Hiking Waterfalls

Last Sunday our hiking group headed down to Nisula to hike the West Branch of the Sturgeon River. This hike is one of our favorite river bushwhack adventures. Late summer provides a comfortable water temperature and the footing is decent as the river flows over sandstone bedrock. The numerous waterfalls here are covered with moss which provides suction-like footing.

We started this hike by following a Forest Service two-track to West Branch Falls.

At this point, we entered the river and started hiking upstream with the objective of reaching Hogger Falls. My GoPro video captures the next fall (no photo) which is a nice slide in the river. The next waterfall goes over a sandstone shelf resulting in a straight drop below rather than a slide.

This waterfall has a nice swimming hole below it and is easy to climb up and over in low water.

Seventeen of us would make this hike on what would be a perfect U.P. late summer afternoon.

You can get so focused on the river doing this hike that you can lose sight of the sandstone cliffs along the river. In a number of places you will come across large boulders that have sheared from their faces.

You eventually reach this cool looking slide fall below a tall sandstone cliff which has a nicely carved out plunge pool below it that provides a great place for a swim.

At a point above these falls the river becomes congested with tag alder and appears to be overtaken by a beaver pond which is easily by-passed via a bushwack through the forest on the left side of river.

Ultimately, we reached Hogger Falls. It is at this point where the river drops into this sandstone canyon. This waterfall is definitely the highlight of the hike!

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

In my next issue we will be back on the North Country Trail for an adventure out to the southeast of Herman!

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