Clementz's North Country Campground & Tahquamenon Falls State Park, MI.

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Clementz's North Country Campground & Tahquamenon Falls State Park, MI.

Tuesday 8/20/2013

After 4 nights in Munising, MI., it was time to go.There is a lot to do in this area and I wish we had more time because I would have liked to have taken the Glass Bottom Ship Wreak Cruise. There are 43 ships or boats at the bottom of the Munising Bay. There is also a boat ride called the Riptide Ride that goes around Grand Island that does a lot of 360 spins for fun. There are rivers near by that you can rent Kayaks, or take one of the fishing guides tours to catch Whitefish, Salmon, or Lake Trout in Lake Superior.

We took Hwy 28 east to the small town of Newberry, MI. and found our campground just north of Newberry.

Clementz's North Country Campground is located on Hwy. 123. The campground has gravel in roads and sites are on the grass. The park has a few full hook up sites, but there wasn't any available when we made our reservations.We paid $31 a night with our Good Sam membership. They have free WiFi, but if you are loading pictures, you will get maybe a evening, then the WiFi shuts you down. (In other words you are limited on usage). The park is located in a good place for a couple attractions in the area.

There was an Air Stream Caravan with about 20 of them staying in our park.

The day after we arrived in Newberry, we took Hwy 123 North to Tahquamenon Falls State Park. The drive was about 30 miles from our campground.

From the parking lot to the overlook, the walk is about 1/3 of a mile on a nice paved paths.

But if you want to see the falls up close and personal you have to go down 94 stairs.

Tahquamenon Upper Falls is Michigan's premier waterfall.

In the spring nearly 40,000 gallons of water per second cascade down over the edge of the 500 million year old sandstone.

The water is brown because it has a lot of dissolved minerals including tannins from the barks of hemlocks, cedars, & spruce trees.

Dogs are allowed on the trails to the fall, but we were glad we didn't bring Mallery, because the 94 stairs had holes in the steps, and her little paws would have fallen through. Guess who would have to carry her all the way down and then back up!

Back at the top, we walked down another path and found another viewing spot of the Upper Falls.

Further down we found another place where you could take more stairs to yet another viewing spot. We talked about whether we wanted to do another climb back up so many stairs.

We decided to give it a try.

The viewing spot gives you a full view of the falls.

The Upper Falls is 200 feet wide with a 50 foot drop. The highest recorded flow was on May 10, 1960 with a flow of 52,228 gallons of water per second.

The long climb back up the stairs was strenuous, but we did better than I thought we would. (I guess our 3 times a week 30 minute exercises routine, that Joe and I started doing 3 months ago- esp the lunges- is really helping). After reaching the parking lot, I decided to check out the gift shop, and Joe went to the Brewery and Pub.

After shopping I went to the pub to find Joe.

The pub also has a restaurant if you forgot your lunch.

I found Joe enjoying the Black Bear Stout.

The Brewery has 3 beers. I tried the Blueberry Ale and it has a wonderful clean and crisp taste with a touch of blueberry. I am not a big beer drinker, but this one was so good. I asked if they had 6 packs of the beers to go, but they told me that they don't pasteurize the beer, so it can't be sold to go. That is why I like non- pasteurized goats milk. Every thing is better when it isn't pasteurized.