Waterfalls of the Keweenaw

Conditions:

Warm, cloudy, some recent rain

Companions:

Logan, Steele

Vehicle:

Ford Taurus

I had visited Slate River Falls almost a month ago but had only seen two of the four falls along the stretch. Steele and I were looking for an adventure on a weekday evening, so we headed back out to the river with the puppy planning to make it all the way to Kuckuck's Falls, the last of the falls.

After grabbing the traditional sub from Subway at L'Anse, we parked on the west side of the bridge and headed along the west bank. It was much easier without rain, but the rough trail that we followed soon disappeared into nothingness, so we walked ankle deep in the water. Pretty soon we found ourselves at Slate River Falls, which was running fairly decent. Both Logan and Steele really like these falls, and we spent a time admiring the area.

Fording the river to the eastern bank, we headed up the side of the falls and jumped back into the river. Last time I had climbed all the way up the side of the canyon wall, but this time we were sticking to the river to be safe. The rocks here are sharply angled, and we had just made it to the lower drops before Ecstasy Falls when Steele fell into some deep water and almost doused his phone. We chuckled for a bit and headed further upstream.

Ecstasy Falls was a nice site to see in the daylight, with the water pouring from tier to tier. We spent a bit of time here as well, sitting and chatting on the fall's ledges. It was near here where Logan got stung by a wasp. Luckily Steele noticed him acting odd, and the dog and I ran into some water before it could sting him more then once. He acted fine for the rest of the trip, even with an obvious sting above his right eye, and just slept in a bit the next day.

The canyon walls around this area were seeming to get shorter but steeper and more rocky, which looked simply amazing in contrast to the forested crests. Slide Falls was just a little past Ecstasy Falls, and the area around it was covered in thimbleberries. These falls were definitely odd - the water just slid down a slight slope without hardly breaking a foam. It was a bit difficult to get around them, as the deep pool below and rocks near the falls were slick and didn't provide a good foot holds.

Just around the bend from Slide Falls was Kukuck's Plunge. The upper portion of these falls was a sharp cascade into a small pool, where the water then divided up into several streams around a solid rock formation. We ventured a little further upstream, out of the canyon, when I noticed something odd on the wester bank: a well defined, narrow footpath.

We followed the footpath up the bank where it split into three paths. We took the one that led to the left, back downstream from where we came. You could see each waterfall that we visited (except Ecstasy Falls, as the forest was a bit thick here) and a treacherous trail that led down to them. Otherwise, the trail was well defined and flat, making it a much easier method of visiting this area then wading over an uneven riverbed.

On the way back, Logan started acting odd. Looking around, I heard something crashing towards us, then suddenly stop. Steele and I quickly braced ourselves, as we were on the edge of a very tall fall over the edge, before we saw that it was just a curious doe. She actually started approaching us slowly, but dashed when I picked up Logan so he could see what the noises were.

This river and gorge is one of the beautiful areas I have been during this project. The untouched wilderness and impressive falls and canyon can be simply breathtaking. I hope to return soon, perhaps with just the puppy, and spend most of a day hiking up and down the rock walls and enjoying the views.