Laurie Bashaw is one lucky Grandma, for sure. The grandkids were spending some time with their Grandparents here UP North and got to do plenty of exploring. This adventure took them to Dead River Falls in Marquette County, 2 miles west of Marquette. Laurie said there are actually quite a few falls along the river, with the last one being worth the hike. She also mentioned that these boys scare a nervous “Amma”, getting a little to close to the edge on the trails, but they all made it in one piece. For sure, boys will be boys and they seem to be always moving, in perpetual motion.

Joe Valenti is the maker of today’s video at the Dead River Falls, in which he did a bit of hiking/walking while filming and then his “Mavi” drone took over for the rest of the tour with some pretty cool shots of the waterfalls.

Great journey today Mary. Never been there and based on that trail ruggedness I might never get there. I wonder how far Laurie made it. Hope to try it someday.

The drone video was great. Joe's video transitions in the early portion were a bit disturbing though.

The U.P. has SO MANY wonderful waterfalls that it is just amazing. In my 2017 Autumn vacation I spent much of my time visiting many falls when I missed most of "The Color."

I hope that our resident geologists are watching and can offer us a bit of a geology lesson based on that drone video.

Nice pix and the video was magnificent...don't
forget to full-screen it.

Well...all I have to say is seeing the Dead River
Falls from my lazy boy, I can take that one off my
bucket list.

Thank You, it was great. Now all we need out there
is Dr. Nat to tell us about those incredible rock
formations.

If I knew exactly where these falls were at, I could look up the rock type(s) and give a little background on them.

Loving these serene pictures! A nice change from
seeing all the destruction on the farm. Thank you!

Capt. Paul (Eclogite):
"If I knew exactly where these falls were at, I could look up the rock type(s) and give a little background on them."


Black River Falls
Ishpeming, MI 49849
46.393561, -87.786216

Very cool video! We walked all the way to the falls with the log
running downward. I hear that there are folks that will jump off
that falls! No way, no how!!

Laurie,
Thanks for the info. In the video it looked like there was a section where they had to maneuver past a rather precarious cliff-like section under downed trees, but it was from an earlier year.

FRNash,
That's not Dead River Falls. In her original post, Mary provided a link to their location and other info.

Capt. Paul,
In the video starting at 2:07 there's 2 or 3 interesting narrow, lighter color sections that look like a stratification right in the falls that looks like it has been tipped 90 degrees. Or is it just a different lighter colored basalt (or something else) that flowed in a different horizontal channel?

FRNash/PHX, AZ (Frnash) on Sunday, August 23, 2020 - 04:10 pm:
…
Black River Falls
Ishpeming, MI 49849
46.393561, -87.786216

D. A. (Midwested)
"… FRNash,
That's not Dead River Falls. In her original post, Mary provided a link to their location and other info. …"

Well sort of, that link in fact identified many "Dead River Falls", including, among others, both "Dead Rive Falls" and "Upper Dead River Falls" as shown in my later post.

One of the very first places i visited when i moved to Marquette! Beautiful area and beautiful falls!

Janie, did you lose buildings and crops in the derecho? Hope none of your critters were hurt.

The falls are in the Compeau Creek Gneiss, an originally intrusive felsic/intermediate igneous rock that was metamorphosed, likely in an ancient island arc setting. Its age is estimated to be between 2.6 and 3.0 billion years old. These rocks are in the same "Northern Complex" as the pillows at Dead River Basin that were featured earlier in the week.

I believe what your seeing D.A. are some felsic dikes that are crosscutting the Gneiss, which are quite common across the area. Another area to see this in detail is at Wetmore Landing north of Marquette off CR 550.

Thanks. Learning something new every day.

Of course now my next question is...
What's the difference between a dike and a vein?

I guess I better go crack open a book.

jbuck, yes our horse barn was totally demolished,
horses are all fine and unharmed thanks to their
decision to ride the storm outside. Our machine
shed will need new sliding doors but that's all.
House was not touched. Lots of trees down also.

Janie,
I just watched a FOX News report from maybe just 5 or 6 miles southwest of you in Shellsburg, IA. It looks like this terrible condition is getting more and more national attention. I know that people's personal property will get eventually get repaired or replaced and in the mean time it can cause a great hardship to many, but my other concern is for the impending much greater impact, even nationally, due to the crop destruction and maybe even more importantly, the grain storage destruction.

What are you hearing since you are closer to the story?

D A, I actually live about 10 miles south west
of Shellsburg near Palo in the heart of the
hardest hit area. Winds were clocked at 135
mph. So much of the cornfields are laying flat,
perhaps they can be salvaged some by chopping
and fed as silage. A long time friend of mine
had all but 11 cattle killed when their barn
was blown down on them. Many elevators filled
with corn in the storm path have been blown
down or beyond repairs, a lot of loss there
with grain in that way also. There are a couple
facebook sites on Palo that has photos and
personal stories from the derecho. Do a
facebook search of Palo Iowa. Or a local news
channel KCRG.com. Good sources for photos and
headlines.

Facebook page "City of Palo Iowa" is also a good
source of photos.

Janie,
So glad the horses are fine but do you have time to rebuild before Winter? It sounds like everyone is so busy with rebuilding.

jbuck, if things and details go in order, I may
have a barn after the new year.

I need to take a longer "test drive" to see how my back holds up on a bit longer trip in hopes of heading to the U.P. later this year. I was thinking about heading in the direction of Cedar Rapids to see things for myself. I'd stop by to say Hi if I only knew how. My email is in my Pasty profile.

D A, if you come this way my email is
bobt1957@yahoo.com