Waterfalls of the Keweenaw

Conditions:

Warm, cloudy, buggy, some recent rain

Companions:

Logan

Vehicle:

Ford Taurus

While I had visited most of the waterfalls north of the Houghton/Hancock bridge, there was one that I hadn't even tried to locate yet. Gooseneck Creek Falls wasn't listed on most websites or any topographic maps, but I had seen a rough photo on a single waterfall site and hoped to find out more about it this evening. Leaving Houghton right after work, I drove over to Dollar Bay and parked a few miles north of the city along Mason Cross road and headed along what I hoped was Gooseneck Creek with Logan in search of a flowing waterfall.

The creek was flowing enough to wet the creekbed and bubble around the drops, but not enough to get me too excited. We headed on anyways, bumping into a lot of difficulty at a large swampy area about a third of the way in. When we found the canyon, though, the walk was still difficult with the slippery sandstone underfoot and thick brush surrounding the creek. We finally reached the upper falls after over an hour of bushwhacking.

These falls looked nothing like the image I had found online, so Logan and I headed further downstream up and over a railroad grade. Another series of drops met us past the grade, which I assumed make up one long lower drop, before the creek leveled out. We continued on through the increasingly thick brush until seeing a house in the distance - we had hiked all the way to Dollar Bay.

Turning around and hoping to take a shortcut avoiding the swamp, we headed west at the railroad grade towards Arcadian Road, which led up to the road I was parked on. Unfortunately, we passed a large house on the grade, an annoying dog, and finally a no trespassing sign on their driveway. Turning north and walking along the road in the increasing dusk, we didn't reach my car until after nine, far after sunset. While I was glad to find a relatively unknown waterfall, both Logan and I were even more glad to drive home and relax after a long and tiring hike.