We stayed at Pictured Rocks RV Park in Christmas, MI for four days. There wasn’t much to the campground at all, but it was quiet and had a laundry room, so it served its purpose. We passed the Munising Tourist Park Campground which had views of the lake that looked nice. I’d probably choose that one next time, if we’re ever back in that area.
I’m not sure where the mosquitoes get in the RV, but it’s more than just through the door when we open it. The first morning, we cut the light on at 7am to kill most of them before going back to sleep. We learned to cut the lights out early to prevent as many from finding us inside. And we kept the bedroom door closed to keep as many from going back there. On the day we were hitching up to leave, the mosquitoes were crazy bad! When we got to the next place and opened the compartments, I shoo’d out dozens of them; then we went around inside killing another couple of dozen. After a couple of days, we finally got rid of them all.
Lesson learned: swatting mosquitoes with a hand towel is easier than trying to slap them. For some reason, they can avoid hands much easier than the towel. But I got pretty proficient at both ways!!
We spent one day driving around and looking at a bunch of waterfalls. Most of them were easy to get to, close to parking lots. There were a few that we walked 1/4 to 1/2 a mile to see. The short hikes were all enjoyable, but unfortunately, once we got to the falls, the mosquitoes were so bad that we couldn’t stand around admiring them for long. I’d stand behind Randy, swatting them away while he took a few pics, then we’d hurry back away from the water. We persevered and were relieved when there were hardly any around the Laughing Whitefish Falls. We both had at least a dozen or so bites each by the end of the day, even with wearing “bug dope”, as the locals call bug spray.
On our way to Laughing Whitefish Falls State Park, we passed a cute ice cream shop called Mama Cow’s and decided to stop for a treat! It was yummy! While there, we talked to a couple of local ladies who love living in the UP. They are the ones who asked us if we had bug dope when we told them we were going to the falls.
Alger Falls – Could see this one from the road and just pulled off onto the shoulder for a few minutes to snap some pics.
Wagner Falls – A 0.2 mile forested walk led from the parking area along a hard-packed gravel/boardwalk trail to a short staircase leading up to the viewing platform for the falls.
Munising Falls – A paved 800-foot trail up a cool shaded canyon along Munising Creek to the base of the falls. Two sets of stairs led to platforms for additional views of the 50-foot waterfall.
Miners Falls – The walk from the parking area to the waterfall was 0.6 miles one way. The gently-rolling gravel and dirt path through the forest led to an upper and a lower overlook of the park’s most powerful waterfall, with a 50 foot drop. There were 64 steps down to the lower viewing platform.Â
Miners Castle – The loop from the information deck to all three overlooks and back was about 1/2 mile. From the parking lot, a short paved trail led past interpretive exhibits to two breathtaking overlooks of Lake Superior and Grand Island. Stairs and a steeper trail led to the lower overlook adjacent to Miners Castle. Erosion over long periods of time has created the interesting rock formation that gives this place its name. A rockfall in 2006 dramatically changed the look of Miners Castle as one of its two turrets unexpectedly fell into the lake.
Au Train Falls – The Upper Falls drop about 40’ and the lower falls around 10’, seen after walking about 1/2 mile down a gravel road. There was a patched up wooden bridge that looked a bit scary to me, but it was sturdy enough as long as I avoided the holes, lol.
Laughing Whitefish Falls State Park – There are three observation platforms to view the falls from different levels, which were reached by a half-mile hike through beech-maple forest. The upper observation platform did not have any stairs leading to it, and a wooden staircase led to the middle (20 stairs from the top) and lower (137 stairs from the top) observation platforms.
Another day, we did Paddle Pictured Rocks‘ 5 hr guided kayak tour. We spent about an hour on their boat, cruising the lake and getting closer to a really pretty part of the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. Then we launched the kayaks and got a closer look at the rocks for a couple of hours before getting back on the boat to head home. Our guide’s name was Max. He did a great job and was enthusiastic about sharing what he knew about the area. Randy and I both really enjoyed the day! Thankfully, the weather was great and mosquitoes were almost nonexistent! And, of course, the scenery was amazing! Definitely worth doing, even with the steep price tag.
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