Hiking between the falls at Tahq

I think the first photo is the money shot, at least on our hike between the falls at Tahquamenon State Park last Saturday. This was below and around the bend from the upper falls, hence all of the foam on the tannin-laced water. The river slows down considerably on the four-mile stretch between the upper and lower falls.

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Fall is arguably just about the best time for hiking at Tahq. Why? Because there are NO INSECTS! Oh, that’s not totally true. There are insects. It’s just that the pesky biting ones are not prevalent. There is some color, although at the end of September, we still see a lot of green leaves.

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The trail never strays far from the Tahquamenon River and, since the river is at the bottom of a valley, there is quite a lot of up and down and you will see phenomena like this tree.

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We love to check out the fungus amongus.

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And yes there are waterfalls! The lower falls is below. I didn’t bother to photograph the upper. The upper is bigger, i.e., there is a larger distance for the water to drop (think Niagara but much smaller). The lower is a series of smaller drops. Lots of water this year but not as dizzying as it was when we were there during the Memorial Day weekend. There were “no” insects there then either but that was relatively unusual. And we didn’t hike between the falls that day partly because we didn’t plan to but also because there was so dern much water in the river last spring that parts of the trail were underwater and therefore it was closed.

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The last time I hiked between the falls, I was totally dead at the end of it all. We hiked from the lower to the upper falls, ate at the brewery, then hiked back. It was early July, it was 90 degrees, and, as much as I love my Chaco sandals, my Keens are better for hiking the relatively rugged (for Michigan) trail at Tahq because they have a closed toe form factor, which helps with all of the tree roots across the trail, etc. And there were insects of the biting sort although the extreme temps kept the mo-skee-toes at bay for the most part. I was taaaarred at the end of that hike and a bit trepidatious about this one. Not to worry. I had a blast! I felt fantastic and I could’ve easily hiked it both ways. Big uphill section? Bring it on!

One Response to “Hiking between the falls at Tahq”

  1. Margaret Says:

    Different temps and season make all the difference! Your first two shots are amazing and all of them are beautiful. Money shots!!