G6AdventuresLast summer, our family of six toured the Upper Peninsula. Our second stop included two days exploring the Pictured Rocks National Shoreline. The Pictured Rocks shoreline extends for 42 miles along Lake Superior between Munising and Grand Marais. The park, one of four national lakeshores, has gorgeous sandy beaches, sand dunes, waterfalls, lighthouses, lakes, streams, forests and over 100 miles of trails. But it earns its name from the steep cliffs jutting from Lake Superior stained with minerals creating a palette of red, orange, blue, green, brown, black and white colors. These breathtaking cliffs continue for a stunning fifteen miles. As as soon as I started plotting our itinerary to the Upper Peninsula, I knew the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore had to be on our route.
Day 1:
We made the short drive from Newberry to the Woodland Park Campground in Grand Marais. When visiting Pictured Rocks, you can essentially choose to stay in either Grand Marais or Munising. Both have hotels, cabins and at least one campground. When we arrived at the campground, we immediately noticed the picturesque view of Lake Superior and the beautiful beach just across from our campsite. Knowing we wanted to fit in a lot in two days, we quickly set up camp and headed to to the park. We followed H-58 from Grand Marais through the park. First, we stopped at the Grand Sable Visitor Center, but it was closed. Then, we made a quick stop at Grand Sable Lake Scenic Overlook. Next, we stopped at the Lake Superior Overlook. From there, we drove all the way to Munising.
Once in Munising, we decided to take a Pictured Rocks shoreline cruise. Pictured Rocks is incredibly unique in that to truly experience the park, you need to do so as much from the water as from the shore. Without utilizing a boat of some sort, you really can see the mesmerizing rocks that give the park its name. Instead of a cruise, you can kayak or rent a boat, but a cruise made most sense for us. Lake Superior waters can get pretty rough, so we felt uncomfortable with our younger kids kayaking. Also, we felt we didn’t have time to make renting a boat worth it.
The Classic Cruise lasts 2 1/2 hours, traveling 32 miles round trip. You see the park’s jaw dropping cliffs, sea caves and the beaches. Plus, our witty tour guide gave us additional information and history about the lake, the park and the area. It did get pretty chilly on the way back. Most of our kids ended up sitting in the enclosed lower deck for the return trip. The boat does have restrooms, and they sell drinks and snacks on board as well. Though the tickets are a bit expensive (i.e., $42 for adults and $14 for kids 4-12), we thought it was worth it. We recommend to anyone who wants to see the rocks but doesn’t feel comfortable kayaking the potentially treacherous waters. Or who doesn’t want to or feel comfortable navigating a motor boat. Or who frankly just wants to relax and let someone else do the driving!
While in Munising, we ate dinner. There are quite a few restaurants to choose from. We grabbed a couple pasties, including a chicken one, from Muldoon’s Pasties & Gifts. Unanimously, we agreed that Muldoon’s pasties tasted better than Lehto’s. Though we enjoyed Lehto’s also, there was just something that made Muldoon’s a little better. I don’t think we could even name why, but we knew we liked them better. We also grabbed some burgers, chicken tenders and fries from eh! burger. The portion sizes here are huge, so order carefully! We ordered way too much food. No worries though, because it meant we went home with some delicious leftovers.
As we headed back toward Grand Marais, we stopped at Kingston Lake and another Lake Superior overlook to watch yet another astounding Michigan sunset. They just never get old! The drive from Grand Marais to Munising and back is quite a long one. And doing it in the dark, you never know what you’ll see. We ended up hitting not one but two birds driving between Grand Marais and Munising. I mean, there is a bit of distance between the two, but still! Without stopping, it took a solid hour to get from one town to the other. So keep that in mind as you make your travel arrangements. I suggest looking at the park to see where you think you’ll spend most of your time. Then, decide whether Grand Marais or Munising appeals to you more.
Grand Marais is serene and quaint with one gas station, a couple shops (including what is known as the World’s Smallest Gift Shop), and a few places to eat (if they’re open). Oh, and the Pickle Barrel House Museum (which was closed when we were there). Munising, while still small is a bit bigger than Grand Marais, so there are more people and more traffic. But there are also more amenities, and it is a bit closer to many of the more popular Pictured Rocks attractions. Honestly, though we loved our campground and the peacefulness of Grand Marais, we’d probably stay in Munising next time. We just felt like we spent a lot of time driving back and forth.
After we got back to our camper, we enjoyed a beautiful evening around the campfire before heading to bed after an awesome but exhausting day.
