Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore

Pictured Rocks, was the very first park to be established as a “national lakeshore” in 1966. It stretches 42-miles along the southern shores of Lake Superior in Upper Michigan. Here you will find beaches, waterfalls, sand dunes lake streams forests. But most iconic are the 15 miles of striated sandstone cliffs along the lakeshore.

Humans have called this are home the area for more than 10,000 years. The indigenous Anishinabe people were the first people and they still live and use this land. Euro-Americans arrived in the 1800s, attracted by trapping, logging, and shipping prospects.

Today there are almost 100 miles of hiking trails and this is a playground for anyone who loves the outdoors. But this park also has some great historic resources like an 1874 lighthouse, maritime U.S. Coast Guard buildings and artifacts, and early logging exhibits.

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Our Experience

Holy Hannah it was clear as day that we had no idea what we were doing when we started this National Park adventure. For sure we did not set enough time aside to explore Pictured Rocks properly.

This was our first stop on our trip, and we still had no clue how long our visits would take and what to plan for. We figured we would go check out the visitor center, hike around a bit, and call it a day. I did not do my due diligence at all. We severely underestimated how long we would spend at this national park. This park stretches 42 miles along the shore of Lake Superior. One day was just enough to taste a tiny bit of the park and that’s about all. In order to truly get a feel for this park, it would be a good idea to invest a couple of days.

We were also told that the park is best experienced from the water. I have nothing but deep fear-motivated respect for Lady Superior. She is unpredictable and moody af so there was no way in heck I was taking my family out on kayaks. We could have booked a boat trip and I would suggest that for people who are better at planning than I am.

Motivating my family out the door is always a challenge but once we got on the road, we headed to the Munising Falls Visitor Center on the park’s west end. The visitor center lot was small and posed a challenge for parking our long-bed truck.

The visitor center is small and does not have any interpretive exhibits. There is no bookstore or any of the other amenities that you find at a lot of bookstores. (There is another visitor center at the east end, Grand Sable Visitor Center, which does have exhibits and a bookstore).

We picked up our Junior Ranger books and headed out to eat a packed lunch and then make the short hike to Munising Falls. The girls really loved the short hike and visit to the falls. Here we talked a ton about invasive species and the formations of the cliffs.

After our waterfall hike, we drove down the beach to Sand Point where Travis and the girls walked out on the sandbar.

Back in the car and up the beach to Miner’s Castle, which is perhaps one of the most famous scenic overlooks in the park. There are three overlooks here, and they are all breathtaking. The road to Miner’s Beach was closed when we visited, and the girls were not up for a mile hike so we didn’t make it down there.

By this time, the whining and complaining about being tired and hungry kicked in and we decided to head back to camp and call it a day.

We saw about 1/10th of the park. But it was a good first stop, and it gave us a sense for how our days should be structured to so we can see more and explore more.

Listen below as Aela asks questions about invasive species.

Learning about invasive speciesArtist Name

00:00 / 03:26

Eva’s Impressions

We went to Pictured Rocks, and we got our first badge! (on this trip)

It was so much fun! We saw a waterfall. The name of the waterfall is: Munising Falls.

We also learned the colors of the sandstone cliffs: Green and Blue are copper. Orange and Red are iron, White is calcium, and Black is manganese!

I highly recommend!!!!!!

Junior Ranger Program:

Activities required:

Students complete the same number of activities as their age.

Topics Covered:

Leave No Trace
Sandstone Cliffs
Wildlife Identification
Invasive Species
Native People
Night Skies
Shipwrecks

Creative Activities:

Sensory Journal
Haiku Poetry

Our Education Focus

Invasive Species

What does “invasive” mean?
What plants and animals are invasive here?
How did the invasive species arrive here?
What impact does an invasive species have on the environment around us?
What can we do to protect environments from invasive species? Manage the invasive species that are present.

Land Formation

Why are the cliffs different colors?
What are the cliffs made of?
What can the stratification of the cliffs tell us?

First People

Who were the first people to settle here?
Why do you think people would pick this spot to make a home? What are the advantages of living here? What are some disadvantages?

MN State Standards

Science

4E.3.2.1 1

Identify evidence from patterns in rock formations and fossils in rock layers to support an explanation for changes in a landscape over time. (P: 6, CC: 1, CI: ESS1) Examples of evidence from patterns may include rock layers with marine shell fossils above rock layers with plant fossils and no shells, indicating a change from land to water over time; and a canyon with different rock layers in the walls and a river in the bottom, indicating that over time a river cut through the rock.

Social Studies:

4.3.3.6.1

Explain how geographic factors affect population distribution and the growth of cities

in the United States and Canada. For example: Geographic factors – climate, landforms, availability of natural resources.

4.3.4.9.1

Explain how humans adapt to and/or modify the physical environment and how they are in turn affected by these adaptations and modifications. For example: Humans cut down a forest to clear land for farming, which leads to soil erosion. Consequently, humans have to use more fertilizer to supplement the nutrients in the soil.