Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore

We explore Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in two phases. The first from the north/east side via Muskallonge State Park and the second from the south/west via the city of Munising.

Muskallonge State Park

The State Park is located on a narrow strip of land between Lake Superior and Muskallonge Lake. It’s a really small area that’s completely out of the way with only one paved road in an out; and it’s beautiful. Other than water sports, it’s a very popular place for agate hunting (looking for semi-precious stones along the shoreline). And, as long as you don’t mind dirt roads, it’s a great way to access Grand Marais and the northern side of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.

Grand Marais

After taking a day at camp while a rainstorm moved through, we set out for Grand Marais at the northern edge of Pictured Rock National Lakeshore (NL).

The town of Grand Marais, having been blessed with it’s name in the 1600’s by French Explorers, missionaries, and traders is among Michigan’s oldest named places. It’s permanent settlement dates from the 1860’s and was once a booming lumber mill town served by a railroad from the south. After the decline of lumbering around 1910, it almost became a ghost town; but was able to hang on through the fishing industry. Today, a combination of fishing, lumbering, and tourism keep this little town going and it’s an interesting place to walk around.

Sable Falls

Continuing south from Grand Marais, we head to our first stop in Pictured Rocks NL, Sable Falls. 168 stairs later and what a way to begin exploring Pictured Rocks with this 75 foot natural wonder.

Au Sable Light Station

Next we hike to the Au Sable Light Station via the 1.7 mile path beginning at the Hurricane River. It meanders through the forest, along the Lake Superior shoreline and finally brings you out to Au Sable Point where the Light Station is located. The path is beautiful and offers animal sightings, wildflowers, rushing rivers, swirling waters, canopied forest, painted rocks, and locations of old shipwrecks before finally reaching the light station museum.

Log Slide Trail and Overlook

Heading north from Au Sable we stop for a quick picnic lunch at the Log Slide Overlook. Along the trail there is a display of the tools used in the early 1900’s to move the cut logs. Here we learn that most of the logging in the UP occurred in winter, and large sleighs were used nightly to spread water over the tote roads to prep them for the next days work.

As we reach the overlook we also realize this is a very popular dune climb as there are bus loads of kids there for that purpose. We snap a few quick pics and head back down the trail.

Grand Sable Lake

Our final stop on the north side of Pictured Rocks is Grand Sable Lake overlook. This is the lake the Pickle Barrel House used to sit on when it was in use.

Munising’s Waterfalls & Lighthouses

After setting up camp just outside of Munising, we head out for some exercise and to get a better look at a few of the sights we caught glimpses of on our way in. These are all just off the main roads with small parking areas in front for tourists like us to safely stop.

The next day we head east to begin exploring the southern/western side of Pictured Rocks NL.

The smoke from the Canadian fires is causing a cold mist to accumulate beneath it and the wind is pushing this mass around. We continuously adjust our plans based on which way the wind is blowing; because the temperature can vary by 20 degrees and it greatly affects visibility.

Grand Island & Overlook

Our first and last stop of the day is the Grand Island overlook (Grand Island on the left and Pictured Rocks coastline on the right). We pass it on the way to/from the campsite, so we stopped again in the afternoon to see the difference after the fog/smoke had moved further out of the bay.

Sand Point

Next stop is Sand Point with its ever changing beaches and sand bars as well as numerous shipwreck skeletons lying only 20 – 40 feet below the surface. Historically, many ships sought shelter from Lake Superior storms in Munising Harbor only to end up running aground due to the strong currents that flow between Munising Bay and the open waters of Lake Superior.

To help ships navigate this narrow channel, a lighthouse was erected on the east side of Grand Island in 1868 and in 1933 a USCG station was opened on Sand Point. The station was operational until 1961 and now serves as the Pictured Rocks NL Headquarters. The boathouse has been converted into a museum; which unfortunately was not open.

Munising Falls

Heading south we stop at Munising Falls. After a short walk along a paved trail through sandstone canyons and along Munising Creek we reach the 50ft waterfall. There’s a central viewing platform at the end of the path and stairs leading to elevated platforms on either side of the falls if you want to take in the different views.

Miners Castle

Heading northeast we go to Miners Castle to view the famous landmark, the pictured rocks to be found here, and have a picnic lunch.

As we arrive we can see the fog rolling in and sure enough when we get there, there’s very little that can be seen. We did catch a glimpse of the morning kayak tour and felt really sorry for them. To have paddled for hours to get here only to have heavy fog covering your view would be heartbreaking.

So, we have lunch and see if the view clears. It doesn’t, so we head to Miners Falls.

Miners Falls

Miners Falls Trail is a 1.5 mile trail along a forest pathway leading to a viewpoint where the Miners River cascades 50 feet over a sandstone cliff. There’s also a 77 step staircase down to a lower platform to get a better view and in our case feel the spray from the falls.

Miners Castle (Take two)

Looking toward Miners Castle, the sky appears to have cleared and we’re hoping that we’ll be able to see what we came for. Once we reach the shoreline we realize the fog has cleared away just enough to be able to get a few good pictures.

As we walk along the path we learn that the Pictured Rocks cliffs are largely layered sandstone of ochre, tan, and brown with smaller layers of white and green. The oldest layers date back as far as 520 million years ago and the colors/streaks are created by minerals in the groundwater seeping out of cracks. The minerals are iron, manganese, limonite, copper, and others.

Miners Beach

As we leave Miners Castle we head a little further northeast for a short walk down to Miners Beach to get a better view of the cliffs we were just on top of.

Mosquito and Chapel Falls

It’s now July 4th and we decide to escape the crowds by going to a trailhead out of the way and down a few miles of dirt road. As we approach we quickly realize that a lot of other people had the same idea. The parking lot is full and cars are already parked a 1/4 mile along the road. Oh well, it looks like today’s hike will be a little longer than we had planned.

Walking down the hill to the trailhead the road is covered with a canopy of trees, and despite the number of cars the only sounds we hear are the gentle breeze flowing through the leaves and small animals rustling through the forest floor on either side of the road.

Mosquito Falls

As we head out to Mosquito Falls we realize the trail is a winding, root covered, muddy mess and we love it!

After all the wide well groomed trails we’ve encountered lately, this one is fun to navigate as well as having a very cool view at the end.

The Mosquito Falls River flows over three shelves with the highest producing an 8ft waterfall.

After a quick lunch at the truck, we head out to explore the Chapel Falls trail from the same trailhead.

Chapel Falls

This trail is one of the wide, well groomed trails we’ve been accustomed to in Pictured Rocks.

So, it’s an easy stroll through the woods until we reach a 60ft waterfall that is ranked among the most beautiful in the park.

On the way to the falls we pass the short offshoot to Chapel Lake Overlook, so we stop to take a look.

It’s now time to head back to the truck and leave this national wonder for the last time. We realize it’s called Pictured Rocks for a reason; but it has so much more to offer, especially for those of use living in the west where sandstone is abundant. It’s an incredible place to visit and we’ve really enjoyed our time here.