October 28, 2025.
Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore is an NPS unit bordering Lake Superior in Michigan’s Upper Penninsula. Each season it takes on a different appearance with different degrees of access and activities. In the winter it’s famous for its snow and ice formation. In the summer it’s full of boaters, hikers and photographers. And spring brings full waterfall and the first flowers of the year. We happened to pass through in late October, with enough time to enjoy fall foliage and cooler temperatures.
Munising Falls
Upon entering the park, we made a quick stop at Munising Falls. Coming from Oregon, where there are dramatic waterfalls aplenty, we don’t expect much of a waterfall visit. Plus, fall is probably the lowest flow over the falls. It was fine but I wouldn’t have done a long hike to see this.
Chapel Loop
10 mi. | 700′ ele. gain | 5:20 hr.
Both the park ranger and my friend Lindsay recommended doing the Chapel Loop as our one and only day hike in the park. We began our hike a little before noon. We hiked it counterclockwise, with the first point of interest being Chapel Falls. Otherwise the trail traveled through a golden forest that looked like everything else we’d seen in the last couple weeks.
Our patience paid off once we got our first views of the lake. At the lake’s edge, we also got to see Chapel Rock. This unique rock formation has a tree on top and a donut hole in the middle. The trail continued on along the lake, first high above the water’s edge and then down onto the sandy beach. Sand! I took my shoes off and gleefully walked through the wonderful white crystals. Just a few other people were out enjoying this beautiful beach today.
As we climbed back off the beach and into the forest, the clouds began to thin. Looking back down at the lake, the water seemed to turn the most amazing turquoise and azure colors. It would have felt like we were in the tropics, but the pine trees and fall colors brought us right back to Michigan.
Each angle of the sandstone cliffs revealed more stories and more questions. Why are the colors changing? How did those arches and holes form? What makes the different sounds when waves crash into the rocks? We made frequent stops to take pictures and look around. It was clear that lots of people wanted to get a better look at the lake; user paths led off the main trail in several places. Looking at the geology around me, I didn’t trust any of the clifftops so I made sure to keep at least a body’s length back from the edge. There were plenty of places to take good photos from there.
When we made it all the way to Mosquito Beach, I searched for a nice place to sit and do some painting. This was our last viewpoint of the lake. The remainder of the hike would be a forest walk. I hopped over to a big, flat rock where I could bask in the late afternoon sun and try to capture the scene. The longer I sat there, the more complexity I noticed in the colors, patterns and shapes in front of me. What a special place. It was hard to pack up and go.
I would be so interested to return to this park in each of the seasons. It would be fun to see the spring flowers in bloom, take a long summer backpacking trip and cross-country ski to the icy lakeshore. But alas, it was time to say farewell to this unique park and fall in love with the next one.