Waterfalls in the Porcupine Mountains
Hiking to Overlooked Falls & Presque Isle River Waterfalls in Porcupine Mountains State Park, MI | Legion County Park Waterfalls, WI | Potato River Falls, WI | May 2024
Having visited two of the main highlights in the Porcupine Mountains the day before, today we wanted to visit the third “must-see” spot on the West end of the park. And so after leaving our campsite by Lake Superior, we began the long drive through the park on the bumpy road. Our main focus in the park today would be the waterfalls along the Presque Isle River; however, we decided to make another stop on our way there to hike to Overlooked Falls.
The trail to the falls was wide, mostly flat, and an easy and enjoyable walk. When we made it to the river crossing, we followed the side trail to the left to see the waterfall — not huge, but still beautiful. Charlotte and I wandered around checking out the different views (for me) and river access points (for Charlie) while Curtis searched for a letterbox. Altogether this hike was a mile round trip, and a nice little side quest before continuing on our real mission for today.
When we arrived at the parking lot for the Presque Isle River trail, we almost turned around and left immediately because looking outside the van, all we could see were giant swarms of mosquitoes and gnats. There were a couple of people mowing the grass and they were dressed in long sleeves and wearing netting over their heads, and besides all that the skies were turning gray. But we decided to tough it out, believing that the bugs were only swarming near the van because it was the hottest place to be on this chilly morning. We parked in the Nawadaha Falls lot and began our hike, walking as fast as Charlotte would allow us in order to get away from the bugs. Thankfully we were right, and once we were away from the van and actually on the trail, the bugs really weren’t that bad.
We decided to do a shorter version of the trail rather than hiking to see all 3 waterfalls though — and overall, I don’t think we missed much because all the waterfalls kind of looked the same. We started by walking to Nawadaha Falls, which was an accessible trail and overlook, then decided to venture on the more ‘rugged’ trail to Manido and Manabezho Falls. These waterfalls could only be viewed by going down a long set of stairs to different viewpoints, so Curtis offered to let me go on my own while he kept Charlotte up on the main trail. The falls were nice, but again, kind of looked the same, so I told him he didn’t miss much. After that, we continued walking North on the trail, which went steeply down a slope and up another, before turning on another trail that took us through a marsh area and to another parking area. From here, we chose to just follow the road back to where we parked. As soon as we made it to the van, it started to rain, and once we started driving it began to downpour.
With that, we had completed our time in the Porcupine Mountains, as well as our time in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula for this trip. Our last little adventure in the state was driving to Legion Park (which was technically on the MI/WI state line) and seeing 1 more waterfall: Superior Falls on the Montreal River. The signs and fences around the hydro-substation were pretty intimidating, but there are in fact several trails in the area. We all walked to an upper viewpoint since it was a relatively easy trail for Charlotte, then I let Curtis go down to the river and the lakeshore for another view while I watched Charlotte and made us some lunch. The trail down was pretty steep but the views of the lake and falls made this probably our favorite for the day.
After our lunch we continued into Wisconsin to a small county park along the Potato River and two more waterfalls. The campground was pleasant, free, and quiet, and the trails down to the waterfalls were also a big bonus. We took turns walking down all the steps to each of the falls and walked around the campground with Charlotte for as long as we could stand the bugs, then enjoyed a quiet night in the almost-empty campground.
