Michigan's Au Train waterfalls can be picturesque, but it can depend on when you visit them or where you are standing when you take pictures of them because of their connection to a power plant that provides electricity for more than 600 homes in the Munising area.
Turn off of M-94 about 15 miles south west of Munising and 10 miles south west of Au Train on Power Dam Road to check out both the upper and lower Au Train Falls.
The short ride leads to two access points for the falls.
The first small parking area overlooks Upper Au Train Falls, a view complete with a large pipe over the 40-foot-high falls that carries water from a reservoir formed by a small dam and into a hydroelectric generating plant.
Taking photos of the upper falls proved difficult because we visited on a rainy and muddy day, which made trying to move in for a closer view pretty much impossible.
A second parking area near the end of Power Dam Road is the trailhead of a short path that leads to the Lower Au Train Falls.
The walk is a slight downhill grade and passes by multiple fresh water springs coming out of the rocky face of the gorge leading to the falls.
The lower falls are about a 10-foot drop, but the wide and gradual cascade can make for a pretty image if you choose your vantage point carefully to crop the bright yellow metal bridge and small power plant building out of your images.
A sign near the trailhead explains that the Cleveland Cliffs Iron Company constructed a plant here in 1910 to provide power for the Munising Paper factory.
The sign also explains how the Au Train Hydroelectric Project differs from many other plants because it has a dam on both ends of the plant. Many other simply rely on a downstream dam to create a reservoir from free-flowing rivers. The Au Train plant creates a basin to collect water from three creeks (Johnson, Slapneck and Joe) and release it through the Au Train Dam.
It's best to visit here in spring or early summer because the dams cause the waterfall flow to vary anywhere from maybe just a trickle of water to the heavy torrent of water you may see shortly after the snow melt.
There was a decent flow of water at Au Train when we visited in early June, but you could still plainly see the bedrock beneath the falls.
I really wonder what these falls would be like if the power plant wasn't there!
Michigan's Upper Peninsula has nearly 200 waterfalls. Check them out with A Guide to 199 Michigan Waterfalls by Laurie Penrose.
© Dominique King 2013 All rights reserved
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