Presque Isle Waterfalls

Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park in Michigan is pretty big. It is the largest remaining old-growth hardwood and hemlock forest in the Midwest and also includes lots of maples and birch. Some of the trees are thought to be 400 years old. There is something about walking in these forests that is immediately calming.

We did a short stop on one end of the park to see the waterfalls in the Presque Isle section. It’s a two mile hike and absolutely wonderful with great views along with the hike being a bit challenging in spots.

Maybe there is a spirit in these waterfalls. Is that a ghost on the left? Well, no, but the mist is mysterious!

The water was dark from either the tannin in the plants or minerals in the rocks. John and I have differing opinions and the two rangers we asked had different answers. Either way, we like how the sunlight made it all types of colors.

The shale is worn into circles in some spots like a start of the potholes we saw in Minnesota.    

One bad part…we saw some yellow tape wrapped around the rails of a waterfall outlook, but not crossing the path. I went to the area and started to take some pictures but had to very quickly stop when I got stung…twice! Yes, I yelled. It turns out there was a wasp nest. The rangers were planning on killing the nest after dark when they wouldn’t swarm but some hikers had pulled down the tape. Luckily, I’m not allergic to wasp stings and the swelling was down by the next day. BTW, the pictures I took were too blurry to keep.

John was amused by the “selfie” he took from a bridge across the water…

…while I was amused by the Harry Potter roots. No large spiders!