View Full Version : Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore
Greetings all,
I am planning a short 2 night trip on the pictured rocks national Lake shore. I'm not familiar with the area and was wondering if anyone could recommend a good 10 mile section? The trip will be an out and back from one of the trail head parking lots.
Thanks!
-Dom
ChinMusic
05-18-2011, 22:47
Take the Chapel Road to the trailhead and make sure to see Grand Portal. Anything between Miner's Castle and Little Beaver Lake is awesome...........bring GOOD bug dope.
There is a book out I think titled 50 great hikes in Michigan. I think you can buy it on line. It will have the info you are loking for. Havent done that one yet so I cant recomend one section over another.
Pringles
05-19-2011, 11:49
Chin Music's right, go to the Chapel trailhead. I like hiking clockwise, heading to Mosquito River camp area first (2 mi), then over the rocks (4.5 mi) to Chapel Beach, past Chapel Rock and then past Chapel Falls to the parking area (3 mi). I hope to do that this weekend. That gives you about five miles of hiking along the rocks, and about 5 miles of hiking in the woods, past a pretty lake and a nice cascade/waterfall.
If you want to be along the shore more, I'd park at the East end of Miner's Beach road, and go East (up the hill), toward Mosquito River. It's 3-ish miles from there to Mosquito River, with a good amount on the cliffs above the lake. Putter about a bit at Mosquito River, on the far side of the river--keep walking until you see where you can get onto the beach/shelf, and then you'll see some wonderful places to sit or explore. There are nice rocks and it's a beautiful place to eat lunch or a snack or just sit and think, or just sit. Then take the trail and go further East. It's probably another 2 to Grand Portal, which has a sign identifying it as such. That would make a good turn around point, or, if you want a longer hike, it would be about 4.5 from Mosquito River to Chapel Beach. The first mile or so beyond Mosquito River is in the woods and not very near the lakeshore, but soon enough the trail will meander to the edge of the cliffs. Once you get to the exposed area, you'll be along the edge of the cliffs for quite a ways. (If you don't like heights at all, this may not be the place for you.) This version would have you go back the same way, but would give you more miles beside the lake.
If you have any questions, let me know. I hike there regularly. Pringles
ChinMusic
05-19-2011, 12:25
Hint: Camp Mosquito is not named due to the lack of mosquitoes.
Pringles
05-19-2011, 12:29
You'd think just the name would keep the crowds away, but it's one of the two most used backcountry campsites.
Thanks for the recommendation, guys. I'll probably head there.
- Dom
Just returned from a week UP there. :cool:
I thought I would share with others. :sun
ChinMusic
05-28-2011, 13:24
It is such a wonderful place and so easy a trip for beginners.
Pictured rocks is an IDEAL place to take new hikers. Very easy hiking, numerous bail-out points, Public transportation serving various locations within the Park to make logistics much easier, and FANTASTIC views. Some years, not often, there is even fantastic and surprisingly warm swimming conditions.
I consider it one of the best trails to introduce folks to backpacking and be fairly assured that they will want to return.
I went on a three night trip last summer. It's AWESOME. Our favorite campsite was the Coves campsite. I HIGHLY recommend it. We stayed there two of the nights. What I'm about to describe is the section that ChinMusic suggested, only that it is chapel beach east to little beaver lake and none of chapel rock west to miners castle.
It features its own private beach which is right in front of the campsite down a small dune. The sand here is soo freaking soft and white it's amazing (I filled up my nalgene with sand and have it sitting on my desk). On our first night there wasn't a cloud in the sky and the view of the sky was amazing. I've never seen so many stars in my life. To top it off we also were able to catch several shooting stars and even got to watch a beatufil show of the northern lights (apparently we were there on just the right night that summer to see them). This is probably my most memorable night of backpacking ever, and will likely stay that way for a while.
A good day hike from coves is hiking west to chapel beach. Right when you get on the trail you start to gain elevation to the top of the cliffs. Before you make it all the way up, though, you pass several different coves (hence the campsite name. We picked the campsite solely on its name, which paid off). The rock formations along here are amazing. There are so many different coves to explore in this short hike it's unbelievable. When you finally make it to the top of the cliffs you're a good 200 ft. about Lake Superior. About halfway to chapel beach you pass spray falls. Coming from coves you first come upon a lookout point on the edge of the cliffs and get some amazing views of the falls. Then a little further up you come across a bridge at spray creek and can actually walk right up to the edge of the falls (well almost at least. Just out of reach to collect water from over the falls in a bottle by hand). We took a lunch break on the bridge.
Somewhere between spray falls and chapel rock you come across a small beach. Don't be fooled though, as this beach doesn't butt up against the shoreline but instead a good 150ft. cliff! It's a very strange thing to see and when standing on the sand it actually looks like the lake is right up against the edge of the sand and it isn't until you make it to the edge do you see the drop.