Day 2:
Knowing we wanted to cover a lot, we hit the ground running first thing in the morning. Our plan was to essentially spend the entire day exploring Pictured Rocks. We started with the short but steep Sable Falls Trail. Only .5 miles roundtrip, the vast majority of the trail consists of 168 steps down to the base of the falls. As you descend the stairs, there are a couple of landings and benches to rest as you come back up. At the bottom of the falls, you can follow Sable Creek to a beach. We chose not to walk to the beach. Instead, we took several pictures at the falls and then made our way back up to the parking lot.
Next, we drove to the Grand Sable Dunes viewpoint, which provides views of not only the dunes but also Grand Sable Lake. Then, we headed over to the Log Slide Overlook Trail. Another incredibly short trail, you walk first through a mature forest to the edge of the Grand Sable Dunes. At this point, historically, logs were slid down a wooden chute to awaiting boats in the lake. From the top of the dune, you get surreal views of Lake Superior, the Grand Sable Dunes, and Au Sable Lighthouse.
If you’re feeling brave (and maybe lucky), you can go to the bottom of the dune. I, for one, do not recommend it. It is a sharp climb. What may only take a minute or two to get down can take over an hour or more to get back up. We witnessed a guy struggling to make it back up to the top who kept repeating “This was a terrible life choice.” Trying to walk up these steep sand dunes is like trying to go up a 500+ foot down escalator. Rescues from here are incredibly difficult.
Then, we drove to the Chapel Falls trailhead. This easy, 2.5 mile roundtrip hike leads you to a 60-foot high waterfall. Or, you can continue past the falls to Chapel Rock and Chapel Beach, for a 6.2 mile total roundtrip hike. My intent was to go to the falls, then continuing to Chapel Rock where we could relax on the beach for a bit and eat lunch before heading back. Unfortunately, when we arrived, we found cars parked for over a mile beyond the trailhead. Knowing that I was already going to push the limits of our 4-year-old’s hiking endurance, adding an additional two miles to the car, we chose to forego the Chapel hikes. This was super disappointing as it was probably the hike I had been looking forward to most. However, I knew that if I pushed it, we’d all end up being miserable.
Instead, we opted to go to Miners Castle next. The Miners Castle rock formation is one of the most famous in Pictured Rocks. Not far from the parking lot, you will find several picnic tables, interpretive exhibits and vault toilets. We quickly found a table and ate our picnic lunch. Then, we walked through the exhibits to the upper viewing overlook which provide astonishing views of Lake Superior and Grand Island. We then followed a somewhat steep trail to the lower overlook which sits adjacent to Miners Castle. Here, we found a park ranger who provided our younger two with their Junior Ranger books.
Just down the road from Miners Castle is the Miners Fall Trailhead. We quickly found parking started down the easy 1.2 mile roundtrip trail to Miners Falls. At the end of the trail, you are treated to the park’s most powerful waterfall. You have the option to admire this 50 foot waterfall from the end of the trail or to descend 64 steps down to a lower platform. We chose to walk down to the platform where we enjoyed closer views of this impressive waterfall.
Next, we drove to the Munising Falls Visitor Center. The visitor center building is currently closed for renovation. However, they did have a temporary trailer open where you could purchase park passes if necessary. Park rangers also set up in a tent with park information. Here, the younger girls turned in their junior ranger programs, took their oaths, and received their badges. If your kids have not taken part in the Junior Ranger programs offered by the National Park Service, we HIGHLY recommend it. It keeps our kids engaged in the parks, and they love collecting badges from each park.
After getting their badges, we walked a mere 800 feet to Munising Falls along a paved trail following Munising Creek through a wooded canyon. Here, you can take in this 50-foot waterfall from either trail’s main lower platform. Or, you can take stairs that lead to two upper platforms which give different vantage points of the waterfall. Given that it was a bit later in the afternoon at this point, we opted not to climb the steps and chose to view the waterfall from the main platform.
We drove back to our campground in Grand Marais where we celebrated our Pictured Rocks stay with a delicious steak dinner. Then, we wandered through the few shops Grand Marais has, grabbed some ice cream at Sherpa Shack, and then walked over to Bayshore Park. The kids played on the playground and we enjoyed walking along the beach. After we returned to the campground, we watched the sunset from the campground beach. After dark, we spent some time searching for Yooperlite rocks using our UV flashlights. We didn’t find any, but we had a great time looking! Then, we finished up the evening with a family campfire.
Any trip to the Upper Peninsula should include time at the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. If your time there is limited, we’d at least recommend the Pictured Rocks shoreline cruise. If you have time for short hikes, Sable Falls, the Log Slide dune and Miners Falls are great choices. For a longer one, I wish we could have done the Chapel hikes. From everything I have read, they are great hikes. No matter what you enjoy from a national park, you’ll find it at Pictured Rocks. Have you traveled to Pictured Rocks? Comment below with your favorite sites. To follow all of our Michigan adventures, click here. You can read about our other adventures here.
