We Take Michigan

After the fall colors ran out we began to look forward to the pictures that we could take in the winter. We hadn't seen many pictures of our favorite waterfalls in the winter, so we knew it would be a challenge. I could hardly wait.

It had been a virtually snow less December for the Twin Cities, despite the fact that north and south of us lay thick blankets of snow. We did have a small dusting of snow on December 24th but not again till the end of January. We chose to stay close to home around the holidays since there was several family events planned. Even with all the holiday activities I found myself missing the hiking and snapping of photographs; cabin fever had stuck me.

With the holidays now being over, we decided to make a break for it and push it to the limits by driving to the upper peninsula of Michigan. and check out all the new-to-us waterfalls. Could we really do it all in one day? We would find out.

We got up early and were on the road by 8 a.m. We would drive for hours, straight up interstate 35 to Duluth's twin city of Superior, Wisconsin, then turn east onto the Highway 2 that runs along the south side of Lake Superior. We were so thrilled to see that it had just snowed heavily and stuck to every tree, both the evergreens and the leafless trees were flocked to saturation point. We stopped a couple of times to capture the fleeting beauty that would be gone in just a few hours, admiring the wind-swept freshly frozen lakes and small rivers along the way.

We found our first target with little difficulty, our notes told us to look for a tiny sign just two miles east of a small town by the Wisconsin/Michigan border. We found the town; turned around and drove the two miles back and sure enough, there was the tiny little wooden sign that said "Peterson Falls" next to a construction company. With excitement brewing we drove down the side road until we came to a tiny little lot; parked and hit the ground running.

There was a good 8 inches of snow, mostly recent with but one set of footprints going down what we hoped was the trail to the falls. After a good jaunt we finally came upon the mighty Montreal River, and it was looking good! Snow was piled on everything but the running water, small blue and copper rapids abundantly decorated this hidden winter wonderland.

After capturing the rate beauty about the falls we split up; Redfox went on ahead and down the steep path to a spot directly in front of the falls, yet far enough away to get the surrounding scenery within the views.

I found an icy, skinny, steep crawl space right next to the falls and carefully made my way about halfway down to a flat spot I could sit on. If I slipped I could slide right down into the freezing cold pool at the bottom of the falls, so I secured myself before taking out the camera. The view from that spot was truly breath taking as the copper-ore filled Montreal River cascaded violently yet smoothly down the uneven cliff. I had never seen anything like it, it was gorgeous beyond words.

After lots of snaps and some video taking we set out for Michigan's Black River Scenic Byway, eagerly anticipating the sting of falls there while noting that the trip had already been worth it with the taking of Peterson Falls. The Byway had a number of stops along the Black River with paths to the numerous and diverse falls. The stops had a lot of unplowed snow and signs saying the park was closed for the winter.

We plowed into the first recognizable stop and four-wheeled down the short road to the river. We were hoping that we could get some shots before we were discovered and booted, we raced over to see what the Potawatomi Falls looked like. Another one-of-a-kind falls it was, that's for sure. The entire width of the river draped over a smooth hill instead of a cliff, it was extremely symmetrical and appeared to run slow motion in the thousands of uniform strands.

After taking some pictures and videos, we ventured along the boardwalks to the beginning (top) of the next drop, the Gorge Falls where the river narrows as it drops suddenly into a deep gorge. We could not see the face of the falls from that point, but were mesmerized by the v-shaped glass ribbon that the Black River becomes right before the steeper drop.

Unable to get into the next stop to see the front of the Gorge Falls due to excessive ice, we went further down the Byway to the next stop, the Sandstone Falls. It was a shorter drop; although powerful as it squeezed between two giant boulders the size of city font lawns. It reminded us a little of the Crosby-Manitou cascades on the North Shore, but the surrounding scenery was the hit at this stop. Many large sandstone structures loomed all around the falls, both in and out of the river, giving it a surreal look.

It was getting late in the afternoon, the next stop had so many warnings signs we decided to skip that one and head back; passing a park ranger speeding down the byway likely answering a concerned caller about some crazy people that liked to ignore "closed until May 15" signs.

We found our way back to Highway 2, wondering if we could find the little brother (or sister) of Peterson Falls. We did find yet another tiny little sign that read Kimball Falls; which turned out to be a giant set of rapids in a little town park. As it was now dark, we were happy we had saved it for last.

We had gotten a nice booty, and made it home by 10 p.m. I venture to say that we did it.

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