Quartzite Falls

Quartzite Falls, photo by Marty Hogan

GoWaterfalling says that Quartzite Falls is one of the waterfalls on the Slate River in Baraga County, a remote wild river in the UP that has numerous drops as it makes it way to Lake Superior. Waterfalls of the Keweenaw Area, a cool waterfall site I discovered the other day, says that Quartzite Falls is:

A small waterfall with a sharp, uniform drop shaped like a bowed-in circle. Water falls straight down onto a flat piece of slate and slides down into a large, deep pool surrounded by cedars.

Click through for directions and a couple of photo galleries.

See this on black and see more in Marty’s Baraga County slideshow.

More waterfalls on Michigan in Pictures and also check out a nice video from Quartzite Falls.

Laughing Whitefish Falls

From Below, photo by gkretovic

Waterfall Week continues with this shot from the base of Laughing Whitefish Falls, about which GoWaterfalling says:

Laughing Whitefish Falls is in the Laughing Whitefish Scenic Site. This is one of the most impressive of Michigan’s waterfalls. I believe it is the highest waterfall in Michigan that is readily visitable.

The falls can be found off of M-94, about 30 miles from Munising or Marquette, and just outside of Chatham. You will see lots of Finnish place names as you head towards the falls…

The waterfall is a long slide. It looks bigger in person than in the pictures. That may be a result of having to walk down all those stairs to get to the bottom. I was first there on a rainy day in May when there was a lot of water flowing. I have seen pictures of the falls with even more water flowing. In drier weather the water may spread so thinly across the rocks to be hardly visible. On my second visit it was sunny. The brightness of the falls makes it hard to photograph.

The waterfall is named for the river. The river is so named because the mouth of the river resembled a laughing fish when viewed by the Ojibwe from Lake Superior.

Head over to GoWaterfalling for detailed directions and other nearby waterfalls.

Check this out bigger and see more in Greg’s Upper Peninsula of Michigan slideshow.

Also check out this cool slideshow from Laughing Whitefish Falls in the Absolute Michigan pool on Flickr!

Ocqueoc Falls, a big fish in a small pond

Ocqueoc Falls, photo by joeldinda

Way back in 2006 Michigan in Pictures featured another photo of Ocqueoc Falls. If towering falls are what you’re looking for, you’ll probably need to keep looking. GoWaterfalling.com has this to say about Ocequeoc Falls near Onaway:

Ocqueoc Falls is the only “major” waterfall in Michigan’s lower peninsula. In rockier, hillier parts of the world this would be a nameless rapids of no note but here in the farmlands and forests of Michigan it merits its own little park. The falls is at most 5 feet high. There is a small gorge below the falls, with rocky walls about 20 feet high. The Ocqueoc Falls State Forest Campground is just across the road, and the Bicentennial Pathway passes by the falls.

Check this out background bigtacular and see more in Joel’s Waterfalls slideshow.

More Michigan waterfalls on Michigan in Pictures!

Eagle River Falls, actually

DSC_3761_edited-1.jpg, photo by Bearcats Photography

Only the second day of Waterfall Week on Michigan in Pictures and already I have egg on my face … maybe all those waterfalls can wash it off. An alert commenter noted that this waterfall is not Jacobs Falls but actually nearby Eagle River Falls. GoWaterfalling fortunately has the 411 on these falls that are about 4 miles from Jacobs Falls.

Eagle River Falls is in Eagle River, on MI-26. This is a roadside falls. There is a small park and a pedestrian bridge from where you can get a nice view of the falls. There is an old dam at the top of the falls. The falls used to power the Lake Superior Safety Fuse Factory. In the spring the falls is much wider and sometimes flows over the dam…

The pedestrian bridge used to be the main bridge, and is of historical interest. It is an early steel bridge. Personally, I thought the modern bridge it was replaced with was much more interesting.

Click through for more and also information about other nearby waterfalls. If you’re curious about the Lake Superior Safety Fuse Factory, click that link from some photos & recollections about this Eagle River business at pasty.com.

Speaking of nearby waterfalls, I found another cool site this morning. Waterfalls of the Keweenaw Area by Jacob Emerick features a nice map of waterfalls in the area as well as a list of waterfalls. He has several albums of photos on the Eagle River Falls page - check it out!

Check this out big as a waterfall and see more in Mike’s Upper Peninsula, mi slideshow.

