Tahquamenon Falls State Park
41382 W M-123
Paradise, MI
One of the largest waterfalls east of the Mississippi, its root-beer-colored water thundering over a sandstone lip deep in the Upper Peninsula wilderness.
Tahquamenon Falls is the kind of waterfall that stops people in their tracks. Deep in the eastern Upper Peninsula, the Tahquamenon River pours over a broad sandstone ledge nearly 200 feet wide and around 50 feet high, sending as much as 50,000 gallons a second thundering into the gorge below. It is counted among the largest waterfalls east of the Mississippi, and the roar of it carries through the woods long before you reach the overlook.
The strangest and most memorable thing about it is the color. The water is not clear but a deep amber, the shade of strong tea or root beer, and it foams into caramel-colored suds at the base. That color is completely natural, drawn from tannins that leach out of the cedar, spruce, and hemlock swamps the river drains upstream. Together with the wild 50,000-acre forest that surrounds it, the amber Upper Falls has made this one of Michigan's most beloved places, the heart of the state's second-largest park.
What Guests Love
- The huge Upper Falls, one of the largest waterfalls east of the Mississippi, roaring over its sandstone ledge
- The unusual amber, root-beer color of the water, stained by tannins from the cedar swamps upstream
- The gentler Lower Falls a few miles downstream, a set of braided cascades around a small island
- Miles of forest trails and a genuine sense of northern wilderness, with wildlife all around
Worth Knowing
- A Michigan Recreation Passport (state park entry) is required on your vehicle to visit
- The Upper and Lower Falls have separate parking areas a few miles apart, each with its own trails and boardwalks
- It is a long, remote drive into the eastern U.P., so fuel up and plan your day before heading in
- Fall color peaks in late September and early October, and the falls run their fullest with spring snowmelt
Details
Paradise, MI
Learn about Tahquamenon Falls State Park
The Upper Falls
The Upper Falls is the showpiece, a wide curtain of amber water dropping over a sandstone shelf into a churning pool. From the parking area, well-built trails and stairways lead to viewing platforms on both sides of the river, one bringing you to the brink where the whole river tips over the edge at your feet, another dropping down closer to the base where you feel the mist and the ground-shaking rush of the flow.
The volume is what surprises people. In full spring melt the Tahquamenon can push tens of thousands of gallons over the lip every second, second in the eastern United States only to Niagara among falls of its kind. Even in late summer, when the flow eases, the sheer width of the ledge and the deep tannin color make it unforgettable, and the surrounding old-growth forest keeps it feeling wild rather than packaged.
The Lower Falls and the wild forest
A few miles downstream the river reaches the Lower Falls, a very different and gentler scene: not one big drop but a set of smaller cascades that split and braid around a wooded island in the middle of the river. A boardwalk and trail loop the near side, and in the warm months you can rent a rowboat to cross to the island and walk right up among the smaller falls, a favorite with families and children.
Beyond the two falls, the park is nearly 50,000 acres of genuine northern wilderness, a mix of hardwood and hemlock forest, cedar swamp, and wild riverbank. Black bears, moose, otters, beavers, and eagles all live here, and a network of trails, including a stretch of the North Country National Scenic Trail, lets hikers get well back into the quiet woods. It is the second-largest state park in Michigan, and it feels every bit of it.
Hiawatha's river
The falls have been drawing people for a very long time. The Ojibwe hunted and fished along the Tahquamenon for generations, and the river's name comes from their language. In the 1800s loggers used the river's current as a highway, floating cut timber down from the interior to mills along its banks, and the scars of that era have long since healed back into forest.
The falls reached wider fame through poetry. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow set part of his famous 1855 poem 'The Song of Hiawatha' along this very river, describing how Hiawatha built his birch-bark canoe 'by the rushing Tahquamenaw.' Michigan began protecting the land around the falls in the 1930s and formally dedicated the state park in the 1940s, and it has grown steadily since into the great wilderness preserve it is today.
Visiting the falls
Tahquamenon Falls lies in the far eastern Upper Peninsula, a remote drive inland from Lake Superior and the town of Paradise. The Upper and Lower Falls have separate entrances and parking areas a few miles apart along M-123, and a vehicle needs a Michigan Recreation Passport for entry, so it is worth planning your route and fueling up before the long haul into the woods.
Give yourself a full half day at least, more if you want to hike between the two falls or wander the forest trails. Spring brings the biggest, most thunderous flow with the snowmelt, while late September and early October set the surrounding hardwoods ablaze with color against the amber water, arguably the most beautiful time of all. It is a long way to anywhere out here, which is exactly what keeps it feeling like real wilderness.
Closest Boutels
The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.
Things to Do Near Paradise
Paradise
About 12 miles
The small Lake Superior town nearest the falls, gateway to the park and to the shore of the big lake.
Whitefish Point
About 22 miles
A Lake Superior point with a historic lighthouse, the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum, and a noted bird-migration observatory.
Lake Superior shoreline
About 12 miles
The vast inland sea just east of the park, with wild beaches, driftwood, and famous Lake Superior sunsets.
Oswald's Bear Ranch
About 35 miles
A large rescue sanctuary for orphaned black bears near Newberry, where visitors walk viewing paths around big natural habitats.