Thursday, October 4, 2012

Western Upper Peninsula -- Post 3

Today's blog posting will continue tracing the adventure that my sister, Diana, and I had last weekend.  On Sunday morning we awoke to a beautiful morning on the east shore of Lake Gogebic. 



After a great breakfast we jumped in the car looking forward to a day of adventure.  We drove south on East Shore Drive to highway 64.

 
All of the hikes and waterfalls we visited are in the Ottawa National Forest.

 
On the way to our first planned stop, we made one stop at Slate River, which is located at the south end of Lake Gogebic.




We continued to US 2, and travelled around 30 miles west to our first stop.  Using various waterfalls guides we decided to go to Gabbro Falls, located two miles north of US2 between Wakefield and Bessemer.  This is not an easy falls to find.  To get there take Blackjack Road around two miles past the ski lift, up the hill, and park near the gate in front of the building.  The trail is directly across the street from the gate.  Height: 40 feet; Crest: 10 feet; Water Source: Black River; Waypoint: 46.50222N 89.9921W


When you walk the couple of hundred feet down the trail, this is the first view you see of the Upper Gabbro Falls.


I couldn't decide which of the following photos to include, so I uploaded both.



When we arrived at the falls, we walked up river a few hundred feet.  Here is a photo looking up river.


This river area is wide open, so we walked out onto the rock to look straight down the upper falls.



Then, as the waterfall guide suggested, we walked back down river.  Here is a picture of some glacier scrapes on one of the rocks along the path.


Even though the Black River along this stretch is only ten feet wide, it is powerful.


The waterfall guide suggested that to see the falls from down stream is a bit more of a challenge.  They didn't say that you had to climb 40 feet up an almost vertical boulder face.  I must admit that this was a challenge, but we were up to it.  I guess we are not old yet.




Here is the view from on top of the boulder.



Color across the gorge....


Here is a boulder strewn stretch of the river looking down stream.


 
 
 
 

No comments:

Post a Comment