7 Best Things to do in Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore
There really are a lot of things to do in Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore as it might be one of the most popular nature attractions in all of Michigan (and possibly the US). At the same, if you’re going there for the first time, you may find a lot of difficulty in getting clear information on all that stuff. I’ve got that handled and will show you the top 7 things to do there in this post! I’ll show you the top spots and where exactly to find them on the map so you don’t have to figure it out on your own and lose time there.
Info:
- Name: Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore
- Location: Upper Peninsula of Michigan
- Fee: $15-$25 per day pass, $45 for annual pass, $80 for full access to all US National Parks (America the Beautiful Pass)
- Hotels? Yes. See best hotels around Pictured Rocks.
7 best things to do:
- Start by visiting Sable Falls.
- Check out Spray Falls.
- Explore Chapel Rock.
- Hike around Pictured Rocks itself.
- Check out Miners Falls.
- Check out Miners Castle Point (upper and lower overlook).
- Kayak across Pictured Rocks National Seashore.
- Bonus: Best things to do in Pictured Rocks based on visitor ratings
4 quick things to know:
- There are many camping spots across the park (reservations are required).
- There is one main road across the park (H 58, aka Adams Trail).
- You can actually hike through the entire park. This is through what’s known as the North County Trail.
- Here are the best boat/kayaking tours in Pictured Rocks.
Here is a map of all 7 things to do in Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore:
This map will give you an idea of where to find what in this beautiful region. For us, we were going in blind, but you don’t have to! And based on this map, plan your trip either from the west or east (depending on where you’re coming from). Expect to drive about 80 miles altogether. Now with this said, let’s get into each activity:
Sable Falls:
We began our trip through this park at Grand Marais (eastern entrance of the park) and the first stop was Sable Falls. It’s only about a 10 minute drive from that town and thanks to a local in Grand Marais who told us about it, we were able to find it easily. It is a beautiful, but pretty small, cascading waterfall you can check out.It’s also an area that is pretty crowded so keep that in mind. The nature areas there are very beautiful and when we went was around the initial beginning of fall bloom. To get down there, you will have to walk down about a 100 steps.
But besides the waterfall itself, I do recommend checking out the nearby trails and areas, as the colors and scenery there deserves it’s own time spend on it. For us, we didn’t have that much time, and so decided to move forward with our trip through Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.
Spray Falls:
One of the things I really wanted to see in Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore was Spray Falls, but every picture I had seen of it (on Instagram) had never mentioned it’s actual name. Only after I passed it did I realize what it was, where it was and now that you can learn from my mistake, you won’t miss it.
It is a beautiful places with a beach waterfall you can check out. To reach it, you’ll have to take your GPS and plot the following coordinate: Chapel Falls trailhead. You can get there by car, but once you do, you will have to hike to Chapel Beach first (which is by the coast), then turn right (east) and walk about another mile to reach Spray Falls. Altogether, from the trailhead where you park the car, you will need to walk about 3 miles to reach Spray Falls (but it’s well worth it).
Explore Chapel Rock:
The great news is that from the moment you park at Chapel Falls trailhead, most of the beautiful things you’ll see in the entire park are around this region. Chapel Rock is very close to Chapel Beach (a few hundred feet east of it). It’s an awesome sight that is similar to the kind of terrain you see in the Washington Olympic National Park area. I’m so disappointed I didn’t research this place further when I went here. Otherwise, I would have easily spent an entire day exploring this specific part of Pictured Rocks.
Pictured Rocks trail:
To get there, once again, you can start at Chapel Falls trailhead, walk to Chapel Beach, and after seeing Chapel Rock and Spray Falls, make your way west. It’s located right by an area called “Lovers Leap”.
You can literally stand above the natural bridge itself and get some great photos and views! This is yet another thing I sadly missed because the main loop trail would be around 10 miles long, something neither I nor my buddy were ready to do. But again, read from my experiences so you don’t miss out on this! After all, the main Pictured Rocks natural bridge is here. Also, one more thing to note is that there is a viewing area nearby called Grand Portal Point. This is actually one of the best viewing areas in the park of the natural bridge and it’s park of the Chapel Falls trail.
Miners Falls:
Miners Falls is west of Chapel Falls trailhead and you will have to get back into your car, get back onto H58 road to get there. The good news is that the sign to it is hard to miss and once you’re there, you’ll be able to check out the falls. There is a parking area available, after which a 1/2 mile trail will take you to this waterfall. Some people choose to go to the very bottom of it from the overlook, which will give you an awesome view of it too (like you see to the right). There is a “cave” area located to the right of it, but I wouldn’t recommend going in there as it’s very slippery when you get closer to the water.
