Waterfalls of the Keweenaw

Conditions:

Hot, cloudy, little recent rain

Companions:

Katie, Logan

Vehicle:

Saturn Vue

Katie and I visited Hungarian falls on one of our first dates. I had never been to the area and she was a bit unfamiliar with the area, so we ended up seeing only one or two rather small waterfalls. It was during late summer, so the falls we did see were also quite dry, making the entire trip sweet but short.

With its close proximity to Houghton and new information about the land's layout, we headed back to Hungarian Falls hoping to find a fuller creek and larger falls. The summer was fairly wet so far, though there had been little to no rain over the last week or so. After parking at the upper gated entrance, we headed in with the puppy in search of the falls.

Turning to the right at the dam, mostly on a guess, we soon bumped into the upper falls. A fairly tall falls, the water pours down a ten foot drop in two channels before snaking down some rapids and small drops above the retaining pond. The falls were flowing pretty good, though it was dry enough to ford easily directly under the falls.

After getting some good photos, we headed upstream for a while in hopes of finding some more falls and found only flat land and thick undergrowth. Turning around and heading back past the upper falls and dam, we found a wooden bridge over the creek with an odd rock wall on the right side. This wall was probably a small waterfall where a brook runs into Hungarian Creek, but it was barely a trickle. However, the creek below the bridge had enough water in it to hold some promise for the falls downstream.

A bit past the bridge we found an odd little trail heading to the left. We took it over an ancient, tiny bridge and found ourselves at the next falls, a short stepping drop into a sandstone pool. There was enough railroad ties along the top of the falls for us to cross easy and make our way down to the creek bed to view the several foot drop.

Heading back up the side of the creek soon took us to the third falls. The bowl-shaped gorge and sandstone pool looked very similar to the second falls, but it was several orders larger and had a sharp drop opposed to a stepping one. It was harder to get down into the creek bed here, but much more worthwhile. The flow was a bit picked up this far downstream and made this falls/gorge area simply perfect.

Staying along the creek bed and a few winding trails only a few dozen yards took us to the lower falls downstream. These drop down is simply incredible, as the creek simply plunges down a fifty foot plus wall into a boulder-strewn gorge. The view from the top of these falls is also amazing, with Torch Lake stretching out beyond the forested canyon. There was just enough water flowing to wet the wall, though, making the falls a bit of a disappointment.

At this point, the flies were starting to annoy the girl, so she headed back to the vehicle while I headed down into the gorge. The walls were very steep and covered in pine needles and undergrowth. Making my way from tree to tree, I made it to the bottom and headed further downstream, wondering if there was another falls along the creek. There was a side drop on the south wall from a brook entering the gorge, but I wasn't able to find another decent drop along the main creek and headed back to the car.

Even with the low water flow, it was nice to return to a falls that I had been to before several years ago and finally visit the entire system. I hope to return soon during a higher waterflow to enjoy Hungarian Falls at it's peak.