When we first visited Sable Falls at the eastern end of the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore more than a dozen years ago, the road there was rough and nearly impassable in spots, which may be why far fewer people used to visit this beautiful spot in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
The major access road through the lakeshore, H-58, is far smoother these days, but the falls were still as beautiful as ever during our most recent visit there earlier this summer.

The falls are about a mile out of Grand Marais, and it's an easy and scenic trip to drive on over to Sable Falls after taking in some of the numerous cascades like Miners Falls and Munising Falls about 40 miles away in the western end of the national park.
These 75-foot-tall falls drop over a set of multiple shelves or cliffs of sandstone, which are part of the Munising or Jacobsville formation and part of the much longer Northern Michigan escarpment that extends from Tahquamenon Falls 75 miles east of the national lakeshore to the Laughing Whitefish falls about 30 miles west of the Pictured Rocks lakeshore.

The falls themselves are just a half-mile walk in from a small parking area, although there are a number of steps leading down a viewing platform near the base of the waterfalls. You can also take a trail another half-mile or so past the falls and down the canyon to reach sand dunes and a Lake Superior Beach.

It was still early enough in the year that we were seeing numerous trilliums in the area, so we opted to take our time enjoying the walk through the woods to the falls and spending a little extra time at the viewing platform taking images of Sable Falls.

We do remember being able to get a little closer to the waterfalls during our previous visits, but the National Park Service reworked the wooden trails during recent years in the area to help control erosion at the site.
Still, it's a pretty spot and, because it is really one of the only major waterfalls at the eastern end of the park near Grand Marais, we had the place to ourselves that afternoon.

Sable Falls is one of nearly 200 waterfalls in Michigan's Upper Peninsulas. Check the waterfalls out with A Guide to 199 Michigan Waterfalls by Laurie Penrose.
© Dominique King 2013 All rights reserved
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