Day seven of our summer family adventure took place in the greater Grand Marais, Michigan area.  Our morning began with a trip to the Crisp Point Lighthouse.  There is not an easy way to get to this lighthouse, so the journey there is a great part of the adventure . . . though I am disappointed I somehow missed Rabbit Patch Road this time.

After miles of gravel, dirt, and two-track roads, with an occasional section of pavement, we arrived at Crisp Point Lighthouse where we spent time photographing the beauty of Lake Superior, the lighthouse, and the surroundings.

We eventually left Crisp Point and made our way to Paradise, Michigan hoping to have lunch at the Brown Fisheries Fish House.  When we arrived, any available parking was taken, so we found a place where we could get the truck off the road to see how long of a wait it would be for lunch.  As it turned out, we were seated right away and soon had baskets of wonderful, fresh fried fish setting before us.  🙂  It was all gone before there was any thought to take photos, so our next photo stop was at the Seney National Wildlife Refuge near Seney, Michigan.  On our way there we drove past the entrances to Tahquamenon Falls State Park, but traffic was backed up all the way to the highway waiting to get in so we kept driving. 🙂  It was a beautiful day at the wildlife refuge even though much of the wildlife seemed to be hiding.

From there, we headed to Munising, Michigan for a stop at Munising Falls before heading back into Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore for the evening.

After a quick stop at the falls we spent some time at the Miners Castle Overlook and Beach for some good views of the rock cliffs that help make Pictured Rocks famous.

As the sun began to set through the wildfire smoke haze, we made our way to the mouth of the Hurricane River to watch the sunset from the place where the river flows into Lake Superior.

Day six of our summer family adventure found us traveling from our farmhouse lodging in Hurley, Wisconsin to a small motel on the shore of Lake Superior in Grand Marais, Michigan.  This 260+ mile drive covered maybe two-thirds of the width of the Upper Peninsula as we moved from west to east.  When we arrived at the farmhouse to start the week, I took photos of the property and the outside of the house but saved the interior photos until we were ready to leave.  It truly was a beautiful place to stay both inside and out.

From there, the day was filled with sightseeing opportunities as we continued our adventure.  The primary road we would have taken as we left the town we were staying in was closed, so we had to start with a detour.  As it turned out, this detour took us right past Bond Falls!  This turned out to be one of our favorite falls to photograph during this trip.  I had actually looked at it online before our trip, but thought we had somehow missed it during our drive up the Keweenaw Peninsula as I was looking for it near the city of  Ontonagon.  As it turned out it was on the Ontonagon River, but not really anywhere near the town of the same name . . . though the river does flow into Lake Superior where the town is located.

After leaving the falls, our route took us to Marquette, Michigan then the road followed the shoreline of Lake Superior to Munising, Michigan where the rest of the journey  was through the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore property and into the town of Grand Marais, Michigan.

After getting our things unloaded at the motel, we headed back into the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore to see a few sights until Susan had another seizure which brought us back to town.  We did manage to get some photos at Sable Falls, the Log Slide Overlook, and at Grand Sable Lake while we were out.

We made it back to town for dinner at a wonderful little diner and Susan was feeling enough better that we caught some photographs at the Grand Marais Bay during the “golden hour of light” then headed to the beach for the sunset over Lake Superior.

Day five of our family summer adventure was filled with variety as we made our way through the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park and through the length of the Keweenaw Peninsula with a return stop at the Lake of the Clouds on our way back through the “Porkies”.  Our first stop was at the Summit Peak Scenic area where we took a 1/2 mile walk (each way) to an observation tower overlooking the Porcupine Mountains.

Our next stop was at the Lake of the Clouds overlook also in the “Porkies”.  It was a beautiful place and I was able to observe several bald eagles from a distance and heard others of them calling across the forest below our position.

From there we drove up through the Keweenaw Peninsula with stops at a variety of lighthouses and waterfalls.  The lighthouses were Sand Hills Lighthouse, Eagle Harbor Lighthouse, Copper Harbor Lighthouse, and the Mendota (Bete Grise) Lighthouse.

The waterfalls included Eagle River Falls, Jacob’s Falls, and Silver River Falls.  We went by a few other falls that weren’t running enough water to make it worth photographing. 🙂

Finally, we made an evening stop back at the Lake of the Clouds overlook as the sun began to set behind us over Lake Superior.

