Hiking the West Branch of the Sturgeon River

With our hiking group leader out of town this past Sunday, I led a hike with a small group of our friends on the West Branch of the Sturgeon River to the south of Nisula. August is a perfect time for this hike as the mosquitoes and flies are at a low level and the lower, clear water makes it easy to navigate the river’s bottom. The first half of this roughly three mile hike follows a two track running parallel to the river. We entered the stream just below West Branch Falls.

We climbed up the left side of the falls and made our way upstream from there. You will find three decent sized waterfalls above West Branch Falls. I have not seen specific names given to these falls, but all three would seem worthy of proper names.

The second falls occur where a large slab of sandstone protrudes from the river’s bed forcing the river to make a 45 degree turn where it gently slides over the adjoining sandstone into a large pool.

A short distance upstream from here, the river flows over a sandstone cliff in a straight drop. In higher water, this waterfall spans from bank to bank.

While it is fun to climb up and over this waterfall, the terrain is gentle enough to allow for dry passage alongside the falls.

On your way to the next more substantial waterfall, you will encounter this small falls where the river tumbles over a shelf in the sandstone. An eddy below this waterfall presents interesting foam patterns on the surface of the water.

The next waterfall is found along sandstone cliffs on the north side of the river. This slide fall plunges into a nice pool for swimming. The face of the fall is easy to hike upon as the moss-covered sandstone provides excellent grip.

Continuing upstream, you will hike below some impressive sandstone cliffs.

The highlight of this hike is Hogger Falls. The sandstone in the river here takes on a chiseled appearance resulting in both straight drops and slides. The south side of the river below the falls is a wall of sandstone that has been undercut and you can take in the perspective below from this point.

From here we hiked the river back to where Newberry Road would cross the river and then out to our vehicles. The river bottom does get a bit mucky above Hogger Falls, so you may prefer a bushwhack out to the two-track.

You can check out my GoPro video from this hike on the Remote Workforce Keweenaw YouTube channel at this link:

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