Root Beer Falls by David Hedquist

The Waterfall Record shares that Root Beer Falls:

…is not tall, only about 6′ tall. But it’s really cool and also easy to get to. The name of the falls comes from the color of the creek water. In the Upper Peninsula, many waterfalls like Tahquamenon Falls take on this color and it’s because of tannins, the chemical compounds that are also found in wine (especially red wine), tea, and coffee. Tannins give those and other things a bitter/astringent flavor or mouth-feel and different colors. (I’m a chemist, and I just think tannins are cool, so I felt like including it here!) The tannins here give the water a “root beer” color, hence the name.

The author adds that the directions to this waterfall off US-2 near Wakefield can be tricky so click through for more. Like many Michiganders, I grew up thinking that Tahquamenon Falls was “Rootbeer Falls”, so it was definitely a surprise to learn of the existence of an actual Root Beer Falls ten years ago this morning when searching for waterfall photos the Absolute Michigan group on Flickr.

David is the author of Waterfalling in Wisconsin. For sure follow his Facebook page and see more photos & a couple videos in his Root Beer Falls gallery on Flickr.

Let’s close with a gorgeous 4k video of Root Beer Falls by Douglas Felton. He has over 200 waterfall videos on his YouTube channel, so we will certainly check back in with him!