 | | A viewing stand allows visitors to peer downward at the falls. | A short, level walk now leads from a roadside park and picnic area through a dense woods and under the spectacular bridge of the Bergland-to-Sidnaw Rail Trail. It ends in a platform that looks down on a beautiful chain of cascades on the Ontonagon River's Middle Branch, which emerges from a dense hardwood forest to tumble over chunks of dark, square rock.
Hikers are rewarded with a pleasant viewing area in a cool, leafy glade at the foot of the waterfalls. Here they can look back up at the falls and the bubbling pool that spreads out at their base. The river below the falls has a good spring steelhead run and some salmon in the fall.
Waterfall watchers in this area might want to visit Bond Falls 15 miles southwest near Paulding. (See the Watersmeet region of this web site.)
The trail passes under the former railroad bridge that parallels M-28 and now forms the 43-mile, ballast-surfaced Bergland-to-Sidnaw Rail Trail for mountain bikes and ATVs. Four bridges make this an interesting trail. Call the Copper Country State Forest, (906) 353-6651, for details.
On M-28 (the road from Marquette to the Porcupine Mountains). Stop 4 miles west of Trout Creek or 7 miles east of Bruce Crossing at the Joseph Oravec Roadside Park. It has picnic tables, drinking water, and vault toilets. Go north under the highway and railroad bridge to the falls. Not handicap-accessible.
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