• Thursday-What'sUP May 26 - 09:55 am

Its nice to get these raft tours from Nate Alwine, where we can appreciate the view, minus the wetness from the splashing waters! Today's location is on the western end of the U.P., north of Ironwood and along the Michigan/Wisconsin border. It's part of the Montreal Canyon, which Nate says is 3 miles long, with the cliff walls rising up to 300 feet on both sides. You get an idea of that height in the first photo. Then in the second shot, Nate gives a great perspective of what if feels like to be in the raft ready to make a bend in the canyon and head down the a pretty good size pitch. Looks like one of those moments that get you thinking, "What on earth have I done?" :-> - Quite an impressive double falls in the last photo. Maybe Nate can tell us its name and more about it.

Super wanna be shots. I'm a scaredy cat, but wouldn't that be fun to try and so close to my home town.

WOW! I have to admit that I've never been there to see these. I'd love to though. Where exactly are they?

The Montreal river is what marks the Western border of the U.P. The falls are just in from the mouth of river which ends in Lake Superior, I have a springtime aerial picture of them on page 3 of my photo gallery. You can see it here: Montreal River Falls

Heres a list of falls including directionsHunts UP Waterfalls Click on Superior Falls
The web site Hunts UP Guide is quite usefull for alot of other fun UP stuff. Enjoy !

I love that middle pic. Could you imagine having never been there and be in a raft and hearing the thundering roar as you come around the bend and realizing that this aint no Cedar Pt ride ?

I remember Nate submitting a cool video of kayaking at Canyon Falls in May, 2004. I couldn't get the video today, it appears to be gone, but here's the link: http://www.americanwhitewater.org/rivers/id/2599/ Maybe someone else can find it.

Wow! I think I just found another site we have to check out this
year. My wife and i already knew about the beautiful Black River
with all of its falls over by Ironwood, but this river is a new one.
From west to east and north to south ain't the U.P. somethin!

Awesome pictures. It took my looking at the pictures three different times to finally see the depth in the second picture, that that must be the top of falls - how cool is that? I think I have not had enough of my iced tea yet this morning! :-)

Like Charles & his wife, we knew about the gorgeous Black River in the western UP, but I was not aware of this river. How easy is it to see these views from shore? Can you get there without hiking over difficult terrain?

This is someplace I need to check out, I love waterfalls! Great pictures.

I grew up in Ironwood. I've been to these falls, but always walked past this stretch of the river. Next time back, I'll have take a look.

Those are some incredible shots Nate!! That top photo looks like the Jemez Mountains/Valle Caldera area of northern New Mexico. The only difference is that out there, the rocks are welded tuffs (compacted volcanic ejecta) whereas the ones at the Montreal River are Copper Harbor Conglomerate, the same formation seen along M-26 in the Keweenaw. Nice rock "fins" on that top photo as well.....

Flipflop, thanks for the wonderful Hunts UP link.

Wow, wondereful views of the river and falls. I grew up in the U.P. but missed a lot of these beautiful sites. We stopped once before Iron Mountain and drove to a river where they did rafting tours. Could have been this place. Cindy, you commented on Mikie and Precious being in your thoughts and prayers. I have been E mailing with Mike about our childhoon in Hubbell. Has something happened?

Outstanding pictures! Very beautiful scenery!

Mary: Mikie & Precious were in a car accident. Go over to the What's Up page & you'll hear more.

These are awesome pictures. I am SO homesick now! Only in the UP can there be something that beautiful!

Reminds me of a spot along the East Branch of the Ontonagon River at the back of our property that we always called the Big Cave (as in cave in) or actually it should have been called the Big Mud Slide. Very beautiful and serene. I can just smell the pine trees in the hot sun. I'm lovin' it!!

As a kid I fell asleep in the car.When I woke up these above scenes is what I saw.Mom was always telling Dad to slow down we were flying.I thought we landed on the Moon.Good to see it once more.

If you have the means and capability, goto Google Earth and take a look at the area from the satellite imagery. You can definitely see the falls and gorge on those images if you zoom in enough. I believe the falls in the third photo are Superior Falls. There are also another set of falls upstream a ways from the gorge names Saxon Falls.

Might be a place the Dr. and I will have to visit this summer......

For those of you luck folks already in God's Country. Stop by Little Betsy and say HI to Grammpa Norm, Uncle Chuck and Marty. They are all up there enjoying themselves. Wish I was with them. :(

Just great pictures. Couldn't decide which one to use as my desktop background today. I settled on the middle one, for now. Just looking at them makes you feel a little cooler.

MSN Maps also does a decent satellite image, I found my uncles farm that way in portage township. It has a weird perspective because it makes the hill where Paradise Rd goes into Houghton look so flat, since there is a good view of portage twp from above there it is a surprise. (wonder what Brockway mtn looks like on satellite?)

Capt. Paul: hence the town just outside of the UP border with WI--Saxon. Many of my family lived there in the day.

Last year there was a special on one of the cable channels where a guy known for thrill-seeking jumped from a helicopter in a kayak and went down Superior falls during high-water spring melt. They showed the footage and it was awesome. There are some wicked canyons, gorges and cliffs near there were Lady Superior rules!

Just had to Google it - the guy's name is Tao Berman, and it was part of a program called Stunt Junkie's on Discovery Channel. They filmed in the spring of 2006 and it was aired in August of 2006. It really was an exciting half hour of programming.