The
Tahquamenon Falls State Park is a 46,179-acre (186.9 km²)
state parkState parks are parks or other protected areas of the United States and in Mexico for an area of land preserved on account of its natural beauty, historic interest, recreation, or other reason, and under the administration of the government of a U.S. state or one of the states of Mexico. State...
in the
U.S. stateA U.S. state is any one of 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government . Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile...
of
MichiganMichigan is a Midwestern state of the United States of America. It was named after Lake Michigan, whose name is a French adaptation of the Ojibwe term mishigama, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
. It is the second largest of
Michigan's state parks. Bordering on
Lake SuperiorLake Superior is the largest of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded to the north by Ontario, Canada and Minnesota, United States, and to the south by the U.S. states of Wisconsin and Michigan...
, most of the park is located within
Chippewa CountyChippewa County is a county in the Upper peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the population was 38,543. The county seat is Sault Ste. Marie.-Geography:*According to the U.S...
, with the western section of the park extending into
Luce CountyLuce County is a county in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the population was 7,024. The county seat is Newberry. In 2002, Newberry was designated as the moose capital of Michigan by the State Legislature. The county is named after former Michigan Governor Cyrus G...
. The nearest town of any size is
ParadiseParadise is an unincorporated community in Whitefish Township, Chippewa County in the U.S. state of Michigan.Paradise is on the northeastern portion of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, on the western side of Whitefish Bay, Lake Superior, about by road from Sault Ste. Marie and about north of the...
.
Tahquamenon Falls State Park follows the
Tahquamenon RiverThe Tahquamenon River is a long blackwater river in the U.S. state of Michigan that flows in a generally eastward direction through the eastern end of the Upper Peninsula. It drains approximately of the Upper Peninsula, including large sections of Luce County and Chippewa County...
as it passes over
Tahquamenon FallsThe Tahquamenon Falls are two different waterfalls on the Tahquamenon River. Both sets are located near Lake Superior in the eastern Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The water is notably brown in color from the tannins leached from the cedar swamps which the river drains...
and drains into
Whitefish BayWhitefish Bay is a large bay on the eastern end of the southern shore of Lake Superior between Michigan and Ontario. It begins in the north and west at Whitefish Point in Michigan, about 10 miles north of Paradise, Michigan and ends at the St. Marys River at Sault Ste. Marie on the southeast...
, Lake Superior.
The
Tahquamenon Falls State Park is a 46,179-acre (186.9 km²)
state parkState parks are parks or other protected areas of the United States and in Mexico for an area of land preserved on account of its natural beauty, historic interest, recreation, or other reason, and under the administration of the government of a U.S. state or one of the states of Mexico. State...
in the
U.S. stateA U.S. state is any one of 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government . Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile...
of
MichiganMichigan is a Midwestern state of the United States of America. It was named after Lake Michigan, whose name is a French adaptation of the Ojibwe term mishigama, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
. It is the second largest of
Michigan's state parks. Bordering on
Lake SuperiorLake Superior is the largest of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded to the north by Ontario, Canada and Minnesota, United States, and to the south by the U.S. states of Wisconsin and Michigan...
, most of the park is located within
Chippewa CountyChippewa County is a county in the Upper peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the population was 38,543. The county seat is Sault Ste. Marie.-Geography:*According to the U.S...
, with the western section of the park extending into
Luce CountyLuce County is a county in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the population was 7,024. The county seat is Newberry. In 2002, Newberry was designated as the moose capital of Michigan by the State Legislature. The county is named after former Michigan Governor Cyrus G...
. The nearest town of any size is
ParadiseParadise is an unincorporated community in Whitefish Township, Chippewa County in the U.S. state of Michigan.Paradise is on the northeastern portion of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, on the western side of Whitefish Bay, Lake Superior, about by road from Sault Ste. Marie and about north of the...
.
Tahquamenon Falls State Park follows the
Tahquamenon RiverThe Tahquamenon River is a long blackwater river in the U.S. state of Michigan that flows in a generally eastward direction through the eastern end of the Upper Peninsula. It drains approximately of the Upper Peninsula, including large sections of Luce County and Chippewa County...
as it passes over
Tahquamenon FallsThe Tahquamenon Falls are two different waterfalls on the Tahquamenon River. Both sets are located near Lake Superior in the eastern Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The water is notably brown in color from the tannins leached from the cedar swamps which the river drains...
and drains into
Whitefish BayWhitefish Bay is a large bay on the eastern end of the southern shore of Lake Superior between Michigan and Ontario. It begins in the north and west at Whitefish Point in Michigan, about 10 miles north of Paradise, Michigan and ends at the St. Marys River at Sault Ste. Marie on the southeast...
, Lake Superior. The Tahquamenon Falls include a single 50-foot (15-meter) drop, the
Upper Falls, plus the cascades and rapids collectively called the
Lower Falls. During the late-spring runoff, the river drains as much as 50,000 gallons (200,000 liters) of water per second, making the upper falls the second most voluminous vertical waterfall east of the
Mississippi RiverThe Mississippi River is the second longest river in the United States, with a length of from its source in Lake Itasca in Minnesota to its mouth in the Gulf of Mexico....
, after only
Niagara FallsThe Niagara Falls are voluminous waterfalls on the Niagara River, straddling the international border between the Canadian province of Ontario and the U.S. state of New York...
.
The
North Country TrailThe North Country National Scenic Trail , planned to stretch more than from Crown Point in eastern New York to Lake Sakakawea in western North Dakota in the United States, is the longest of the ten National Scenic Trails authorized by Congress...
passes through the park.
Tahquamenon Falls is also called "Rootbeer Falls" because of its golden-brown color, caused by
tanninTannins are astringent, bitter plant polyphenols that either bind and precipitate or shrink proteins. The astringency from the tannins is what causes the dry and puckery feeling in the mouth following the consumption of unripened fruit or red wine...
s from
cedarCedar is a genus of coniferous trees in the plant family Pinaceae. They are most closely related to the Firs , and share a very similar cone structure...
swamps that drain into the river. In winter, the ice that accumulates around and in the falls is often colored in shades of green and blue.
Much of the park is undeveloped but it does have more than 22 miles (35 km) of hiking trails. Row boats and canoes are rented to use to approach the lower falls. There are five campgrounds in the park with a total of 350 campsites. The park receives as many as 500,000 visitors per year, many of whom drive in on the state park's only paved road,
M-123M-123 is a state trunkline highway in the eastern Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is one of only a few highways in Michigan that curve around and form a U-shape. In fact, M-123 has three intersections with only two state trunklines. It meets M-28 twice as a result of its U-shaped...
. M-123 intersects with
Interstate 75Interstate 75 is a major north-south Interstate Highway in the midwest and southeastern United States. It travels from State Road 826 and State Road 924 in Hialeah, Florida to Sault Ste...
at Michigan exit #352.
Nearby attractions include the
Great Lakes Shipwreck MuseumThe Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum is located in Chippewa County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is on the northeastern portion of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, on Whitefish Point which forms the northern end of Whitefish Bay on Lake Superior....
at Whitefish Point, and the Point Iroquois Light and Museum at Bay Mills, Michigan on Whitefish Bay.
External links