Yesterday, I mentioned a photographer's name that long time viewers would recognize and today we have another one. He was a Michigan Tech student at the time and he made the rounds here in the Copper Country, snapping photos as we went. I'm talking about Taka Aoki, who took the first photo in 2003 of the raging spring runoff at Redridge. He had actually dropped his camera in the water the day before, taking photos of Jacob's Falls, but it dried out and was working again for today's shot, fourteen years ago.

Jump forward to a year ago (2016) and we find another recognizable name in the past few years on the Pasty Cam. Joy Ziemnick was out at Conglomerate Falls on the Gratiot River and captured this scene of some fishermen up river. I love the patterns the foamy water makes as it pools in spots.

Since we're on a spring runoff/water theme here today, we'll take you for a look from the bottom of the Douglass Houghton Falls, with my son, Al Drew. He and a friend hiked in from below on a sunny day last week. I'm not sure where in the process it is, but a year ago, the DNR had acquired funds for the purchase of this property to preserve and provide public access to the property. It was previously owned by private parties who had closed off access due to the liability when visitors would take risks and get stuck on the steep cliffs, needing to be rescued or worse yet, losing their life there.

Our video adventure today, takes us to almost the same spot at the Douglass Houghton Falls as in Al's photo, only it was filmed a little over a year ago, in 2016 on what looks like a beautiful spring day. Hope you enjoy the view!

UPDATE: I had a message from one of the owners of the property, saying that the DNR did not buy the Douglass Houghton Falls property yet, so it is still PRIVATE PROPERTY and NOT open to the public. Please respect their wishes. Thank you!

Very nice!! Thanks for the outing!!

Easy down, hard up!

Does anybody every hear from Taka? When he went home after graduating he started a website but that disappeared after about a year. After that I never heard anything more from him.

So are the falls now public? They are amazing. I
remember, as a kid, several of us walking up that
thing from Hamel's creek by the drive in, in Lake
Linden. Holy wha man......I'd never do it
today...for sure! That was cool tho.

...by that I mean the landscape brings to mind a night of excess alcohol consumption; Easy going down, but hard coming up.

I haven't been down to the bottom of these falls since I was about 15. We explored the mine opening and tunnel, too. But found nothing interesting in there. then we climbed up the other side. what a time that was! Our 'leader' got stuck, couldn't get any higher and couldn't get back down. After about 15 minutes he found a way up and we all climbed on out. Tikkanen and the Holster boys. I think one of the Tikkanen girls was along, too. 'Course at 77 I don't think I would want to do it again. :o) But it was fun!

I'm so glad to see that at long last the DNR has acquired funds for the purchase of this property to preserve and provide public access to the property! (Hoorah!)

For more on Douglass Houghton Falls, see …
(click →) Past-E-Mail: Cam Notes - 2015: May: May 08-15

… including the geology of the falls (thanks to Capt. Paul on Friday, May 8, 2015 - 11:27 am)

… and the little-known "Rest-of-the-Story" about the true name of the falls, which was actually "Houghton-Douglass Falls" (thanks to Paul H. Meier on Friday, May 8, 2015 - 02:40 pm).

Digging deeper into the "Wayback machine", I found a bit more on Houghton-Douglass Falls, (a.k.a. "Douglass Houghton Falls") in the Pasty archives, see:

1. (click →) Past-E-Mail: Cam Notes - 2014: August: Aug 17-14.
2. (click →) Past-E-Mail: Cam Notes - 2003: September: Sep 23-03.
3. (click →) Past-E-Mail: Cam Notes - 2002: May: May 08-02.

Waterfalls, frothy pools and fast moving white water rapids. All very pleasing to the eye.

Beautiful!

UPDATE: I had a message from one of the owners of the property, saying that the DNR did not buy the Douglass Houghton Falls property yet, so it is still PRIVATE PROPERTY and NOT open to the public. Please respect their wishes. Thank you!

What great falls!! How sad that we can no longer go
in and enjoy them. I spent many days hiking up
there and having a picnic when I was a kid. Why
can't people just go and look without taking crazy
chances? I was very excited when I heard that they
were no longer going to be private property. Oh
well, maybe some day.