Whitefish Point and Tahquamenon Falls

In my last post about our stay in Mackinaw City, I mentioned that we visited Whitefish Point where we learned about Lake Superior’s Shipwreck Coast. The Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum has several interesting displays and a movie about various shipwrecks that occurred off the coast of Whitefish Point. Most notably is the Edmund Fitzgerald which sank in November 1975. You may be familiar with the song by Gordon Lightfoot “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”.

The Arthur M Anderson was the last ship in contact with the Edmund Fitzgerald before it sank, so I was especially interested in seeing the Arthur Anderson when it passed by our campground in Mackinaw City.

Next we visited Tahquamenon Falls, another one of those hard-to-pronounce names. A kind stranger helped me to remember how to pronounce it by telling me that it rhymes with “phenomenon”.

These falls are sometimes referred to as “Root Beer Falls” because it really does look like root beer.

This bridge just opened about a week or so before we visited. From what I understand, prior to this opening it was a much longer walk to visit all the different views of the lower falls.

There were many different areas of the lower falls to explore.

Don’t miss the upper falls. You have to actually leave the main state park entrance and drive about 4 miles down the road to the upper falls. It’s spectacular!

This was a fun day trip visiting both of these places that were about a 1.5 hour drive from Mackinaw City. The falls have some well-maintained trails and platforms for viewing.