Waterfalls of the Keweenaw

Conditions:

Cool, cloudy, rainy

Companions:

Katie, Logan

Vehicle:

Saturn Vue

Due to a rather wet and rainy afternoon, the girl and I decided to visit Hungarian Falls this evening. I had already been there several times over the summer but had yet to see the creek truly full.

After grabbing the puppy and some Cheez-Its for a dinner/snack, we headed up towards West Tamarack around 6pm. Golf Course Road, which is usually in poor condition, had some water damage that made the drive a bit sloppy. Parking in the usual spot, we headed into the woods through a lazy drizzle.

The trails were in decent shape, though we did have to make our way around the larger puddles and muddy spots. After checking out the low waterflow under the dammed portion of the creek, we headed up to the uppermost falls. They had a decent flow, lower then we were hoping, but enough to make both channels flow and the mossy portions of the drop dripping wet.

Heading downstream past the dam, we passed by the second and third drops. The second one was barely flowing, but the third one was slightly more impressive. Also, the odd rock drop near the wooden snowmobile bridge just upstream of the second falls had water flowing down it, something I hadn't seen during our previous visits.

The final falls had a bit more flow then the first visit back in July, but it was still rather disappointing. I ended up climbing down to the bottom of the gorge along the muddy wall while the girl and puppy stayed at the top of the falls to try to get a better view. The walls were difficult, but not as hard as I remembered - if you take them slow, it's rather easy to get up/down the gorge. However, the falls were not much better from the bottom.

We headed back less then an hour after we arrived. Overall the trip was a success, as the pictures I got had more water flowage then the first visit, but the falls still seemed to be lacking. I don't plan on visiting Hungarian Falls again until we have a serious downpour or a quick melt, as the small watershed and dam seem to hold back quite a bit of this area's potential.