Waterfalls of the Keweenaw

Conditions:

Warm, cloudy, buggy, recent rain

Companions:

Solo Trip

Vehicle:

Ford Taurus

I headed out looking for waterfalls on a bit of a sour note. Katie was thinking of moving back to Wisoconsin for a few months, leaving Logan and me to fend for ourselves up here in Houghton. This trip was more of an excuse to get out of the house then anything else, though I was planning to visit a few rather difficult falls near Herman, MI.

Heading out past Summit, my first goal was to get to Upper Sturgeon Falls, an elusive falls near the headwaters of the mighty river. Hoping to be drive all the way to Round Lake turned out to be a futile plan. The logging road that leads east of the crossroads known as Summit (no, there is no town out there) turned ugly past the logging operations. There was a scary looking bridge near Clear Lake - the boards were not even nailed on - a short distance before the road ended with a locked gate. I did find a rather pretty and remote cabin on Clear Lake that looked well used, and even passed a giant Ford that was heading out that way. Before the truck, though, I did get pretty deep in the mud at an encroaching swamp. When I got out to look at the damage I watched my car literally sink lower on the passenger's front tire. I had to slam it into reverse and loose half of my front bumper to get out of that mess.

After accepting retreat on Upper Sturgeon Falls, I headed to Upper Silver in hopes to see a decent waterfall. I had read that there was a large snowplow on the side of the road where you park, but after driving to the end of the two-track without seeing a plow, I picked a spot about a mile from the turn-off and headed into the woods. I headed as eastwards as possible during a partly cloudy day and soon bumped into a small tributory.

Figuring that Silver River was the only waterflow large enough to have tributaries in this area, I followed the small brook downhill. Along the way, I did run into a small, quaint waterfall that had only a trickle of water but was fairly large. It was about fifteen minutes after this find that I ran into Silver River.

On a pure guess, I headed downstream to left to find the waterfalls. After a short distance, I ran into an ATV track, which ended up being the easy way to get to the falls, and a few trails heading north. The falls were a few dozen yards from this trail, and they were definitely worth the hike. Upper Silver Falls was a two-tiered drop with large boulders scattered throughout. I hadn't done much reading about these falls and wasn't aware of the four other waterfalls upstream from here, so I headed up the ATV trail and found myself about a half mile north of my car.

Driving out on a now aching knee, I debated trying to find No Name Falls further to the South. Deciding that the intermittent stream was probably quite dry and not worth the drive, I headed back out to US-41 and drove over to Little Mountain, which was actually located on the same road as the Herman turn off.

I hadn't been to this area before, so I hoped for the best and drove straight down the road. Luckily, the road was straight and well-maintained with a trailhead sign at the end of it. Heading into the woods with a definitive limp, I was surprised by the quality of the trail and naturaly beauty of the woods. There was only one or two really muddy parts on the trail, but most of it was high and dry with a small bridge over a brook.

The trail soon turned to the left and then hooks around back eastwards during the main climb. I could see the rocky outcroppings to my side for most of the hike, and the view from the top was fantastic. I could barely see L'Anse and Baraga to the north, but the best views were due east to the Arvon Chain. Baraga Plans also stretch down to the south.

Heading back down the hill the way I came was a bit spookier with fading sunlight. I made it down and back to my car before the sunset though, and headed back home. I ended up stopping at the Sturgeon River Sloughs roadside park (DeVreidt nature trail) near Chassell to get a few nice sunset pictures, but had an uneventful trip otherwise. Even though my car and I were both hurting a bit, it ended up being a nice adventure all together (and a nice escape from the house!)