Don't Go Chasing Waterfalls

We had so much fun today in Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore (park #201)!  We started the day by hiking to Sable Falls.  This is a really short, easy hike, but there are about 100 steps.

Sable Falls

Our next stop was to Munising Falls, which is a very short, 800-foot hike.

Munising Falls

After Munising Falls, we boarded a boat to see Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore and this was beautiful!  I highly recommend doing one of the boat tours.  Ours went to Spray Falls and turned around, and other boat tours don't go as far.  It was on the boat tour that I realized that this was probably my second most favorite park because it was so pretty!  It will take a lot to be better than Glacier, but this was a beautiful piece of our country!

Saw this guy on our way to the boat - anyone know what it is?

Scenery on the boat ride

Miners Castle

One of the arches with kayakers underneath it

Chapel Rock - notice the tree growing on top of it!

Spray Falls

Do you see the pirate face??  His mustache would be the water.

A few cormorants

After the boat tour, we headed to Miners Falls and Miners Castle.  On our way to the Falls, we saw a momma bear and cub crossing the road, but they were too quick for me to grab a picture...shoot!  Miners Falls is another very easy, 1.2-mile hike that is relatively flat and the falls are very pretty!  Miners Castle is the same rock formation we saw from the boat tour, only we walked to the overlooks.  The upper overlook is only a couple-hundred feet away from the parking lot, and then the lower overlook is about 1,000 feet away, with a longish uphill on the way back.  The upper overlook has the better lake view, but the lower overlook has the better view of the rock formation.

Miners Falls

Miners Castle

Our last stop of the day was about a half-mile one-way hike to Laughing Whitefish falls.  This is part of one of the state parks in the UP and not park of Pictured Rocks, but this was a really cool waterfall to see as well.  It's a pretty easy hike with a little bit of uphill towards the end on the way back, and about 150 steps down to the base of the falls.  There is an overlook at the top of the falls as well that doesn't require taking the steps.  But it is worth it to take the steps so you can see the entire 100-foot waterfall!

Laughing Whitefish Falls

We hit four breweries today.  The first was at lunch and was nothing to write home about - it was Shooters Firehouse Brewpub.  They only had four brews on tap and they weren't our favorite.  Before dinner, we stopped at Blackrocks Brewing and Ore Docks Brewing.  Both had really good beers!  The Coconut Brown at Blackrocks and the Gold and Belgian at Ore Docks were amazing!  For dinner, we went to Vierling Restaurant and Marquette Harbor Brewing.  Again, the beers weren't special, but the food was pretty good.

Shooters Sampler

Blackrocks Sampler

Ore Docks Sampler

Marquette Brewing Sampler