Then you make it to chapel rock and chapel beach. Chapel rock was on the most strangest and coolest things I've ever seen. Chapel beach is a good spot to hang out for a couple of hours. Although it is a couple mile hike from the nearest parking lot for day hikers it was pretty busy. We were lucky enough to have some of the warmest water in years and went swimming for about an hour. The day before the lake was almost glass, but today we had good 6 ft. waves which were fun the swim in.
The campsite itself was nice. It was about 20 yards from the trail, and only about 50ish yards from Lake Superior so that you could here the waves all night. There are many other sights at Pictured Rocks too. We day hiked many of the different waterfalls and sights in the woods and sights along the cliffs. You could easily do all of pictured rocks in 2 nights, 3 days but I recommend stretching it out to a week. Thru hiking Pictured Rocks is high on my list.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDSemZ0-mj4 This video shows the hike from coves to chapel beach. I just happened upon it while searching youtube.
Sorry about the ramble. I tend to do so when writing late at night... If you have any questions feel free to ask.
Images:
1 - The first cove past the beach. On a calm day you can swim into this one
2 - A view of the private beach from the rocks just past the beach
3 - One of the many rocks that you can step out onto, just past the beach
4 - The "amphitheater". A short ways down the trail. Defiantly worth exploring
5 - Another view of the amphitheater
6 - One of my favorite shots. A view from the private beach from up on the cliffs
7 - Spray falls from the observation rock
8 - Chapel rock
9 - The river feeding into Lake Superior at chapel beach
10 - View from the river (note the HUGE waves)
11 - Chapel beach
12 - Sunset on the private beach
13 - A view of the mysterious cliff beach
Thanks for sharing swash, nice photos, :sun
Happy Feet
05-30-2011, 08:35
Lake Superior is so beautiful. I LOVE it up there. Of course Isle Royal is on 'the list' too.
Lake Superior is so beautiful. I LOVE it up there. Of course Isle Royal is on 'the list' too.
You, also, have some great photos, in your gallery, of this wonderful sandbox.
Oh, and it's UP there. :cool:
Isle Royale in 2011? :sun
Good stuff everyone. Many thanks for sharing the trail info, advice, and pics.
Thanks everyone for your responses and trip suggestions! It's reassuring to hear that it is a good place to bring beginning backpackers, since I'm introducing my girlfriend to backpacking for the first time. Got a permit reservation for mosquito for a night and will hike counterclockwise from chapel road to chapel rock, passed grand portal, and end at mosquito, in which we will have a short hike out (and a long drive back) the following day. Will try and stay at one of the drive-ins the first night and hop around the lake shore to see as much as we can. Pretty excited...pictures look phenomenal! Thanks again :sun
ChinMusic
06-06-2011, 23:55
Thanks everyone for your responses and trip suggestions! It's reassuring to hear that it is a good place to bring beginning backpackers, since I'm introducing my girlfriend to backpacking for the first time. Got a permit reservation for mosquito for a night and will hike counterclockwise from chapel road to chapel rock, passed grand portal, and end at mosquito, in which we will have a short hike out (and a long drive back) the following day. Will try and stay at one of the drive-ins the first night and hop around the lake shore to see as much as we can. Pretty excited...pictures look phenomenal! Thanks again :sun
I hope the skeeters are not as bad as my trip. It is a great place to hike but the skeeters can be bad. Make sure she has some long sleeves, long pants that go to the shoes....even light gloves for the evening. A campfire helps a lot but cutting down on surface area makes it more comfortable. I would even bring a head net if you have one, and of course bring bug dope.
My intent is not to scare you, but skeeters are one thing that can make or break a trip there if you are not prepared. Bring all that stuff and not see a mosquito the whole trip.......priceless.
Just got back from the trip up there. Didn't know what to expect but boy was I blown away. I thought the Olympic National Coastline in Washington was some of the best coast I've seen but I have to say Lake Superior is now up top that list. We stayed at 12 mile campsite the first night when we drove up with rainy/ cold weather. But everything cleared up the following day when we starting backpacking near the chapel trail head, counterclockwise where we camped at Mosquito. Couldn't have asked for more beautiful weather. Thanks so much for the loop recommendation. We also checked out Au Sable Lighthouse (think that's what it was called), which was amazing as well. I put a little video together of our trip. Thanks again!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-FXhG3OpP4
outsideinmi
07-31-2011, 14:30
yes, as everyone above said try the CHAPEL loop. 10 miles of BEAUTY. Here is a website i made about the whole lakeshore too.
http://picturedrockslakeshore.blogspot.com/