Silver River Falls

The main waterfalls of Silver River were easy enough to visit. Much of the open banks were already free of snow and easy enough to walk along and the river itself was wide and scenic. Even the lower falls, which had been completely covered in snow on my last visit back in January, was open and gushing.

It was surprising to see Silver River flowing under the bridge. The water over the upper drops, which are just steep slides over conglomerate rock, was fast and wide enough to escape the winter freeze so far. The exposed drops were narrow, with the snow hedging in from either bank, though they were still visible and rather pretty. The lower drops, blocky with plenty of individual rocks collecting mounds of snow, was not so lucky; beneath the conglomerate falls only a shallow depression in the snow and the gurgling of water showed the path of the river.

We parked here, headed down the stairs, and stumbled right onto the upper drops. They weren't tall or dramatic, just a set of small stacked steps, though the bridge in the background made for a pretty scene. The lower half was over basalt; there are many creeks and rivers in the Keweenaw that flow over a mixture of conglomerate and volcanic rocks, but to see such a quick transition of rock layers here was a real surprise.