Pictured Rocks - Munising, MI

If there are any Kid Rock fans out there you have seen the Pictured Rocks of  Munising MI in his music videos.  I will believe that they have been around longer then “Rap a Billy” (No offense intended Mr. Ritchie).  Saturday morning our family of three drove up for the day to take a boat cruise and see the cliffs and some of the many and accessible water falls.  After the 120 degrees temps of the previous week, who would think Mr. Alcook would need to buy a fleece for the boat trip.  For $30.00 each (Brady stayed in the truck) you ride for 2 plus hours on a narrated (you could hear if you stood inside under the speaker {but….. really……, they are big cool looking cliffs and rocks how much narration do you really need?}). 

 Here are some stats.  The cliffs are 500 million year old sandstone, volcanic and sedimentary rock, formed by glaciers.  They are as tall as 50 to 200 feet.  The colors range from tan, ochre and brown with layers of green and white.  The separate cliff formations are named;  Miners Castle, Painted Coves, Caves of Colors, Lovers Leap, Rainbow Cave, Indian Head, Gull Rookery, Grand Portal, Battleship Rock, Flower Vase, Indian Drum, Chapel Rock and Chapel Cave.  You will really have to see them for yourself to pick your favorites.  Les picked Battleship Rock, I picked Indian Head.  It was a great windy, rough voyage that we enjoyed.  Unlike Whale watching in San Diego we were ready for it to be over.   

We had a great lunch of rubens, burgers and beer (Linenkugels  Sunset Wheat { Light wheat with a tiny hint of licorice {if you come from a household where the black jelly beans go first you’ll love this}) at “Lil Abners”  (no expense was spared in the cartoon strip decor).  Now, off to the falls.  Munising is smeared with water falls.  Many are within ½ mile of the parking lot others are healthy hikes for the overnighters.  Anyway, there are 21 falls in the Munising area.  We saw a few of the easy to get to ones; Tannery Falls, Miners Falls and on the way home Wagner Falls (our favorite).  It would have been great to spend more time in this area and easy to do.  Although there is much hiking available it seems to be well marked and excisable.  Something we are saving for next time is the glass bottom boat “Shipwreck Tour”.  This is also a 2 hour tour and another $30.00 each.  This is a come back to place.  Easy to spend four or five days.

23 JUL 2011