About Spray Falls
Spray Falls was one of the more unique waterfalls that we’ve seen. I guess what made it so memorable was that it dropped 70ft directly into the turbulent southern shores of Lake Superior. And since each of the Great Lakes seemed to be more like oceans complete with waves, beaches, cliffs, temperature moderation, and its own influence on the weather (including “coastal” fog), this waterfall could’ve passed for one of those waterfalls that fell directly into the ocean (or very close to it) like McWay Falls or Alamere Falls among others! So with that said, we were definitely excited at the prospect of visiting this falls, especially when we learned that it could be combined with touring the Pictured Rocks, which was the main attraction of the Munising vicinity.
Speaking of touring the falls, we’ve managed to visit it in a couple of very different ways. The most obvious way to do it would be the boat tour that would tour both the colorful and shapely cliffs of the Pictured Rocks as well as Spray Falls (though the waterfall option only left at specific times of the day). The other way involved land-based self-touring, and that pretty much meant doing a long hike along the shores of Lake Superior until the waterfall would be visible.
Both ways of experiencing Spray Falls have pros and cons. The water-based option was clearly the easiest way to witness the falls, and it was an added option to the already popular default way of getting frontal looks at the famous Pictured Rocks cliffs themselves. However, such tours weren’t cheap (we paid $75 for the three of us), the boat was crowded, and the tour was subject to cancellations due to weather. In fact, high winds resulted in high waves that cancelled all tours on the day that we originally planned to exercise this option. So we had to be flexible in order to accommodate.
The land-based option was nice in that the experience was quiet as it was pretty much all nature (as it should be) while I was able to do the hiking at pretty much any reasonable time during the day that I wanted to as well as at my own pace. Of course, the drawback was that the duration of the hiking was not trivial as it would require a minimum of a half-day to even experience the shortest of the hiking routes to access a distant view of the falls. We’ll get into the logistical details and detailed firsthand accounts of each option below…
[tabby] [tabby title=”Boat Tour”]Pictured Rocks Cruise with Spray Falls (Difficulty: 1)


As for which cruise to take, we knew that the Pictured Rocks tended to get a nice late afternoon glow, which would get amplified the later in the day the tour would commence. And since we had to include the waterfall as part of the tour, that meant we aimed to take the 4pm tour (as the sunset cruise wouldn’t go to the falls). But alas, the cancellation due to high winds forced us to do the tour the following day, but since we had to be in Paradise, Michigan instead of Munising, Michigan on that day, we had no choice but to take the 2pm tour so the lighting on the cliffs weren’t as optimal (and there was always the chance that the winds might pick up and cause another cancellation).

Along the way, we saw some exclusive Summer homes on both Grand Island and on the more remote shores of Michigan’s UP. Once we got to the Pictured Rocks (especially around Miner’s Castle and beyond), that was when the aft deck got really crowded (so it was good I got there early, but now I could hardly move). In any case, from a photo standpoint, this was where the hit parade occurred as there were small sea caves, impressive natural arches, colorful streaks on the shapely and sloping cliffs, impressive rock formations, and beaches along the way. The DSLR camera was useful as the rocking motion of the boat conspired to make photos blurry.

Hike to Spray Falls (Difficulty: 4)


Once I got to the well-signed North County Trail (the signs were important so on the way back, I would know when to turn back inland to get back to the trailhead along the White Pine Trail), I then hiked the remaining 2.6 miles to Spray Falls. This section of the hike pretty much skirted along the shores of Lake Superior. There were some sandy spur trails leading down to the beaches in the more flatter parts of the lakeshore, but most of this trail was skirting along cliffs with some limited dropoff exposure except for the bluffs that afforded me some of the more satisfying views of the lakeshore.

Anyways, there was a signpost marking “Spray Falls”, which led me on a short spur to a precarious overhanging bluff with a distant view of Spray Falls as I peered towards the southwest direction. There was definitely dropoff exposure at the edges of this bluff, and given the tendency of the shoreline to erode and fall into the lake (the same forces that caused the Pictured Rocks as well as all the arches and caves), I was keenly aware of how dangerous it would be to linger at the edges. Nevertheless, I knew that this was the best view I could get of the waterfall from land so this marked my turnaround point.

To do the Spray Falls (or any Pictured Rocks) cruise, all you have to do is to show up at the dock near the main part of Munising. This dock was at the end of Elm Ave less than 0.1 mile towards Lake Superior from the corner of West Munising Ave and Elm Ave in the center of town. The ticket office and parking lot was on the left at City Park Dr.
To reach the trailhead for the Spray Falls hike starting at the Little Beaver Lake Campground, I first had to drive on the H-58, which began east of Cedar St (M-28) on E Munising Ave. From there, I drove 19 miles east on the H-58 until reaching the signposted Little Beaver Lake Road. Turning left onto the unpaved road, I then made another left after 500ft to continue on the Little Beaver Lake Road. The remainder of the 3-mile road was fairly narrow with a smattering of ruts and potholes. It would probably be a non-trivial drive for long vehicles like RVs or big trucks given their width in addition to their length, but for our passenger car, it wasn’t too bad. I just had to take my time given the blind turns and the dips or holes along the way.
Overall, this drive was about 22 miles from Munising, but it took me 40 minutes.
I can’t say anything about the Chappel Road Trailhead, but if we’re fortunate to return to this beautiful part of Michigan, for sure I’d give this hike a try.
For reference, the town of Munising was about 100 miles (2 hours) west of Paradise, Michigan, and 44 miles (under 1 hour) east of Marquette, Michigan.
Marquette was 146 miles (under 3 hours drive) east of Ironwood, 168 miles (over 3 hours drive) northwest of Mackinaw City, 392 miles (over 6.5 hours drive) northeast of Minneapolis, Minnesota, 382 miles (over 6 hours drive) north of Chicago, Illinois (via Green Bay, Wisconsin), and 455 miles (7 hours drive) northwest of Detroit, Michigan.
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Movie showing the path to the distant lookout for Spray Falls as well as trying to show the Pictured Rocks cliffs of the immediate area as well as the context of the precarious lookout itself
movie showing the front of the falls as the boat slowly passes before it
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