Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore is America’s first National Lakeshore located in Michigan. It is known for picturesque rock formations and stunning waterfalls. We covered this place during our 5 days Fall Trip to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Read on to know about my experience visiting this place.

About Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore:

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore is located on the shore of Lake Superior in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, and between Munising and Grand Marais of Alger County. Park’s shoreline stretches around 42 miles and is absolutely stunning.

The pictured rock cliff height ranges from 50 to 200 feet above the lake level and stretches around 15 miles long. This park has some mesmerizing views of the shoreline in addition to the picturesque rock formations, lakes, rivers and waterfalls.

The park is home to several of Michigan’s gorgeous waterfalls namely Chapel Falls, Miners Falls, Mosquito Falls, Sable Falls, Bridalveil Falls, etc. Other fascinating places within the park include Sand Point, Chapel Rock, Chapel Creek, Chapel Beach, Grand Portal Point, Lover’s Leap, Beaver Lake, View of Lake Superior, etc. In addition to above attractions, park also offers activities such as camping, kayaking, hiking, bird watching, boat tours, etc.

How to get there?

Most of the points can be covered or reached by hiking Lakeshore North Country Trail and the 10 mile Chapel Loop. There are various way to get to the trail. One can drive along H-58, turn onto Chapel drive and then onto Chapel Road to reach to the Chapel Basin Parking Lot. From here, one can take the trails to explore the attractions and shoreline. One can also get to the North Country trail from near Munising Falls or Sand Point and from Grand Marais side using H-58 county road or M-77 state highway.

My experience:

Day 1

This dates back to Oct 2019. We were on our fall trip in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to enjoy mesmerizing fall colors. Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore was one of our destinations for sight-seeing and had planned to cover it on the second day of our trip. We had allocated only 3 hours to cover the place which we later realized was insufficient. The 3 hours was basically considering attractions namely Chapel Falls, Chapel Rock and Grand Portal Point.

We were driving to the place after covering Tahquamenon Falls State Park.  Unfortunately we missed the route to Chapel Rock (damn GPS!) and reached the Sand Point instead! It was around 4:30 pm local time. We got down at Sand Point and took the small trail to the beach. The view was great. It’s a good place to watch sunset but we left since we had to go somewhere else.

We continued our drive towards Chapel Basin Parking lot from Sand Point which was around 20 miles. From Sand Point Road, we merged onto Washington Street and then took left onto East Munising Ave which is also called the H-58 highway. We continued on East Munising Ave and Adams Trail, and after around 12.5 miles, took left onto Chapel Drive. It was around 5 miles drive from start of Chapel Drive to Chapel Basin Parking Lot and the road was unpaved with many potholes when we had visited.

Tip: Please drive slowly and carefully. Also ensure you have sufficient fuel in your vehicle.

Finally we reached Chapel Basin Parking Lot around 5:45 pm. We only had an hour left before it got dark. We parked our vehicle checked the information board. None of the trails were short enough to cover in an hour; nearest ones being Mosquito falls (1.2 mile) and Chapel Falls (1.3 miles). Both the waterfalls were located in opposite directions and had different trails.

This trail is a 10 mile long loop called Chapel Loop and includes attractions namely Chapel Falls, Chapel Rock, Chapel Beach, Grand Portal, Lover’s Leap, Indian Head, Mosquito Beach, Mosquito Falls. Not all part of the trail is easy. Some part of it involves steep uphill and downhill hiking, covered under water and slippery during rainy season, and some very close to the shore.

Tip: Be careful and watch your steps when hiking along the trail.

Chapel Falls:

We decided to cover Chapel Falls first as it’s more beautiful and bigger than the Mosquito Falls. We took the unpaved trail through the forest towards Chapel Falls. It took us 25-30 mins to reach to the waterfall but it was all worth it.

The waterfall drops from a sandstone cliff at a height of around 55-60 feet and merges into the Chapel Lake. The view of the waterfall was impressive. At this point, we had no idea about the second overlook or viewing platform of the waterfalls. We saw another family hiking beyond this point but thought they were hiking towards the Chapel Rock. It was around 6:45 pm when it started to get dark along with some drizzle, hence we rushed back towards the parking lot. Due to lack of time, we could not cover what we had planned.

We had booked our night stay in Munising as we had plans to visit some of the nearby waterfalls around Munising the following day. But I was still hung up on the earlier plans to cover Chapel Rock, Beach, Grand Portal, etc. So I decided to go back again at 6 am next morning and hike as much as possible, keeping next day’s itinerary into consideration. As there was too much hiking involved, my family decided to stay back at hotel until I return.

Day 2

I woke up early in the morning and left the hotel at 6:30 am. The drive was around 40 mins from hotel to Chapel Basin Parking Lot. I reached there at 7:20 am so it was still dark. I used my cellphone torch and started hiking towards Chapel Rock with great excitement. After 1.5 miles of hike, I reached the second observation platform of Chapel Falls. There was no light, so I decided to take pictures on return. It started to get brighter as I continued to hike towards Chapel Rock.

