Pictured Rocks

I woke up just after sunrise and headed back down to Little Beaver Lake for a gorgeous view.

Chris had already taken off, so I followed down the Beaver Lake Trail and into Beaver Basin Wilderness.  There were some really cool caves and cliffs along the trail.

I ran into Chris right before the split and he was heading back.  I first followed Beaver Lake Trail along Little Beaver Lake.

Again, there was a beaver swimming across the middle of the lake.

Then back to the split, I headed out on the spur towards Lake Superior.

The lake was beautiful in the morning light and I could see the Pictured Rocks in the distance.

On the hike back, I ran into Sandy and Mel who were hiking the trail after Chris got back.  I spotted some orange jewelweed before making it back to camp.

While waiting for Sandy and Mel to return, Chris and I finished packing up.  There was some wild bergamot blooming around the campground.

Once everybody was back, we took off.

Our first stop was the parking for Miners Beach at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.  We hiked down to the beach and then walked along the beautiful lakeshore.

The sandy beach was really beautiful.  Mel spotted an American giant water bug along the shore.  Also known as "toe biters", don't want to step on one of them.

Making our way to the far end, it started getting rockier. 

At the end of the beach was a rocky area where Elliot Falls drops into the lake.  The water level was too low for much of a waterfall.

Pyro had fun playing the water, while Alex refused to go in.

After enjoying the beach for a while, we started making our way back.  Looking towards Bridalveil Falls, it too had very little water flow.

Our next stop was at Miners Castle.  A short paved path led out to views of the beautiful rock outcrop. 

An easy trail led down to a lower overlook of the "castle".

Lake Superior was really beautiful from here.

At this point, we temporarily parted ways with Chris and Mel as they were going to Mount Arvon.  We made one more stop in the lakeshore at Miners Falls.  This is a real popular hike following an old road.  The road ends at an overlook with a good view of the falls.

Unfortunately, the sun was shining right on it.

I climbed further down to the base of the waterfall.  It was very impressive and much bigger than I had expected.

It was also very crowded, so after a few pictures, I headed back up. 

From here, we headed west towards Wisconsin.  Just before the state line, we headed towards the Black River Harbor Recreation Area in Ottawa National Forest and parked at the trailhead for Gorge and Potawatomi waterfalls.  There are at least five waterfalls in this gorge, but we just didn't have enough time.  From the trailhead, we first headed to Gorge Falls.

As the name suggests, it falls through a narrow, water-sculpted gorge.

We enjoyed the view and then hiked upstream along the Black River.

Potawatomi Falls was just upstream, a really cool waterfall and very unique.

Another overlook was closer to the falls but had a partially obstructed view.

After some pictures, we headed back to the car. 

Continuing into Wisconsin, we made a stop at Potato River Falls to get one (or two) waterfalls in Wisconsin.  Leaving the paved road, we drove through a corn field to reach the trailhead.  First, we went to the Upper Falls.

This waterfall was in several sections and only the upper portion could be seen from the overlook.  I climbed down for a view of the lower sections.

Looking downstream, the brink of the Lower Falls was visible.

Then we headed back to the parking and down to the Lower Falls.

There was some nodding trillium fruiting near the overlook.

The view from the overlook was nice, but would have to wade the river to get close at the base.

Since it was so late by this point, I decided not too and we continued on.

We got to Duluth just after sunset and checked into the Radisson.  Alex enjoyed the comfy beds.

Since it was Sandy's birthday, we headed down to the bar and had a couple drinks to celebrate then went to bed.

Tahquamenon Falls

Monday morning, we woke up and broke camp.  A little frog was hopping around the campsite as we were packing up.

Chris and Mel had driven down to the beach for sunrise, so while they were packing up, we took Alex for a hike down to the Lake Michigan beach at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.  The lake was beautiful in the morning light.

Alex didn't want to go in the water, but Sandy and I did.  By the time we made it back, Chris and Mel were finishing up and we took off.  We made a quick stop at the Platte River on the way out.

The water was extremely clear and looked ideal for a lazy paddle, but we needed to continue on.

From here, we drove northwest towards Mackinac City and parked at Michilmackinac State Park.  Here at the Straights of Mackinac, Lake Michigan and Lake Huron meet.

There was a great view of the bridge here as well.  We walked around the grounds to see the Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse from outside.

We couldn't take the tour with the dogs, but it was cool to see this beautiful lighthouse.

After some pictures, we headed north to the Upper Peninsula and to Tahquamenon Falls State Park.  Unfortunately, it was very crowded.  We first stopped at the Lower Falls access.  From the parking lot, a trail led down to the river with distant views of the Lower Falls, a series of cascades around an island in the river.

Cascades on the river-right side of the island could be seen from here or by taking a boat to the island.  We didn't have time for that today unfortunately.

Staying on land, we followed the River Trail to an overlook near the largest of the cascades that also split around a very small island.

Just upstream was another very scenic drop.  As a waterfall, it wasn't super impressive, but looks like it would be a lot of fun to canoe over to the island and play around in the cascades.

After some pictures, we started heading back.  I spotted some orange jewelweed flowering along the trail.

We then drove to the Upper Falls, which may have been even more crowded.  The Upper Falls was really impressive.

There were several overlooks and they all provided nice views of the falls.

A welcome sight since so many waterfall overlooks have poor views.

The overlook right at the top of falls was the most crowded so I just went down for a couple pictures and then back up.

Further down, another staircase led into the gorge for a view from river level.

Before leaving, we had barbecue for dinner in the park and then left.

Our next stop was at Crisp Point Lighthouse on the Lake Superior shore.  From the paved M-123, it was almost 20 miles on gravel roads to Crisp Point.  It was very cloudy for our first stop of the trip on Lake Superior.

The restored lighthouse was very pretty, but was closed due to the pandemic.

Past the lighthouse, a boardwalk led out to the beach on Lake Superior on the other side.

The dogs played on the beach while we got some pictures.

Then we headed back to the cars for the long drive back to paved roads.

It was starting to get late now so we finished the drive to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore and set up camp at site 4 just before dark.  Our campsite had a path leading down to Little Beaver Lake and we watched sunset from here.

A beaver swam across the lake.

The view of the lake here was really nice and we all agreed this was a great campsite.

We hung out and talked with Chris and Mel for a while and then went to bed.  It was a dry night so left the window in our tent open and watched shooting stars over the very dark night sky.