Day four of our family adventure across the Upper Peninsula was another day filled with waterfalls and stairs.  Our first stop for the day was just a few miles from where we were staying and included two waterfalls, I think.  Some say it is the same waterfall with two different names, but we definitely found two unique falls areas so I’m going with having found both Peterson Falls and Interstate Falls.

From there, we drove north of Bessemer, Michigan where we photographed and enjoyed five different waterfalls along the National Black River Scenic Byway.  These were the Great Conglomerate Falls, Potawatomi Falls, Gorge Falls, Sandstone Falls, and Rainbow Falls.  At the end of the road Black River flowed into Lake Superior through Black River Harbor.

Our final stop of the day was at the Presque Isle Scenic Area of the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park.  This stop included the climbing up and down of many stairs that was rewarded by three named waterfalls and an unnamed rapids area near the end of the river that was even more beautiful than many marked falls.  The waterfalls were the Manabezho Falls, Manido Falls, and Nawadaha Falls.  Susan had a seizure somewhere between the last two falls, so we pushed her back to the truck in her wheelchair and then drove to a parking area closer to the falls so we could see it before heading back to the farmhouse for the night.

Day three of our family adventure continued a water theme as we began the day with a short drive to Potato River Falls near Gurney, Wisconsin.  This was another bonus stop as we discovered there were two falls — an Upper Potato River Falls and a Lower Potato River Falls!  As the trail neared the top of the upper falls, there were a great number of stairs leading to the base so Susan and I stayed at the top while MJ went down to photograph and then I went down when she was done.

From there we drove a short distance to Copper Falls State Park near Mellen, Wisconsin.  This was an incredible park with about half of the loop trail handicap accessible . . . though we managed the entire loop with Susan’s wheelchair even though the trail was indeed rugged with many stone and wooden stairs.  The loop contained The Cascades, Brownstone Falls, Copper Falls and what I called “The Chute” — a steep, narrow gorge with water cascading down its entire length.

For our next stop we headed north to Houghton Falls State Natural Area, where my information indicated a waterfall flowing into Lake Superior.  Well, I suppose in wet or rainy seasons there may well be, but for us it was a beautiful walk along a mostly dry creek bed with a nice view of the lake at the end.

Our final stop for day three, before heading back to the farmhouse for the night was in Bayfield, Wisconsin where we boarded a boat for an evening “Grand Tour” of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore.  This was an incredible time for all of us as there was much to see during our “3 hour cruise”.  🙂

Nope, not quite the boat we were on but I really liked it.  😀  Now for eagles, lighthouses, “sea caves”, water, and sunset that were a part of the real cruise. 🙂  This last section probably could have been “Day Three, Part Two” but it isn’t, so enjoy the blast of photos. 🙂

Day two of our summer family adventure began with a sunrise over Little Bay de Noc that looked much like the previous night’s sunset.  The haze in the sky made for a bright red ball of light for a long time before it finally diffused into more natural looking sunlight.

After the sunrise and breakfast, we were on our way across the western UP as we made our way back and forth along the Michigan and Wisconsin border.  This section of the trip began a waterfall focus as we eventually found some twenty to twenty-five named waterfalls to photograph during our entire trip (I guess I’ll figure that number out as I work through the days. 🙂 ).  Our first stop was a Long Slide Falls County Park in Wisconsin where we not only found Long Slide Falls but a bonus of Smalley Falls!

Our next destination was LaSalle Falls near Florence, Wisconsin.  In the process, we ended up exploring (accidentally) Spread Eagle Barrens State Natural Area — a well named region, by the way. 🙂  We eventually found a map posted that gave better directions to the falls, and also listed another falls nearby.  While they were better directions than what I started with, they were still rather vague and we ended up on some ATV trails that served as roads whether they were supposed to or not.  In the process we ended up at Washburn Falls first and from there was able to easily find LaSalle Falls.

From there it was time to finish our drive to Hurley, Wisconsin where we would stay for four nights as we explored the western UP and northern Wisconsin.  Our lodging was in a restored farmhouse situated on eighty acres of beautiful rolling pasture and woodlands.  We arrived in time to walk the property before calling it a day.