Sable Falls and Au Sable Point Lighthouse
Day trip along the south shore of eastern Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula
Starting west along the shore into Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, I decided to make a quick stop at Sable Falls. Although I have been in this part of the Lakeshore a number of times, it was always when I was with other people that were not interested in seeing Sable Falls, and I had never seen them.

Sable Falls is only a short walk from the parking area, then down about 100 steps parallel to the river. The falls consists of a series of fast drops down a narrow ravine. Pretty cool, though it doesn't translate as well in photos because the height seems to flatten out.

The photo at right was taken while I was laying on the trunk of a tree jutting out over the river. The camera is tilted up toward the falls, but to the eye, the camera is level.
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Sable Falls
Hurrying to make the last stop before it got dark, I drove along 10 more miles of rough sand roads to Au Sable Point. The road to camping area closest to the light was closed, there as other nearby upper Hurricane River Campground and I found a 1.5 mile trail along the shore to the Au Sable Point Light.

Hurrican River emptying into Lake Superior
Mouth of the Hurricane River

Au Sable Point Lighthouse
The wind and rain were picking up and I was a bit worn from walks and long stairs at all the other places where I had stopped during the day, but I wasn't going to pass this one up. The walk seemed longer than a mile and a half, but I was rewarded when the patch of white at the end of the trail turned out to be the Au Sable Point Lighthouse tower.

Au Sable Point Lighthouse

The Au Sable Point cliff with the crashing waves to the west and the Grand Sable dunes in the distance has a wonderful rugged beauty, but again it is something I couldn't quite bring together in a photo.

It was a long walk back to the car and nearly 8 PM. It was time to drive back to Mackinaw City and call it a day.

Lake Superior shoreline
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Photos copyright (C) 2005-2011 by Keith Stokes.