Waterfalls of the Keweenaw

Conditions:

Warm, sunny, some recent rain

Companions:

Cory, Faith, Logan

Vehicle:

Saturn Vue

I had visited the Montreal Falls area several times before this summer, but had never been to all of the falls. The first trip was cut short due to the black flies and a tired puppy and I simply didn't hike far enough upstream to view both of the upper falls on the return trip. Now certain of the location of all three waterfalls, though, I headed back to the area with Faith, Cory and Logan determined to finish the Keweenaw County.

We had a late start, leaving after I finished work, and didn't make it to the end of Smithss-Fishery road until around five or six in the afternoon. Optimistic about time, we messed around a bit on the beach front by the parking area before hiking to the lower falls. These were low enough to easily ford and get some different angle pictures, and the setting sun made for some unique lighting opportunities.

Heading upstream along the trail, we made it to the first upper falls in decent time. Cory and Faith were amazed by the drop, as the river seemed very calm up into the steep chute. After climbing the rocky outcropping on the west side of the falls, we headed further upstream to the second upper falls.

The quality of our path declined quickly, and we were soon forced to weave through the thick branches and brush to stay close to the river. Finally reaching the smaller uppermost falls after sunset, we climbed the rock outcropping here to see if we had missed the easy path but saw no other trails leading away from the falls. The outcropping did give us a nice view of the area, though, which is probably even better after the tall trees around the river lose their leaves.

We headed back as fast as safely possible, jogging after we found the trail near the middle falls. However, it was quite dark and forboding once we reached the lower falls with a few stars already speckling the night sky and no moon to help us. The rest of the hike was simply terrifying. Our trail was invisible in the deep cedar forests, with most of the trees, rocks, and branches too dark to see. Logan saved the day this time, as he was able to pick up our scent and took us almost step for step back to the car. Driving back on the two-track was also frightening, but we were able to make it back to cell phone range around ten at night to call a very anxious Katie.

It was a relief to finally visit all of the waterfalls in a county, although I still wondered if I had really seen Copper Falls. There were several drops along the creek with no clear distinction between them, and it would take several return visits before I saw them all. For now, though, we were just happy to have escaped the dark woods and make it back to Tech.