This lighthouse is also off the beaten path and so it is quiet and peaceful.

Peninsula Point Lighthouse

From there we drove up towards Munising, MI, stopping at a variety of waterfalls and scenic overlooks.  Our first stop was Au Train Falls, a waterfall we happen to see as we were driving.  There is an upper falls and a lower falls and these falls are used to generate power.  The upper falls can be seen from the parking lot and the lower falls are a short walk from the parking lot and well worth it.

Autrain Falls

Autrain Falls

Our next stop was a scenic overlook along Lake Superior which turned out to be a beautiful, quiet beach with white sand and very few rocks.  If we didn't have so many other places we wanted to see, I could have spent the entire afternoon here.  We were the only ones on the beach.  The water was a bit cold though.  I wouldn't recommend swimming but I did enjoy walking along the water.








After the beach, we continued through Munising to Munising Falls.  These falls are well worth it.  It is only a short walk to the falls with a climb on both sides of the falls to get another view.  These falls are fairly popular but on a Friday in July it wasn't that busy.

Munising Falls

While in Munising, we stopped at the spring fed Horseshoe Falls.  These falls are very touristy.  It costs money to visit them which includes a trout pond and plants with labels along your walk to the falls.  The one good thing about this falls is that the walk to the falls is nice and cool.  It is in the shade and along the spring fed stream.

Horseshoe Falls

On our way to Wagner Falls, we drove by Alger Falls which can be seen from the highway.  I didn't get any pictures of Alger Falls because there wasn't a good place to stop but here are some pictures of Wagner Falls which was probably my favorite falls today.  

Wagner Falls

Wagner Falls

After Wagner Falls, we were ready to check in the hotel and relax for the evening.  We stayed at the Econolodge in Escanaba, MI which was a great hotel for the price.  It was under $50 a night (AAA rate) including taxes but included breakfast and was clean and quiet.

Friday, July 16, 2011 - Headed to Sault Sainte Marie, MI

We got up early this morning to head towards Sault Sainte Marie, MI with a few stops along the way.  It was a much warmer and humid day with a high around 85 degrees.  Our first stop was the Seney National Wildlife Refuge.  If the flies hadn't been so horrible we might have enjoyed this place because it seemed like a really peaceful area with tons of ponds, lakes and wildlife.  We started with the Pine Ridge Nature Trail which is a 1.5 mile loop around one of the lakes and this is where the flies started.  They circled you constantly and bit you at every chance.  At any given moment there were more than a dozen flies on one of us.  So this was a very brisk walk with only one stop to photograph the swan couple and they young one.  After that we decided to forgo the auto tour we were going to take and just head out.  We will come back in the future at a time when the flies aren't so bad.  The locals said that they have never seen so many flies.

Seney National Wildlife Refuge

Next was a picnic lunch at a scenic overlook along Lake Superior.  Again the flies were a huge problem so we didn't stay long and walked around as we ate to try and keep the flies off our ankles.

We continued to Point Iroquois Light Station along Lake Superior.  The tower is currently under construction so we were not able to climb it but they did have a small museum.

Point Iroquois Light Station

We ended our day in downtown Sault Sainte Marie, MI with some shopping and watching ships go through the Soo Locks.  The locks have several really nice viewing platforms and a visitor's center with information on the estimated arrival of the next ships coming through the locks.  I don't know what it is about locks but I love watching the boats go through them.

We stayed at the Park Inn and enjoyed everything about the newly renovated hotel including the pool with the exception of the drunks that came back to their room about 2:30 a.m.

Saturday, July 17, 2011 - Tahquamenon Falls and the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum

The day began with the waterfalls in Tahquamenon Falls State Park near Paradise, Michigan.  There are the lower falls and the upper falls and both are quite impressive.  This is a park I would have liked to spend a day in if it were not in the mid 80s by 9:00 a.m. with a high in the 90s and high humidity.  So it was probably best we had other things to see and do.  There are short hikes to various viewing platforms for both the lower and upper falls and are well worth it.

There is what looks like a really neat 4.8 mile hiking trail between the falls that follows the river.  The lower falls which is really a five sets of waterfalls also can be seen from an island if you rent a boat.  Both of these are things I would like to do someday.

Lower Tahquamenon Falls

Upper Tahquamenon Falls

From their we headed to Whitefish Point to the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum where the temperature was at least 10 degrees cooler than inland.  Here you can tour and climb the Whitefish Point Light Tower and visit the Shipwreck Museum and Coast Guard exhibit.  It was fascinating reading about the many ships that ended up at the bottom of Lake Superior.  

On our way back to the Econolodge in Escanaba, WI we stopped at a scenic overlook on Lake Superior near Munising with views of Grand Island and Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.  Unfortunately it was a little hazy and so my pictures didn't turn out very well.  We also drove through Christmas, MI.

Sunday, July 18, 2011 - Time to head home

We planned to finish our trip with a tour of the Sand Point Lighthouse in downtown Escanaba, MI but unfortunately their hours were not what are reflected on the website and we really didn't want to sit around and wait for 2 hours so I took a few pictures and we headed home.

Overall it was an interesting trip through the Upper Peninsula and gave us an idea of what else we may want to do up there.  Hopefully next time we visit the UP, temperatures won't be so hot and humid.