(Part 2 in a series)

The third stop on my trip around Lake Michigan took me across the UP to Tahquamenon Falls.

Tahquamenon Falls State Park encompasses nearly 50,000 acres across the eastern end of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Of course, the Tahquamenon River and its massive waterfalls are the main attractions.

Some 50,000 gallons of water drop nearly 50 feet at the Upper Falls every second. The amber color is caused by tannins leached from the cedar, spruce, and hemlock trees in swamps drained by the river. Four miles downstream is the Lower Falls, consisting of five smaller falls cascading around an island.

Personally, I was thrilled to discover another attraction hidden in the heart of this state park — a microbrewery!

While staying at this State Park, I made a side trip to whitefish point where the sun was setting over a beach littered with bleached driftwood and old pilings in the water. As I did with some of the waterfall photos, I used my 10-stop neutral density filter to allow for extremely long shutter speeds, to smooth out the water and give the photo a peaceful feeling.