Where to find, what to know about Michigan's biggest waterfalls

Jenna Prestininzi, Detroit Free Press

Dazzling waterfalls provide a glimpse of natural beauty across Michigan, with many rushing over cliffs or along canyons in a rural landscape.

Michigan features over 20 waterfalls, primarily in the Upper Peninsula. The natural water formations provide tourist attractions across the state's rural regions. Here's a look at five of the state's waterfalls.

Michigan waterfalls

  • Laughing Whitefish Falls State Park: Part of the 360-acre state park, the falls run through a gorge surrounded by a white pine and hemlock forest 20 miles southeast of Marquette. Three observation platforms offer viewing at different levels, with a half-mile walk through beech-maple forest. The state park also offers hiking, wildlife viewing and birding.

  • Munising Falls: This 50-foot tall waterfall dives over a sandstone cliff in the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. The walk up to the falls is an 800-foot paved trail in a canyon along Munising Creek, and a viewing platform with two flights of stairs offers further views. The area includes benches, parking for cars, buses and RVs, toilet access, pet access and trash and recycling services.

  • Ocqueoc Falls: Ocqueoc Falls lies on the Ocqueoc River in the northeastern lower peninsula. To access the falls, park at the day-use area and walk the Ocqueoc Falls Bicentennial Pathway to the viewing area. The area includes around six miles of hiking, biking and cross-country skiing, and a state forest campground with a hardwood forest.

  • Superior Falls: Straddling the Michigan-Wisconsin border, these falls feature a total drop of 110 feet in several levels over the Montreal River. The site is accessible from a viewing area near a parking lot and hiking down a steep decline toward Lake Superior. The waterfall drops into a large gorge into the river, a short distance from Lake Superior, giving the falls its name.

  • Tahquamenon Falls: This popular tourist destination includes the 200-foot wide and 48-foot tall upper falls, with the five lower falls about four miles downstream. Nicknamed the "root beer falls" due to the water's amber color, these waterfalls lie in the nearly 50,000-acre Tahquamenon Falls State Park. The state park also features campgrounds, a boat launch, over 35 miles of trails and a variety of wildlife species.

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Name origins

Many of Michigan's waterfalls hold Indigenous names rooted in the state's Native American population. Michigan includes 12 federally recognized tribes, with nearly half in the Upper Peninsula, according to the State of Michigan.

Laughing Whitefish falls run into the Laughing Whitefish River, then flowing into Lake Superior at Laughing Whitefish Point. The point's tip is said to look like a laughing fish from the water, according to Ojibwe tradition.

Ocqueoc is considered to be an English or French interpretation of the the Indigenous term meaning sacred waters or crooked waters, according to various accounts.

Tahquamenon, also a name with Indigenous origins, is a bit more unclear. Various spellings and meanings have been recorded by Indigenous and Jesuit scholars over the years, including from Ojibwe, Ottawa, Algonquin and Potawatomi languages.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan waterfalls: Where to view them, what to know

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