Chapel Rock:

I reached at Chapel Rock at 8:30 am after 3 miles hike. The sandstone formation and structure with an old Pine tree on it, located along the Lake Superior shoreline, were absolutely breathtaking.

The sandstone formation is said to be carved by high waters of Nipissing Great Lakes thousands of years ago. The view of the Lake Superior and its shoreline was also absolutely amazing when seen from the cliff.

Chapel Beach:

Next I continued towards the Grand Portal Point. On the way, I crossed a narrow bridge over Chapel creek and stopped by the Chapel Beach Falls to take some pictures. The view of Chapel creek surrounded by colorful fall display was absolutely serene. The point where creek joins the Lake Superior, lies the Chapel Beach. The beach was clean and beautiful. There is also a campground located near the beach for visitors planning overnight stay.

I was carrying single water bottle and no food but so far it was all well. I was hiking with the same excitement and energy. The hike from Chapel Beach to Grand Portal Point involved some steep hikes along the shoreline and forest but the surrounding view kept the excitement growing. There were so many great views along the trail where one cannot stop oneself from taking pictures.

Grand Portal Point:

Finally I reached the Grand Portal Point at 9:20 AM which was around 1.5 miles from Chapel Rock. It took me a bit long as I captured a lot of pictures on my way along the trail. When I had searched for information about Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, lot of pictures of Grand Portal Point came up. Thus I was really willing to see that point. It is also called as Grand Portal Arch. I clicked several pictures and decided to return back as I had to reach the hotel by 11 AM. I was exhausted and there was hardly any water left.

After 0.5-0.7 miles from Chapel Rock, I was completely exhausted and had to take support of a stick to hike back. I kept taking stops but at some point I felt I was not going to make it!

Fortunately, a nice couple offered me their extra water bottle (May God Bless them!) I continued my hike back and reached the Chapel Falls observation platform. The view was absolutely gorgeous! I took some pictures and left from there.

I kept pushing myself in spite of being exhausted and somehow managed to make it to the vehicle by 10:40 am. Then I drank a lot of water, sat for a while and started driving back. I reached the hotel around 11:20 am. My family had already checked out of the hotel and were waiting near the lobby. While they loaded luggage in the car, I quickly ate my breakfast. After some time, I was all energetic and ready to explore new places on my itinerary.

Munising Falls:

Around 11:35 am, we left from hotel to Munising Falls which is located on the western part of the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. The waterfall is around 50 feet tall and is mostly said to be impressive with water levels during spring season. Even though the water levels were not impressive during fall season, the view was still worth seeing with some fall foliage around it. This is one of the easily accessible waterfalls with minimal hike as there was short paved trail taking one to the observation platform.

Next we had two more waterfalls on our list namely Mosquito Falls and Miners Falls located in this park area. We could have avoided all this back and forth if all the attractions accessible from Chapel Basin Parking Lot was planned appropriately. Now that we had no choice, we drove back to the Chapel Basin Parking Lot and got onto the trail to Mosquito Beach.

Mosquito Falls:

Mosquito Falls is a 10 feet tall, 15 feet wide waterfall located on the Mosquito River. It was nearly 1.2 miles from the parking lot. After 0.3 miles of hike on the Chapel Loop trail towards Mosquito Beach, we took the side trail that led us to the Mosquito falls. It was another mile from here to the base of the falls. The hike was really good and we enjoyed it a lot though it was bit tiring due to some steep uphill and downhill hiking, also as the trail was unpaved and muddy. Though small, the waterfall was gorgeous.

Tip: Hike with great care especially when hiking with family and kids.

We then returned back to the parking lot using the same trail. But if one is interested in visiting Mosquito Beach, you can continue to hike on the trail and go past the Mosquito River which is another 1.5 miles.

Miners Falls:

We started back from Chapel Basin Parking lot and headed towards the Miners Falls. It was around 18 miles drive. From Chapel Drive, we took right onto Adams Trail (H-58 highway). Then after 9 miles, took right onto Miners Castle Road and finally another right onto Miners Falls Road to reach the parking lot.

It’s another easily accessible waterfall with 0.6 miles trail. There is a combination of gravel & muddy path, and a series of steps at the trail end taking one to the observation platform. There are two overlooks or platforms. While the upper one doesn’t provide a good clear view of the waterfall, lower one (around 50-60 steps downhill) offers gorgeous view of the same. One should not miss this.

Finally, our small adventure at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore ended and we continued the journey onto next destination. There are still many places one can visit in the Pictured Rocks namely; Sable Falls, Bridalveil Falls, Lover’s Leap, Indian Head, Mosquito Beach, Beavers Lake, etc. All of that requires adequate planning and dedicated days/time for hiking.

For more attractions, check out my other post -> “Fall Attractions in Upper Peninsula of Michigan”

Pin it here!