Five beautiful and distinctive waterfalls are clustered within the two miles of the Black River's mouth on Ottawa National Forest land. They are among the most visited in the western Upper Peninsula. The Black River and County Road 513 parallel each other for some 15 miles to Lake Superior from U.S. 2 in Bessemer. Passing Copper Peak Ski Flying Hill, CR 513 winds through a high, rolling countryside of old farms and forests.
The trailhead to a completed 140-mile segment of the North Country Trail begins at Copper Peak and ends at the Baraga Plains. The trail goes along the Black River five miles to Black River Harbor, passing two additional waterfalls, Chippewa Falls and Algonquin Falls, that are not easily accessible from the road. Check the Ottawa National Forest web site, www.fs.fed.us/r9/ottawa for a more detailed map and current info: click on "Recreation," then "complete list of Recreation Opportunity Guides" and "Black River Harbor Waterfalls." A $4.50 map of the North Country Trail from Ironwood to near Bergland can be obtained by calling 866-HIKE-NCT. See www.northcountrytrail.org for other mapped NCT sections.
The painfully bare slopes seen along the way are lands recently logged by U.S. Steel before it sold them. Some hills here are very high. In fact, these are worn-down mountains, the westward extension of the Porcupine Mountains.
Mixed hardwoods and pines make for outstanding fall color on the national forest land by the waterfalls. Most waterfalls require a substantial walk from a parking area off CR 513 to the waterfall and back again - a distance of 1/2 mile to 1 1/2 miles for each of the four falls.
Winter snowshoeing along the trails by the falls is becoming ever more popular. The forest service plows a few parking spots by Conglomerate, Gorge, and Potawatomi falls, but so many snowshoers seek this area out that many have to park along the road.
Advice: A good way for first-time visitors to experience these falls meaningfully is to plan two outings, separated perhaps by a picnic near the beach at Black River Harbor. It's not hard to overdose on waterfalls! Take the time to really experience each one.
The main access trails to Rainbow and Gorge falls remain closed because of unsafe conditions on the stairways and viewing platforms.
Here are the waterfalls arranged as they would be reached from Bessemer or U.S. 2. Conglomerate, Potawatomi, Gorge, and Sandstone falls are connected via 1.4 miles of the North Country Trail.
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 | | Wayne Premo | | Great Conglomerate Falls | GREAT CONGLOMERATE FALLS is the southernmost of the well-publicized waterfalls near Black River Harbor.) Here, over an extended stretch of river, water rushes around huge boulders and tears at trunks, felling several trees. It's a wild, unsettling, dramatic landscape. The falls can be reached from a wide, smooth 3/4 mile trail from its own parking area on CR 513. Or choose to take the west riverbank path from Potawatomi Falls, half a mile upstream. The drive to its parking area reduces the distance to walk. However, this trail can be slippery, often steep, with roots in the path. In places it is not well marked.
It is a 45-minute trek from Potawatomi Falls to the very beginning of Great Conglomerate Falls and back. First-time visitors might want to postpone this waterfall until a later trip, and save their time and energy to enjoy fewer falls in a more leisurely way.
 | | Wayne Premo | | Potawatomi Falls | Striking POTAWATOMI FALLS can be easily reached from a parking lot off Black River Road about 13 miles from U.S. 2. The National Forest's wheelchair-accessible path leads to a picnic area, chemical toilet, and to the unusually beautiful falls. Seen in August, the falls' beauty relies on pattern and complexity rather than volume, drop, or force. According to Laurie Penrose's subtle description in A Guide to 199 Michigan Waterfalls , "The water passed over the rock in small tendrils of white angel hair, which separated and joined in complicated patterns before reaching the base of the gorge. The delicate picture of this falls - nestled in the gorge and surrounded by the deep greens of high summer - is extraordinary."
A quarter mile downstream is the very different GORGE FALLS. Here the water, constricted in a narrow gorge, has pounded on the stone to create a deep, smooth slide that ends in a mass of foam. The great, rounded stone, unsoftened by vegetation of any kind, is striking testimony to the power of water. This wall of red stone confronts you as you descend to the final platform. At this time, the trail accessing Gorge Falls from the parking area to the west is closed. So it's necessary to reach it by the short riverside trail from Potawatomi Falls.
At SANDSTONE FALLS, the least unusual waterfall here, the river makes leaps, first of five feet, then, passing between huge conglomerate rocks, dropping 20 feet. The falls are reached by a relatively easy 1/4 mile trail from CR 513.
 | | Wayne Premo | | Rainbow Falls | RAINBOW FALLS, the northernmost of the five falls, is named for the rainbows often seen in its mist. In early afternoon before the sun sinks too low, Rainbow Falls' light effects can be enchanting, as light on the mist rising above the pool creates a rainbow. Nearby the river has exposed layered sandstone, alternating gold and rose, for another colorful effect.
The access from CR 513 (via an exhausting 200 stairs!) is closed until the stairway and viewing platforms are rebuilt. The more beautiful view of Rainbow Falls is reached by parking at the very end of CR 513 at Black River Harbor. Take the swinging footbridge across the river mouth, look for the North Country Trail's triple blue diamonds in about 50 feet (the NCT loops back around the river's east bank), and turn right. Follow the river upstream and up along the river wall on an earthen embankment made by the forest service. This trail reaches a plateau, then goes south past some massive old-growth hemlocks in the mixed old-growth stand on the way to the Rainbow Falls.
CR 513/Black River Road turns north from U.S. 2 at the car dealership and high school in Bessemer. The scenic byway part of CR 513 can also be reached from U.S. 2 by turning north onto Powderhorn Road at the giant skier west of Bessemer. (906) 932-1330. Wheelchair accessible: beautiful Potawatomi Falls. Not a fee area.
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