More waterfalls on Michigan in Pictures.

Mosquito Falls and Waterfall Week on Michigan in Pictures

Mosquito river – Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, photo by Michigan Nut

I’ve decided to declare it Waterfall Week on Michigan in Pictures, due in part to today’s photo from John McCormick.

We’ll lean heavily on the fantastic GoWaterfalling.com, far and away the best guide to waterfalls in the Great Lakes region. They say that Michigan has nearly 200 named waterfalls, with all but one located in the Upper Peninsula (more about that tomorrow). They note that many (such as today’s) are pretty small and might better be described as rapids.

Their page on Mosquito Falls says:

This is the smallest and least impressive of the named waterfalls in Pictured Rocks. If time is limited, skip this one in order to see Chapel Falls. However this waterfall is a nice feature of the Chapel Loop Hike which will take you past both Chapel and Mosquito Falls.

Mosquito Falls is a small waterfall consisting of two main drops about 100 meters apart with a stretch of rapids in between them. The lower drop is about 10 feet high, and the upper one is about 5 feet high. This is the smallest of the named Pictured Rocks waterfalls but it is a very lovely hike, especially in spring when the flowers are out.

They’re definitely right about what is for my money the best hiking trail in Michigan – trail map right here. Read on for directions and more and also see the Waterfalls page from the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.

See John’s photo bigger and see more in his Michigan Waterfalls slideshow.

be always an explorer

be always an explorer, photo by .brianday

A good motto for the weekend … or a lifetime.

Check this out on black and see this and many more shots in Brian’s long exposure slideshow.

More black & white photography (including several by Brian) on Michigan in Pictures.

Red Sunflower

Red Sunflower, photo by d charvat

I wish I’d planted a field of these.

Check it out bigger and in d charvat’s Summer slideshow.

More flowers on Michigan in Pictures.

Hot Air Balloon Ride over Grand Traverse Bay

Hot Air Balloon Ride-19, photo by alioops1956

Here’s a great set of photos from a misty hot air balloon ride over Grand Traverse Bay. Check it out background bigtacular and in Alison’s Hot Air Balloon Ride slideshow.

I’m pretty sure this is a balloon from Grand Traverse Balloon.

Morgan Falls near Marquette

Morgan Falls, photo by my marquette

GoWaterfalling, the premier site for Michigan & Midwest waterfalls has this to say about Morgan Falls:

Morgan Creek tumbles 20 feet into the Carp River, creating this small wild waterfall. This is one of the more accessible of the Marquette waterfalls. The more impressive, but much harder to visit Carp River Falls are half a mile away.

Morgan Falls is located about two miles south of the city of Marquette. Of the many waterfalls in Marquette county this is one of the easier to visit, especially if you have four wheel drive. The waterfall is located at the confluence of Morgan Creek and the Carp River. The creek cascades down 20 feet to join up with the Carp.

…There is some disagreement about the name of this falls. According to some Morgan Falls is actually a cascade further upstream, and this is just an unnamed waterfall. This is the more distinctive and photogenic of the two features.

Get directions, nearby falls & more pics from GoWaterfalling!

Check this out bigger and see more in Ashley’s Nature slideshow.

Many more Michigan waterfalls or more from Marquette can be found on Michigan in Pictures!

The Gray Treefrog doesn’t care if you’re confused

You Can’t See Me, photo by MacDonald_Photo (Formerly Sl33stak)

Michigan has two species of Gray Treefrog – the Eastern (Hyla versicolor) and Cope’s (H. chrysoscelis) that are hard to distinguish, sometimes even sharing the same ponds. Check out the Hyla versicolor page at the UM Animal Diversity Web for a bit about that. Their color spans a range of gray, green or brown according to environment or activity. See a collection of photos showing their wide range of color at the UM Animal Diversity Web.

They can be found in woods, swamps and your own backyard. Their ability to climb vertically & horizontally is due to their specially adapted toe pads, and you’ll sometimes find them on your screen windows at night. You’ll hear their short musical trill on warm spring & summer nights.

Jamie writes that he walked 20′ into the woods off a heavily used path and ran into this little guy – small as his thumb and sitting on a milkweed. Check this out background bigtacular and see more in his Fauna slideshow.

More Michigan frogs on Michigan in Pictures. Or, for something different, here’s what we have for green!