A Spring Hike in Canyon Falls Roadside Park (Upper Peninsula, Michigan)
If you’ve been reading the blog for awhile, you’ll remember that I went to Canyon Falls last August while vacationing with my friends, Kari and Kayla, in Marquette, Michigan, where Kari was attending graduate school. Well, Kari graduated with her MA in Literature this spring, so Kayla and I drove up to Michigan to help her move. No surprise, we spent almost our entire time there going on new hikes, as well as some old favorites!
For a more comprehensive look at the Canyon Falls hike, check out my post about it from last year.
Canyon Falls Roadside Park is perfect for an old-fashioned waterfall-hunt and is dog friendly (which is very important when you’ve got as adorable as a hiking buddy as Kindi), so we packed up the car on our first full day in Michigan to tackle this hike.
One of the loveliest parts about visiting Michigan in mid-May versus August was all of the wildflowers! The trails were carpeted with yellow Trout Lilies. The Sturgeon River, which runs parallel to much of the hike, was also much higher than it was at the end of last summer, probably due to the runoff from spring snow.
If you compare these photographs to my photos from last year’s trip, they almost don’t look like the same waterfall! This spring, the mist coming off the thundering falls made the rocks slick, and the cloud cover created a moodier atmosphere, with the deep greens of the conifers and wet cliffs contrasting with frothing white water below.
As you can see in some of the photos, there was still snow on the ground during our visit (though luckily not much). Kayla also almost gave me a heart attack by trying to climb the tree leaning over the river (pictured above).
And of course, we have to end with our most adventurous hiking companion, Kindi. She’s still just a baby, but it’s funny to see how much she’s grown since we took her on this same hike last year! I think the biggest change is how much easier it used to be to wrangle her for photos.
Stay tuned for more adventures in Michigan!
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