“Nature has been for me, for as long as I remember, a source of solace, inspiration, adventure, and delight; a home, a teacher, a companion.”
— Lorraine Anderson
Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore was authorized as the first national lakeshore in 1966. Its nearly 73,000 acres include the towering sandstone cliffs from which it gets its name, forests, lakes and waterfalls. Just over 6 miles across at its widest point, the park hugs more than 40 miles of shoreline. The name Pictured Rocks comes from the colorful streaks of minerals such as iron, maganese, limonite, and copper, among others, staining the face of the cliffs when groundwater oozes out of cracks. Combined with the vast blue Lake Superior water below them, the cliffs are extraordinally beautiful.
The 3 most common ways to visit Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore are by land, by kayak, and by boat. We were able to explore the park extensively using all three methods. In this blog post we'll share the ways we explored the park by land.
Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore - By Land
It's important to note that Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore does charge an entrance fee when entering it by land. A 7-day vehicle pass was $25 at the time of our visit. However, we had purchased a lifetime National Park Pass before leaving on our trip and only had to display the pass whenever we were within the boundaries of the park.
Our first visit to the National Park was on Sunday, July 14 at the Munising Falls Visitor Center where we took the short trail to see Munising Falls. The 0.4 mile paved path follows Munising Falls Creek upstream as it winds through the forest. At the end of the main path a set of stairs leads to a viewing platform and bench where you can view the 50-foot waterfall dropping over a sandstone cliff into the canyon below.
 | | Munising Falls |
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Traveling further east within the park we stopped at the Superior Overlook. Here we followed a short staircase down to the beach below and walked along it collecting colorful stones and sea glass. Yes - Lake Superior has sea glass!
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 | | View from Superior Overlook |
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 | | Lake Superior shoreline |
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After returning to our car we continued eastward to the Hurricane River Campground where the trailhad for the Au Sable Point Light Station is located. We hiked the 1.5-mile trail out to the lighthouse, joined by swarms of very hungry black flies. We were warned before starting out that the wind was blowing the black flies off of a nearby swamp and directly onto the trail through the forest. Fortunately for us, we brought spray and it was doing a fairly good job of keeping them off the areas we sprayed. Not so much the areas we didn't! Who knew they could bite through t-shirts? We had a nice jog out to the lighthouse, LOL.
First lit in 1874, the 86-foot high white tower is in a beautiful location with views out over Lake Superior and of the Grand Sable Dunes to the east. We visited the museum inside the keeper's dwelling and climbed to the top of the tower for stunning views of the surrounding area. Fortunately, the winds shifted by the time we were ready to head back up the trail and the flies weren't nearly as bad.
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 | | Au Sable Light Station |
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 | | Au Sable Light Station |
 | | View from the light tower |
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We had hoped to stop at the Log Slide Overlook, but the road leading to it was closed, so we moved on to the Grand Sable Lake Overlook where we ate our lunch and enjoyed the view from above the lake.
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| Sable Lake |
After finishing our lunch we drove further east to the NPS Grand Sable Visitor Center where we found a trail leading to Sable Falls. There is a closer parking lot to the falls, but since we had passed by many closed parking lots on our route, we didn't want to take a chance on that one being closed, too (it wasn't). The 2.63-mile round trip hike through the forest was blessedly fly-free and we enjoyed seeing a lot of wildflowers on our way. The best view of the 75-foot Sable Falls is from the bottom of a long (170 step) staircase. You can follow the trail further a short way to the beach where Sable Creek empties into Lake Superior.
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 | | Sable Falls |
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On our way back from Sable Falls we branched off on a side trail out onto Grand Sable Dunes with a view over Lake Superior. It was a strenuous walk in the loose sand up the back of the dunes, but so worth the effort!
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 | | View from Grand Sable Dunes |
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We had scheduled a kayak tour along the shore of Pictured Rocks for Tuesday, July 16, but were disappointed to receive a text that morning telling us it had to be cancelled due to the rough water on Lake Superior. We could choose to either join a kayak trip around nearby Grand Island, or reschedule the Pictured Rocks kayak trip for another day. Because kayaking around Pictured Rocks was at the top of our list of things we wanted to do, we rescheduled the trip for later in the week.
Instead of kayaking along the shore, we decided to hike the Chapel Loop trail instead. This trail is the best way from land to see the amazing rock formations and colorful cliffs above the beautiful blue Lake Superior waters. There are shorter hikes to be had, but no others can offer all that this trail has in store. The trail is estimated to be 10 miles long with 750 feet of elevation gain, but if you add in any side trails, as we did, it can easily stretch longer. The trail is rated as moderately difficult, but we were determined to check this one off of our list.
We drove to the parking lot for Chapel Falls and Mosquito Falls at 11:00. It was a bit later than we would have liked to start this hike - the parking lot fills up quickly - but we lucked out and found a place along the road not too far from the trailhead. We chose to start the loop in a counter-clockwise direction, heading first toward Chapel Falls. The trail was wide and packed down as it wound through a lush forest of tall trees and wildflowers.
