Waterfalls of the Keweenaw

Conditions:

Cool, cloudy, rainy

Companions:

Katie, Logan

Vehicle:

Saturn Vue

As Katie had just come back up to Houghton for good, the two of us decided to go on a waterfall trip on Sunday that would be relatively easy and feature several decent waterfalls. I picked Upper Silver Falls, as I had already taken her to the lowermost of these and still wanted to see the top three falls on this stretch.

We headed out in the afternoon with Logan and took the correct way out there - along the washed out road to the closed bridge. We parked here and checked out the bridge, which didn't appear to be in bad shape and was unlocked, but didn't attempt to drive over it. I found a small footpath on the western bank and we headed into the woods and soon found ourselves without much of a trail.

The weather predicted scattered showers, and while the drive was mostly sunny, the clouds gathered rather quickly. We found the first falls a short distance from the bridge, a set of two steep chutes surrounding a small outcropping, though the left chute was not running. Still dry, even after fording the river a few times, we headed inland when the rain started to fall between the first and second falls.

The second falls were simply amazing. It was a two tier like the largest downstream one, but the top tier was rather flat and gradual and the bottom steep and uniquely shaped. Looking like a straight castle rampart with water collecting on the top, this part was over ten feet tall and stood out from the surrounding riverbed sharply. We had to travel inland a good distance before we could make it down this drop.

Both Katie and I were soaked by this time and a bit worried about a few claps of thunder. Deciding to go on, as we were probably over half way anyways, we found the third and fourth falls close together about twenty minutes further downstream. Both of these falls were just slopes of rocks about six or eight feet tall, so I only took a few pictures before heading back. I did take a nasty slip down the last falls that ended up with me being hip deep in water holding the camera above my head and Logan barking at me wildly from the riverbank. Luckily, my shin took most of the damage, so I didn't hurt the right knee further on this trip.

We headed back quickly without taking any pictures and made it the car just as the sun was coming back. Katie and I were soaked and the puppy was worn out, so we decided to head back and call it a day instead of venturing on to other nearby falls. It was refreshing to realize that I had just finished all eleven waterfalls along Silver River, though.