Thursday, October 8th, 2020
Today was another very busy day for Matilda! She was a real trooper with all of the walking and stairs we did! As we drove toward Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore we pulled off the highway to view Alger Falls. It is fed by the Alger Creek and the water flows down the rocky cliffs. It isn’t a big falls but it was worth the stop.
Our first stop in the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore was to hike down to Miners Falls. It was a beautiful walk along the trail.
It was a little over a half of a mile hike to get to the falls. Miners Falls drops about 40 feet and we could feel a light spray from the falls.
Our next stop was to go to the Miners Castle Scenic Overlook. The Pictured Rocks are about 50 to 200 feet above Lake Superior and are made of sandstone and follow the shoreline for about 15 miles. They are called Pictured Rocks because of the mineral stain and the various colors occur when the groundwater comes out of the cracks and runs down the sandstone. The minerals that produce the various colors are: iron- red and orange, copper- blue and green, manganese- brown and black, and limonite- white. The best view of the Pictured Rocks is from the water. We tried for several days to reserve a spot but two of the days we were there the water was too rough due to the wind and because of the rescheduling of those we couldn’t get a spot until after we were on to our next location. We’ll just need to come back so we can see the view from the water! I will say it was spectacular from where we hiked along the trail.
We walked down to the Miners Beach along Lake Superior. The beach is a mile long.
Miners Beach 
Lake Superior 
Lake Superior and Pictured Rocks 
Matilda enjoyed walking the beach.
Sable Falls also is located in Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore and it falls 75 feet. It is down 168 steps.
Love the sign because it reminds people you have to climb back up! 
We continued our adventures in the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore and hiked to the Au Sable Point Lighthouse on the south shore of Lake Superior. It is a mile and a half walk to the lighthouse. Matilda got her workout today! Au Sable Point Lighthouse was built in 1873-1874. There also is a brick oil building, a fog signal building, and the tower and the keepers quarters. It became fully automated in 1958 and still operates.
View from the Au Sable Point Lighthouse
The weather was gorgeous and our 1 1/2 mile walk back was beautiful! We then visited Munising Falls which was a much shorter walk, only 5-10 minutes. I’m sure Matilda was so happy with a short walk. I have to say she was a real trooper and did very well. We made sure we only took her on the trails that were dog friendly.
Munising Falls drops 50 feet over a sandstone cliff.
Our day was packed full of exploring Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. My watch recorded over 9 miles and 25 flights of stairs. It’s no wonder Matilda was ready to relax at our campsite!
