Exploring Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Michigan

The shimmering rays of sunshine bounce off the turquoise waters of Lake Superior. 

It’s hard to imagine such a beautiful place existing at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, where the wind blows through the trees and sand flies attack you with vengeance.

Making camp

We spent two nights and three days along the lakeshore of Lake Superior. Our camping destination was Woodland Park Campground in Grand Marais, Michigan. 

I’m not an expert camper, but this campground met my list of criteria. It wasn’t too big, rather affordable, and it had clean bathrooms. The campground sat on the shores of Lake Superior. In other words, it was a great place to look for yooper rocks. 

My greatest memory of this camping site will be cooking marshmallows on the campfire. After eating twenty or so marshmallows, my husband and I became expert ‘toasters’ and marshmallow eaters.

Hiking in Pictured Rocks NLS

With our national park pass-in-hand, we drove into this roughly 73,000 acre area, which includes the lakeshore, trees, rolling hills, lakes, and waterfalls.

If you’re a rock lover, you might find the geological happenings of the pictured rocks fascinating.

Myself gets very excited about the colors in the rock formations and how they produce striking color contrasts for photographs.

The vibrant colors come from minerals like iron and manganese found in the water. 

We completed several hikes in the NLS, which I would recommend to anyone wanting to make the trip.

1. Log Slide Overlook was a rather easy 2.5 hour round hike from the mainroad along the lakeshore. It takes you across the top of the cliffs, showing striking views of the lake. We hiked to the Au Sable Point Lighthouse and back. The lighthouse in itself was beautiful, but it was here that we were attacked by a swarm of flies.
2. Sable Falls Trail is quick and easy and didn’t take longer than 30-minutes. The most difficult part about this walk are the roughly 200 steps that you had to walk down and up. It’s a classic, gigantic waterfall from the Upper Peninsula. 
3. Munising Falls was another family-friendly and easy walk that wasn’t more than a 30-minute round tour. This waterfall is rather tall and mighty with a great viewing platform.
4. Viewing Picture Rocks from the visitor viewing area was by far the best view of the rock formations and was very simple to walk and enjoy. The major plus was seeing a gigantic waterfall spillover into Lake Superior. 

If you get the chance, I hope you can visit this beautiful lakeshore.

We’re currently on our five-month tour through the United States with several amazing National Park visits on the horizon.

It’s important to travel in a sustainable and respectful way towards local communities and natural places. I love writing about the places that I see, but I recognize the negative impact that travel has on our planet. I’m not perfect, but I put considerable effort into reducing my impact from my travels. If you love this topic, I’d love to discuss it with you!