Tahquamenon Falls State Park

This post is part four of a travel series to Michigan's Upper Peninsula.   To start at the beginning go  HERE.  The remaining posts in consecutive order are HERE , HERE, and HERE!

On day three of our trip to Michigan's UP, after spending the morning at Oswald Bear Ranch, we then headed to Tahquamenon Falls State Park.  The park was on the way to Munsing where we planned to spend the night and the duration of our trip to the Upper Peninsula.

Tahquamenon Falls State Park has close to 50,000 acres, but most of it is undeveloped woodland.  The centerpiece of the park is the Tahquamenon River and its waterfalls.  The trails to see the falls are very developed and well taken care of.  There are lots of cool staircases and boardwalks as you will see in many photos of this post.

The Upper Falls is the highlight of the park and one can certainly see why when visiting.  It is one of the largest waterfalls east of the Mississippi with a drop of nearly 50 feet and a spread of 200 feet across.

When my son saw the photos of the Upper Falls he thought it looked like a dam, and he is sort of correct because although the falls were always here, man made a few changes to make the river suitable for log drives.

We took two trails while in the park.  The Tahquamenon Falls Upper Falls Loop is 1.5 miles and allows you many different viewpoints of the Upper Falls.

The second trail we took was the Lower Tahquamenon Falls which is 3.2 miles and takes you on a nice hike across a bridge to an island.  The Lower Falls is actually a series of five falls that divide around an island in the river.

Of course I couldn't help but stop to admire the Marsh Marigolds!

The bridge pictured below was new in 2021 to make it possible for anyone, no matter their abilities, to reach the island.

There are multiple viewing platforms to see the lower falls:

1.  The first viewpoint is from a paved path near the parking lot...so if you want to see the lower falls without hiking, you will want this one!

2. Two more viewing decks, like this one, provide close up views of the falls.

3.  And the last viewing deck is from the island once you cross the large metal bridge.

This old boardwalk/bridge was on the island.  It was so cool! It reminded me of Florida!

And finally, here are a couple of videos of both the Upper and Lower Falls.

We really enjoyed this sweet little park.  It was a nice stop on the way from St. Ignace to Munsing.  I highly recommend adding it to your travel itinerary if you're in the area too!

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

Have A Great Day!  Amy