Winter Tannins – Tahquamenon Falls

Posted on by farlane

Winter Tannins - Tahquamenon Falls (Tahquamenon Falls State Park - Upper Michigan)

Winter Tannins – Tahquamenon Falls, photo by Aaron C. Jors

Wikipedia’s entry on the Tahquamenon River explains that because the headwaters of the river are located in a boreal wetland that is rich in cedar, spruce and hemlock trees, the river’s waters carry a significant amount of tannin in solution  and are often brown or golden-brown in color. The Tahquamenon Falls are thus the largest naturally dyed or colored waterfall in the United States

View Aaron’s photo from January 1st bigger and see more in his Michigan slideshow.

Lots more about the Tahquamenon Falls on Michigan in Pictures.

Get out there and see something amazing this weekend!!

Root Beer Falls

Posted on by farlane
Tahquamenon Falls Root beer falls

Tahquamenon Falls, photo by Courtney Cochran

The Tahquamenon Falls are Michigan’s biggest waterfall and quite a sight to see in any season. It draws its name from the distinctive root beer color of the water which is created by the leaching of tannins from the cedar swamps that feed the river.

At its peak flow, the river drains as much as 50,000 gallons of water per second, making it the second most voluminous vertical waterfall east of the Mississippi River after only Niagara Falls.

View Courtney’s photo bigger and see more in her Landscapes slideshow.

Lots more Tahquamenon Falls on Michigan in Pictures!

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Baker’s Falls … and the Michigan in Pictures Twitter

Posted on by farlane

bakers-falls-wakefield-mi

Bakers Falls, Wakefield, MI, photo by Josh Ringsmuth

Yesterday Michigan in Pictures joined Twitter @michpics. In addition to tweeting out the daily photo, I’m planning to dig out gems from the huge archive of pics & posts here, and also to share some of the many photos that I can never get around to featuring in the one-a-day format of Michigan in Pictures. I hope that you’ll follow me and tweet pictures at me there as well.

In honor of the occasion, I thought it would be good to share the first picture tweeted at me, even though it means back-to-back waterfalls. It’s of Baker’s Falls in the western U.P. aka Gabbro Falls about which GoWaterfalling says (in part):

Gabbro Falls is on the Black River and is as impressive, if not more impressive, than its more celebrated neighbors downstream along the Black River Scenic Byway. This is a largely wild waterfall with no fences or barriers of any kind. It consists of three separate drops. When the water is high there is a fourth drop that is the height of the other three combined. The main drop falls into a narrow crevice between two large rock formations.

Gabbro Falls is relatively easy to find but there is some confusing information out there. The waterfall is also known as Baker’s Falls, and it is often mistakenly called Garbo Falls (gabbro is a type of rock).

Read more & get directions at GoWaterfalling.com. Michigan in Pictures has more of those Black River waterfalls, and if you’re curious about gabbro, Wikipedia has your answers.

View the photo on Josh’s Twitter and follow him at @DaRealOtisJosh.

Tale of the tape at Laughing Whitefish Falls

Posted on by farlane

Laughing Whitefish Falls

Laughing Whitefish Falls, photo by James Marvin Phelps

GoWaterfalling’s page on the Laughing Whitefish Falls says (in part):

Laughing Whitefish Falls is in the Laughing Whitefish State Park. 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…

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.

Get detailed directions at GoWaterfalling.com. They add that later in the year the water flow can get thin enough to be hardly visible!

To answer the question of the height, I found a very cool list of Michigan waterfalls by height at the World Waterfall Database. At 100 feet tall, Laughing Whitefish Falls check in fourth behind:

  • Spray Falls – 140′ (towering and incredible – view by Pictured Rocks boat tour or long hike)
  • Jasper Falls (125′, midway between Miners Beach & Sand Point along the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore shoreline – they say it’s basically a trickle most of the time)
  • Houghton Falls (110′, private property/no trespassing! You can click that link for a Michigan in Pictures photo from someone who got permission from the landowner to visit)

View James’ photo on Flickr and see more in his massive Michigan Waterfalls slideshow including a few nice shots of Spray Falls and some waterfall videos!

PS: Just realized that this photo was from way back in 2005! Amazing that I’ve been doing Michigan in Pictures for so long, and that people like James have been supporting me with their photography for so long!

More Michigan waterfalls on Michigan in Pictures.

Fall at Bond Falls

Posted on by farlane

Bond Falls

Bond Falls, photo by Yanbing Shi

Some mornings you just want to look out the window at what Michigan weather is up to, stick your fingers in your ears and say “I’M NOT LISTENING TO YOU.”

View Yanbing Shi’s photo background bigtacular and see more of his fall photos.

Lots more from Bond Falls on Michigan in Pictures!