The waterfall itself is huge and beautiful to check out and I do recommend taking your time if you do go down there to just enjoy the views, scenery and sounds of the environment. For us, when we finished here, we went back to the parking lot and continued to the next spot:
Miners Castle Point:
This is what I originally thought was going to be where I’d see Pictured Rocks and while I was disappointed in that it wasn’t, the views from this area were astounding and well worth checking out. It only recently occurred to me why this place is called Miners Castle Point. It’s because if you stand at upper overlook and examine lower overlook, it looks like a castle (A big duh for me).
The parking area here is very close to Miners Falls and you can easily walk to either overlook and get some awesome views. One of the things that astounded me about this area was how blue and green the water was. The different colors of this area is one of the things that makes this park so amazing to view.
Kayak to the Pictured Rocks Natural Bridge:
This is one of the main attractions at the park and as I mentioned earlier, to do it, you will need to start at Grand Marais (east of the park) or in the west (one rental area is called Pontoon Kayak rentals). You will then able to go out with others to the natural bridge area and kayak there. See best boat/kayak rentals in Pictured Rocks.
By the time we saw this opportunity, we just had no time left to do it ourselves. But we will the next time we go. Be sure to check the weather beforehand though, because as we learned in the North Shore MN area, depending on the water conditions, kayaks may be (or not be) rented out.
3 more things to know:
- Plan ahead and with this article, you now know where each spot is. Make sure to get a map of the areas before you go, and then pin them on your GPS so you can also explore them. The order of the places I’ve listed in this article are from east to west of the park. Keep in mind, the top spots (numbers 2-4 in my opinion) require a lot of hiking, so if you really want to see those spots, which in my opinion are the main attractions of the park, get to the trailhead early and make sure you’re in pretty good shape to do the full loop.
- Additionally, besides this region, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan holds many more beautiful (and less crowded) spots I highly recommend checking out. I’ve included a link there to a list of the places I’ve visited (and recommend checking out).
- I also highly suggest you visit a place called Apostle Islands which is west of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. It’s very similar in terrain, but it’s exclusively a group of islands with sea caves you can kayak into and it’s not as a crowded.
Wow, this article is nothing but drivel and lacking in any meaningful information about this area.
Anybody who would state that H58 is a boring drive should not be writing articles on the area. Your sad opinion didn’t truly mention anything worth doing in this magnificent region, but somehow flying through the area makes you an expert? Seriously? Try writing about it once you’ve had a chance to do more than scratch the surface and glance up from your phone once in a while.
You think you should leave that short-sightedness in some written format (gag) for others? How arrogant to think that your half-day spent blowing through the area makes you some kind of an authority and that anybody cares what you think after that. Full of yourself, much? Or just desperate to see your name out there somewhere?
Speaking from the standpoint of somebody who knows the entire area front to back, in light and darkness, and in three seasons, I wonder if you believe your own drivel. Maybe pull your head up from your phone long enough to look around, see the magnificence, and try to think for yourself. Yeesh.
Hi Myrna thanks for sharing this “passionate comment”. While I appreciate you taking the time to read the article and write this, keep in mind that everyone has a right to share their opinions on these places and in my case, I found the drive to boring (for example, see my list of the best scenic drives in North America). If you still have an issue with that, then perhaps you are living too much of a cozy life to spend time trying to put others down like this.
Hey Vitaliy,
Thank you for sharing your post on the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore!
I have never been there nor have I heard it before, but it seems like somewhere I would love to visit someday. My wife and I travel a lot and always down for new adventures. If we do visit, as you recommended we will definitely plan it out and bring a GPS. I wanted to ask, what is your favorite part?
In Pictured Rocks? I’d say the long trail which takes you through to Spray Falls, Chapel Rock and the other parts of this park. I consider those gems the heart of it and this 1 trail gives you the ability to see all of them up close.
It looks like a wonderful place to visit, and even greater for adventure lovers. Poor internet connection is a big turn off for me, but I guess thats a good thing as it will minimize your distractions so you can enjoy the park more. What do you think is the best time of year to visit the park? Hope to hear from you, and Thanks for sharing.
Every season presents its advantages. During spring and summer, you’ll likely see the most green (and also the most crowds). Fall time would present cold weather but also specacular autumn colors and winter time is also a good time to go, but presents the most limitations as the winter season in this area of the US is usually very intense and many roads are often closed off.
Thank you for such a thorough article on Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore! I have always wanted to head up that way and check out the area and this gives me a great itinerary for a few days to really explore and get the most out of my trip. Thank you!
You can easily spend a week in this park and the surrounding areas Daniel.