Up and Over: Tahquamenon Falls

Our second stop of the trip took us to Tahquamenon Falls - just an hour and a half drive northwest-ish of Mackinac.  Ryan and I visited Tahquamenon back in 2013 and we wished we'd had more time there so when we started kicking around the idea of a UP trip, I knew I wanted to include a few days here.

This portion of the trip brought us some new friends (McCarthys), and had us saying good bye to some (Brackemyers) as they headed home.  It was the point in the trip that we had our largest numbers with all the families overlapping for 2 days.  We even did a big group hike, a 1.5 mile loop around a small island near the campground.  Earlier this year they just opened a brand new bridge to the island so it was cool to be able to be some of the first people across.  Prior to the bridge build the only way to access the island was by kayak or canoe rental which the park offered at some point, but was not available when we visited.  

Tahquamenon Falls is made up of 2 falls, the upper and lower and the portions of the lower falls are slow enough to that you can stand right in the falls itself.  The kids loved exploring the water and begged us to return to the island hike so they could play there again, but one of my favorite memories of the trip was the kids all playing in the creek that ran just down the hill from Jamie and Liz's campsites.  The kids LOVED playing down there and it kept them entertained for hours the first day - until they were covered in yellow mud/muck that stained just about everything it touched for DAYS.  

The upper falls features a brewery - which we visited more than once on our trip.  Having a cold beer there, after our big group hike was actually a top 5 for me on the trip.  LOL!  Something about sitting down there, while Ryan took the kids to gift shop just really made my day. 

I really enjoyed this portion of our trip because I knew it would be the least unstructured, least busy, most remote part of our trip.  Nobody had any cell service inside the campground, which can make communicating hard, especially for a large group going in many different directions, but it also means we were all disconnected, present and able to just be together.  The kids had a great time exploring the campground and made a huge group of friends one night that turned into campground wide bike races until it was too dark and dangerous and parents started pulling kids before they got hurt.  Watching those biker gangs (which, included my shy kiddos) exploring around and just being kids are the exact reason that Ryan and I love camping so much!  Kids, being kids, with other kids, outside, getting dirty and getting into some mischief.  

After exploring right within the state park we decided to explore some of the areas that surrounded the Falls.  I proposed taking the group down to the Rivermouth campground, which is a much smaller campground affiliated with the larger upper and lower falls campgrounds.  The rivermouth, as the name implies, is where the water from the falls empties out into Lake Superior.  We'd read that there might be kayaks for rent down there but the lack of cell service made finding out any real information difficult so we just decided to take a drive and see what we could find out.  

We had no plan, and no idea what to expect, but we landed ourselves in one of the most amazing spots we've ever randomly stumbled on.  The ranger at the Rivermouth campground told me about some beaches a little further south and east - just off the Curley Lewis Highway.  This highway took you near the Tahquamenon Bay/Whitefish Bay area of Lake Superior.  She mentioned sandy beaches and a good place for kids and that was all I needed to hear to steer our group in that direction.  

We didn't know what to expect but we pulled over at the first beach sign we saw, and what we found was the perfect beach all to ourselves.  We could not have planned a better day if we'd tried. 

We were smart when we left the campground and had loaded up lunches/chairs/swimsuits...but somehow...(how?!?) forgot about beers!  Luckily for us, Jenny and Jack made a grocery store stop on the way and they scored a much sought after case of beer that they generously shared with the entire group that afternoon.

The kids were content to play in the sand for hours.  We played frisbee, made sand castles, explored, and just relaxed for an entire afternoon.  I remember asking the kids on the way home what their favorite parts of vacation were and I remember saying mine were that beer after the big group hike and seeing Pictured Rocks from the cruise we took, but now that I'm remembering back, I think this beach day is right up there at the top!  It's funny how it all blurs together in the moment, but this day on this beach was beautiful and if we ever go back to this area, this will be a stop on our trip for sure.  I'd be interested to drive down the highway a bit further to see what else we could find - I'm sure there are more hidden gems that we didn't even realize we missed!

Our time in Tahquamenon was exactly what I'd hoped it would be when I planned this trip for the group.  A place where we could slow down, do a little less, and just be together as a big group.  I do wish we'd have been able to get sites closer together.  As it turned out, even though we all reserved moments after the campground opened up reservations for the year we were pretty spread out across a decent area without our campground and while our neighbors were all very kind, with a group as large as ours, comprising of sooooo many kids, I know we trapsed through quite a few campsites during our stay here.  I'm thankful that most campers are pretty laid back because I'm guessing we were annoying to someone at some point.  

I'm so bummed I didn't get up to get a picture of one of the big bike races that happened one evening.  This picture was the next morning when a much smaller group of kids were racing - organized by a handful of bigger kids that were so fair and so kind to the littles ( you can see a few of them in this photo).  They gave the little kids a head start and watched out for them along the way.  Dax cracked us all up with his scooter.  We're all convinced he's going to have a giant quad just on the one leg from all the pushing he did to keep up.

I think this is our entire group, minus Liz/Bobby/Mason.  It's the closest we got to getting the entire group of us in one photo.  Oh wait!  I think Ryan has one on his phone from the trailer parking lot!  I'm going to have to get that from him and add it to the blog later.  It's not a great picture but it DOES have us all in it - with our rigs!

Tahquamenon - you had my heart in 2013 and 9 years later, I'm here to say, we'll be back again!