Waterfall Wednesday: MNA Memorial Falls aka Twin Falls

Posted on by farlane

memorial falls
memorial falls, photo by Aaron Strouse

GoWaterfalling.com is the go-to source for information about Michigan’s waterfalls. Their page on MNA Memorial Falls says (in part):

MNA Memorial Falls is in Munising, off of H-58. Some of the locals refer to this waterfalls as “Twin Falls”. This is a very seasonal waterfall and is often dry. However when the water is flowing, which may only be after a good rain or when the snow is melting, you will be treated to a very pretty gorge with two waterfalls in it. MNA Memorial Falls is owned by the Michigan Nature Association and it is open to the public.

To visit the falls from Munising, head east on H-58 and turn right on Nestor street. There is a sign that says “MNA Memorial Falls” on the right. Park here and follow the trail. The trail will take you to the top of the falls. There is a small wooden bridge that crosses the creek just above the falls. The trail continues downstream along the top of the gorge and then works its way back to the base of the falls. It is at most a 10 minute walk.

Two streams empty into this gorge, but the second one likely only has water after or during a good rain. One very interesting feature of this gorge is a “window” in the walls between the two falls. You can crawl through this window, or just walk around it. You can see each of the waterfalls through this window.

Read on for lots more including driving directions and information about nearby falls to visit including Tannery Falls. You can also learn more about the Michigan Nature Association and their preserves at michigannature.org.

View Aaron’s photo bigger and see more great shots in his awesome Michigan waterfalls slideshow.

Many more Michigan waterfalls on Michigan in Pictures!

#TBT: the brink – tahquamenon falls

Posted on by farlane

the brink - tahquanemon falls

the brink – tahquamenon falls, photo by Scott Jones

Reaching all the way back to October 2006 for this photo of Tahquamenon Falls taken with a Holga 120N.

Check it out background big and see more of his Holga photos right here.

More Holga on Michigan in Pictures! More Tahquamenon Falls too!

Fall Color at Upper Tahquamenon Falls

Posted on by farlane

Upper Tahquamenon Falls

Upper Tahquamenon Falls, photo by Ashley Williams

If you’re wondering what fall color looks like in the northeastern Upper Peninsula, wonder no more! Ashley took this shot at Michigan’s largest waterfall, the Tahquamenon Falls last week. As you can see, it’s shaping up nicely.

If you’re wondering about statewide color, the Freep shared a NASA photo of Michigan’s fall color from space that’s pretty cool!

View her photo background bigtacular and see more in her Michigan’s Upper Peninsula slideshow.

There’s lots more fall wallpaper and more Tahquamenon Falls on Michigan in Pictures!

#TBT: Tahquamenon Falls Aerial View, postmarked 1948

Posted on by farlane

Newberry MI UP RPPC Aerial View Upper Tahquamenon Falls near Whitefish Point LL Cook K-498 Postmarked 1948

Aerial View Upper Tahquamenon Fall, Postmarked 1948, photo by Don…The UpNorth Memories Guy… Harrison

In honor of the latest kayaker to throw caution to the wind (or is that water?) and take the plunge over the 51′ Tahquamenon Falls, here’s a cool aerial of the Falls that was postmarked in 1948 and probably taken a few years before.

If you want to see how to do this, check out a great video feature at YooperSteez on How to Kayak Over Tahquamenon Falls with Brazilian extreme kayaker Marcelo Galizio. Things To Do in the UP has an interview with Marcello as well. NOTE: I’m pretty sure this is against the rules at Tahquamenon Falls State Park and probably a great way to kill yourself if you don’t know what you’re doing!

View Don’s photo big as the Falls and see more pics & postcards from Tahquamenon and also follow him at UpNorthMemories on Facebook.

Lots more about Tahquamenon Falls on Michigan in Pictures!

 

The Upper Peninsula Night Sky

Posted on by farlane

Tahquamenon Falls by LakeSuperiorPhoto

Tahquamenon Falls, by LakeSuperiorPhoto

It’s certainly no secret that one of my favorite Michigan photographers is Shawn Stockman Malone of Lake Superior Photo. The latest national outlet to recognize her work is Huffington Post Detroit, which assembled a collection of her UP Night Sky photos in a nice feature that says (in part):

Stockman-Malone runs photography gallery LakeSuperiorPhoto in Marquette, Michigan, a bustling college and former mining town on the Lake Superior coast.

…While Stockman-Malone does monitor sun weather to try to catch views of the Northern Lights, much of her work is guided by chance — and by being ready to photograph at any time. Once, her dog was scared and woke her up when lightning struck, and she caught a shot of the Northern Lights over the storm.

“You never know what Mother Nature has up her sleeve, and just hope you catch it,” Stockman-Malone said about her night photography practice in an email to The Huffington Post. “The Milky Way moves across the sky and can be found rising and setting in different directions throughout the year, so there will always be new perspectives in new locations. Same thing goes for moonrises and moonsets. Then there’s meteor showers, conjunction of planets, appearance of comets, etc. so there’s always something new happening.”

Click through for more and lots more incredible night shots!

View this photo and more bigger at Huffington Post Detroit, purchase prints at lakesuperiorphoto.com and get your daily dose of Upper Peninsula Amazing through the Lake Superior Photo Facebook.