Waterfalls of the Keweenaw

Conditions:

Mild, cloudy, drizzling, some recent rain

Companions:

Solo Trip

Vehicle:

Ford Taurus

It was raining on and off all day, but I was still looking forward to this trip. The original plan was to go with a friend to Canyon River Falls near Alberta and venture past the initial falls into the gorge. However, she ended up going to Wisconsin for the weekend, so I changed plans and headed north instead. I didn't do solid research for this trip and planned to venture around Gratiot River until I found both Upper and Lower falls, then head down to the famous Douglass Houghton falls on the way back to Houghton.

The drive up the Keweenaw was rather pretty, with thick fog rising out of the forest. On US-41, past Calumet, there were several views of misty mountains in the distance that were very catching.

After hitting Ahmeek, a few miles out of Calumet, I turned on Five Mile Point Rd and aimed for Upper Gratiot Falls. I took the eastern path, going straight down the first entrance to Farmer's Block Rd. A small two-track appeared when the road turned 90 degrees to the right, something I didn't expect but ventured down anyways. It wasn't too much for my car, but if someone would have been coming my way, one of us would have had to back up. The banks on the side of the road were an impressive two feet or more, and close enough to touch from my seat.

There was a small circle/parking area at the end of the road with several trails radiating away from it. The most defined one headed to the left (South). While the path was easy to define, there were several trees that had fallen across it, so I would recommend bringing a grandmother through the trail.

After a short distance, the trail split into three directions. Left takes you upriver, along the main falls area. Straight will take you down a pretty steep bank to the river. Right takes you downriver, which will give you a nice overhead view of the falls after only a few dozen yards, but soon peters out to nothing. I'd recommend checking out the right trail (the nice view is from the top of a huge conglomerate bluff thing), but then going to the left until you can get close enough to the river to jump in (though all of the banks are rather steep).

The 'river' was actually quite small, even with the rainfall. You could ford it at many locations if you weren't afraid of getting your feet damp. I ended up following the left trail until it started getting hard to define, then walked down into the riverbed and followed it back downstream. My feet were pretty soaked by the time I was done, proving that my new waterproof boots weren't quite waterproof enough.

The falls were actually a long series of rapid-type water. I didn't actually see a defined cascade of water, as the entire area was conglomerate rock with a considerable slope. The water just sort of danced from one side of the riverbed to the other. While it was pretty, it wasn't quite a waterfall.

After walking down in the riverbed until I saw the towering red bluff near the trail's original split, I climbed out of the river and followed the trail to the right. There appeared to be a camping spot near the end of the trail, but no more falls. The banks were much higher here, and getting to the water more difficult. Once I did get down to the river, I found that there was nothing downstream that was more impressive then what I had already seen.

I walked back to my car and headed out to Gratiot River Park, back the way I came. Near the cemetary I turned right down a dirt road, which had a few logging/trail turnouts along it. It was pretty easy to follow, as you could tell which road was the main one. There was a nice lookout to the E early along the way, complete with a semi-improved turnout.

This road went to the shoreline at the mouth of Gratiot River. It was very peaceful, with a rocky beach and plenty of camping spots, but there was a ton of mosquitos. I took a few pictures and then jumped back into the car, heading back up the road. I guessed at two locations to stop at, with the second one being right. If you're heading down the road, towards Lake Superior, the road turns to the left with a two-track heading straight in. I didn't brave it with my car, as the ruts seemed too much for my Ford Taurus. At the end of the two track, there's a small parking area to the left and an ATV trail heading straight down to Gratiot River. Several camping areas were along the river bank with evidence of recent campfires.

As soon as you hit the river you can see the falls. It was larger than Upper Gratiot, with large basalt formations creating the falls, but still not that large. You can climb over the rocks at the falls to get to the other bank for a different angle. The remoteness of these falls made it a nice find, but they were similar to (but no larger than) 10 foot falls near Eagle River.

After leaving the Gratiot River area, I headed towards Lake Linden for my main destination. Parking at the west end of town near an old Drive-In theatre (where Hammell Creek crossed Gregory Rd), I headed upstream along an almost-trail for over a mile. The trail was difficult to define, especially through grassy area, and I found it easier at times to just walk in the creek itself. My boots were already soaked from Upper Gratiot Falls, and the smaller Hammell Creek only made them weigh a bit more.

The walk was pretty with several small falls and rapids along the way. The gorge itself reminded me of Quincy Falls, though it's steepness confined me to the creek bed. The bugs were hardly noticeable, and the entire hike was long but enjoyable.

Douglass Houghton Falls rises out of nowhere from behind a bend in the gorge. You could barely hear it before you saw it, and the sheer rock faces and cascading falls seemed completely out of place with the surrounding area. By far, this was the most impressive falls I had seen in the Keweenaw peninsula, and I had to stop and take it all in before I started taking pictures.

The water was clear near the base of the falls and the small basins had veins and such at their bottoms. There was some log build-up near the falls, but not enough to obstruct the view. The falls themselves are almost two-tiered, so you about ten feet of them are not visible from the bottom. Also, there was a mine/cave at the base of the falls that I had heard stories about, but I didn't want to venture into it solo. The rock face on the right side was incredibly steep and bowled out into the gorge, making the left side (E side) of the falls the only reasonable climbing option.

There were several paths to the top, with the ones closest to the falls being the most difficult. I took a medium one with loose sand/rocks along the route. It wasn't bad, and I was able to make it to the top with only two or three stops to catch my breathe and take a few pictures.

The view from the top was incredible. You could look to the SW and see the Houghton side of the portage or straight down and see the creek itself. It was difficult to see the falls from the top, though, even with a few rocky outcroppings directly above the falls.

There was a small falls at the top of the main falls, but besides that, the creek was very calm at the top, appearing as a normal meadow stream through thick grass before it plummeted down the falls. There was a well defined path that semi-followed the creek here until you run into power lines, where the path veered due east with the lines until it hit M-26. It was here where I found out that the falls actually were closed off to the public, a rumor I had heard before. A tall chain link fence, leaning between trees, ran parallel to the road with a 'Keep Out' sign posted nearby.

As I had already trespassed on accident, I went ahead and jumped the fence, hoping that the walk back to my car was uneventful. I will say that though the path along the creek took well over an hour to walk, the illegal path from M-26 to the falls were several minutes.

After walking about two miles back to Lake Linden, I was able to drive back to Houghton before the sunset soaked but successful. The whole adventure had been excellent, with several waterfalls located, weather wet but not warm, and lasting only a couple of hours. Both of the Gratiot River falls took about an hour to drive/hike and view, and the Douglass Houghton Falls venture lasted over two hours.