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 | | Allium |
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The path leads to a platform near the top of Chapel Falls, a 60-foot waterfall surrounded by the forest as it drops down sandstone cliffs on its way to Chapel Lake. Getting good photos can be tricky from the right side of the falls, but we had better, if more distant, views after following the trail to the left side.
 | | The bottom of Chapel Falls |
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 | | Looking up toward the top of Chapel Falls |
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 | | Chapel Falls |
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On the approach to Chapel Rock we started to see fantastic views out over the vast blue waters of Lake Superior. Chapel Rock is one of the most famous landmarks in the park. It seems to defy the laws of gravity and the tree perched on top with its roots stretching across the abyss onto land was amazing! The roots were originally supported by a natural rock arch that has since collapsed onto the beach below.
 | | Chapel Rock |
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 | | Chapel Rock |
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Heading further along the trail we stopped to eat our lunch on a log along Chapel Creek as we watched it spilling down onto Chapel Beach and into Lake Superior. We took the long stairs down to the wide beach below where we enjoyed more views of Chapel Rock before continuing on our way.
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 | | Crossing Chapel Creek |
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 | | Chapel Creek emptying into Lake Superior |
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 | | Crossing over Chapel Creek |
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 | | Steps leading down to Chapel Beach |
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The three miles between Chapel Rock and Grand Portal Point have some of the best views along the trail, winding along the cliff top with several short side trails leading to amazing views of the cliffs and water below. Words can't really explain how beautiful the scenery is along this trail!
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 | | View from the trail |
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 | | Sea Caves |
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 | | Grand Portal Point |
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View out to Grand Portal Point
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Grand Portal Point, at approximately the halfway point of the hike, is a large rock archway. The roof of the arch collapsed sometime between the fall of 1999 and spring 2000, partially filling in the arch. You can follow a side trail out onto the top of the rocks where it's wide and flat, and has a beach-like appearance high above the lake. But we had to be careful of the very steep dropoffs!
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View from the top of Grand Portal Point
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 | | View of the top of Grand Portal Point |
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The beautiful views were never-ending as we wound our way along the cliff-top trail.
 | | View from the trail - note the clear water |
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 | | View from the trail |
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 | | Shelves of rock that recently fell into the water |
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Indian Head is the name of the next huge rock formation along the trail. It received its name because many people say when looked upon at a certain angle, the cliff resembles the head of a Native American.
 | | Indian Head |
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There is a legend about the origin of the name of the beautiful open arch known as Lovers Leap. According to the legend, the name was inspired by a Native American woman who was so heartbroken when her lover didn't return home from a hunting trip, she leapt from the cliff to her death. Another legend claims instead that a young couple pledged their love to each other and leapt from the cliff, not realizing the water below was only 2 feet deep. Either way, the arch is a beautiful site to behold.
 | | Lovers Leap |
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 | | Tour boat passing by Lovers Leap |
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On the way to Mosquito Beach we had great views of the sandstone shelves leading down to the beach. Mosquito Beach is a popular day hike destination with its views from the small sand beach of the sculptured rock terraces leading up to the cliffs. In addition, Mosquito River empties into Lake Superior here.
 | | View toward Mosquito Beach |
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 | | Mosquito Beach |
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 | | Mosquito Beach |
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 | | Mosquito River |
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 | | Mouth of the Mosquito River |
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Mosquito Falls is a series of cascades over three rock shelves, the highest of which is 8 feet. It's one of the smaller waterfalls in Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.
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 | | Mosquito River |
 | | Mosquito Falls |
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 | | Mosquito Falls |
 | | Mosquito Falls |
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In our opinion, the trail from Mosquito Falls back to the trailhead is the most challenging part of the loop. There were lots of roots and mud patches to find our way around and by that time we were getting tired. We finally returned to our truck, exhausted and hungry, at 5:20 and we had hiked just over 11 miles.
Before returning to the campground we stopped at Miners Pasties to pick up our dinner. You can't go to the U.P. without trying one of these portable meals. A pastie is a hand-held portable meat and vegetable pie. It was popularized by Cornish miners in the 1800s. We had the traditional version of the pastie, which includes ground beef, potatoes, onions & rutabaga folded and baked in a crisp crust. It was very filling and just what we needed to top off our day!
Note: To see video of our hike along the Chapel Loop, click on the link below to our YouTube Channel.
https://www.youtube.com/@RViewFromHere
There were still a couple more sites in the park that were possible to see from land, so we set out early on Thursday, July 18 for the three Miners - Miners Falls, Miners Castle Scenic Overlook, and Miners Beach.
First we stopped at the trailhead for Miners Falls. An easy 1/2 mile hike along a dirt path in the forest leads to an upper overlook where you can see the Miner River cascading 50 feet over a sandstone outcrop. A set of wooden stairs leads down to a lower viewing platform.
After finishing at the falls, we climbed in the truck and drove to the scenic overlook at Miners Castle. Miners Castle is the only location in the park where visitors can drive to overlooks of the cliffs. A paved wheelchair accessible pathway leads to two of the overlooks with views of Grand Island and Lake Superior. Steps and a steep trail lead down to another overlook of Miners Castle, a rock formation created by long periods of erosion.
 | | Miners Castle from the overlook |
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 | | Miners Castle |
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From there we followed the trail down to the mile-long Miners Beach. The trail crosses over Miners River before coming to the beach, which is very popular because it's the only beach in the park accessible by car.
 | | Miners River |
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 | | Miners Beach |
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 | | Miners Beach |
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After visiting the "3 Miners" we headed back to the campground to get ready for our afternoon adventure: kayaking. You'll have to wait for our next blog post to learn if we finally got out to Pictured Rocks by kayak, or if we had to settle for paddling around Grand Island!
* All photos and videos are the property of the owners unless otherwise noted. *
