There are a
few waterfalls in Tahquamenon Falls State Park, and the two most popular –
Lower Falls and Upper Falls (which is the second highest waterfall east of the
Mississippi River, after Niagara Falls) are connected by a five mile linear
hike. So at 8:30am, we were on the trail and heading for the Upper Falls (the
Lower Falls trailhead begins just outside our campground, so it was the obvious
place to start).
Here are the
Lower Falls……..
One interesting
thing we learned is that this hike is part of the North Country Trail,
America’s longest scenic trail (over 4,600 miles) connecting eastern NY, PA,
OH, IL, MI, MN, and ending in ND!
The
trail was an easy hike (especially after the near-vertical boulder climbing we
did in Maine and New Hampshire) and was mostly horizontal, a few ups-and-downs,
tree roots, etc…. It also mostly followed the river connecting the two
waterfalls. Probably the most difficult part of the hike was fighting the
mosquitoes – yowza! Even after spraying ourselves with repellent, if there was
a square millimeter that was missed, there was a mosquito.
We
did see the start of some fall foliage along the way…….
At
times it was basically just a river, with no waterfalls or a sound of
waterfalls……
It
was about 2 ½ hours or so to the Upper Falls and in all that time, we did not
meet one other person on this hike, which is quite rare. It’s a popular hike,
and we really expected to pass some people hiking towards Lower Falls, but nada
– no one. We (really Brad – he’s taller) cleared every spider web along the
trail for anyone following us or starting after we got off the trail.
Another
reason we chose to hike Lower Falls to Upper Falls was due to the fact that
there was a brewery at Upper Falls, and it’s always nice to end a hike with
something to eat, other than a peanut butter & jelly sandwich. The beer was
good, the food good/okay but the service – come on people – smile, be polite,
all that stuff. If you don’t have
customers, then you don’t have a job! What is it with people?
How
did we get back home? Well, we could have walked back the five miles, but Zoey
(the dog) was not in for it (at least that’s our story), so we took the shuttle
– for $15/couple (dog is free), they drive you back to either Lower or Upper
Falls, from wherever you came. The driver – very nice – see, now there’s
someone who knows what her job is about – customer service. She got the extra
tip money that didn’t go to the brewery folks.
All-in-all,
a good, fun hike - especially once we bathed in mosquito repellent! Oh, and as
suspected by all and confirmed by said mosquitoes – Suzanne is much sweeter
than Brad – she has approximately 50 bites; he has 2. :-)
Easy and affordable - no matter where you are!
