Waterfalls of the Keweenaw

Conditions:

Warm, sunny, some recent rain

Companions:

Logan

Vehicle:

Ford Taurus

Out of all of the waterfalls I had left to do, it seemed that it would be easiest to finish up the ones in Keweenaw County. I thought that it would be a nice milestone to finish an entire county, especially since I had friends who claimed to have visited all of them in the Keweenaw.

Logan and I set off a bit later then I hoped, sleeping through the first alarm. Leaving around nine in the morning, we headed to the first stop - a tiny little drop near Calumet Waterworks. I didn't have a good idea of where they were, so we just cruised slowly along M-203 until a huge sign popped out of nowhere for the Gardener's Creek trailhead. We parked the car on the side of the road and saw the falls after a few minutes on the trail. Gardener's Creek Falls was little more then a rocky section of the creek and probably dry for most of the year.

Disappointed, we headed on to a more ambitious hike along Eagle River. There are three falls between Phoenix and the town of Eagle River and only Fenner's Falls is truly difficult to get to. We parked a short distance from Ten Foot Falls and made our way down a steep, poor-rock slope to the river. Unsure of which way to go, I decided to head upstream. After twenty minutes of unsuccessful hiking along a relatively flat river, we turned around and headed downstream. The river soon got rugged, and I had to carry Logan over some of the rougher spots that he could jump or swim across.

After fording the river a few times and getting pretty scratched up by the jagged canyon walls, we found the falls near a rope swing. It was difficult climbing down them, but the entire hike was worth it. The falls have several impressive tiers and tall, rocky walls nearby. They weren't as tall as Eagle River Falls, but more rugged and varied. Logan and I headed up the steep western bank in order to avoid hiking back upstream to the car and found a network of trails leading out to the road near the mailbox for 4593. Our car was a short distance along the busy road.

It was nearing noon, but I was determined to finish the Keweenaw. The next stop was Copper Falls. I had seen several different waterfalls labeled as Copper Falls, so I wasn't sure what they looked like or where they were. We parked on the side of less-traveled Brockway Drive near Owl Creek and headed downstream through very thick woods. There were some small drops and mining remains here, as well as networked trails, so I took some pictures and headed out. It wouldn't be for a few months that I learned there were two much larger falls on the other side of the road.

Heading further up the peninsula, we made our way to Gratiot Lake. I knew that the falls were along a creek that led into the lake, but didn't know where and how to get to them. The northern lakeshore was developed, so I stopped and asked a few of the locals where the waterfall was. The first lady I asked gave me wrong directions, but the second old lady described just where to park and find the falls. Thanking her, I headed to the DNR dock on Gratiot Lake and started hiking up the nature trail.

This trail led up a grassy slope to both a bluff that overlooked Gratiot Lake and to one of the drops along Eister Falls. When I reached the sign marking the falls, though, the brush was too thick to see the water below. Logan and I headed, very slowly, down the steep cliff to the falls and made it about half way safely. It was here that Logan got a bit scared and jumped into my arms, which broke the foothold I had. We slid down to the bottom of the falls together, stopping feet above the rocky creek bed.

After this excitement, we started following Eister downstream and saw plenty of waterfalls. The rocky canyon was fairly clean with only a few trees blocking the way and the rock was conglomerate, which is easy to hike on when it's dry. It was very pretty down there, but there was too much underbrush at the end of the falls to follow the creek out, and we had to climb back up the steep wall to get back on the trail.

With no lunch, both Logan and I were starting to get a bit fatigued. The last stop was Upper Montreal Falls, and as we had visited the site earlier for Lower Montreal Falls, we decided to stop by for a few quick pictures. Driving down Smithss-Fisheries road was much easier the second time, and we made it to the start of the hike in good time. There were several vehicles in the parking area, and we bumped into most of the hikers on the way in. One of these groups was looking for Eister Falls, so I described the way there as best I could for them.

After reaching the lower falls, we headed upstream a short distance and found Upper Montreal Falls. After only a few pictures (my camera was starting to fill up) we headed back in a hurry to eat lunch. On the way back, within fifteen minutes of the car, we bumped into another group of hikers who informed me that there was another shorter waterfall further upstream. It was very disappointing to know that Logan and I hadn't completed the Keweenaw after all - in fact, we had come within a half mile of doing so. Without lunch, though, we weren't in any shape to return and decided to head home.