Tahquamenon Falls -- Upper Falls

After skiing around the lower falls, I drove south on M123 to access the upper falls. I had originally planned on skiing the trails but instead just skied to the falls and back. I wanted to get home before it was dark and I simply ran out of time.

There are 94 steps to get down to the platform at the top of the falls.  You can see the falls in the middle of the picture below.

With the warm temperatures as of late, there was a lot of flow going over the falls. The Upper Falls is one of the largest waterfalls east of the Mississippi. It has a drop of nearly 50 feet and is more than 200 feet across. A maximum flow of more than 50,000 gallons of water per second has been recorded cascading over its precipice.

The reason why people like to look at the falls during the winter is because of the ice formations next to the falls as well as coming off the rock walls to either side of the falls.  In some years the ice has dramatic colors.  This year there is a bit of color, but not as good as I've seen in the past.

I stopped at the Tahquamenon to get some soup.  My waitress told me that people have been driving the back way to Grand Marais, although she did clarify that a truck is required.  Since I have a Suburban, I decided to go for it.  I knew I was taking a risk of getting stuck, but she said she was 100% sure.  I would guess that no time in the history of mankind has this been possible in February.  Usually the snow is way too deep. 

It was a bit squirrelly in places but not as bad as I thought it was going to be.  Of course the most important thing is to not slow down.  However, there was an area where the snow was not deep so I left my car in the middle of the unplowed road on a straight-away and with my flashers on so I could get at least a couple of photos.    These pictures were taken about a half mile west of Perry's Landing.