• Monday-What'sUP May 4 - 03:29 pm

As E. Neil Harri was flying over the Hungarian Falls, he snapped a picture for us to see what the rushing waters look like from up high. I wasn't aware there were two falls there, almost side-by-side. I've hiked these falls from top to bottom, but now seeing these two falls side-by-side like this, I'm wondering if I missed something while there. Can anyone tell us if the second falls in the photo is accessible from the same trail as the rest or do you have to hike off in a different direction to get there?
Taana Kalliainen kept her feet on the ground for her visit to the Hungarian falls, where she captured some good water shots, including one looking right down the rushing water, as it plummets over the edge. Taana's final shot gives you the view out towards Torch Lake.

Mother's Day is less than a week away, so if you haven’t already ordered Mom some pasties, now is your chance. And if you missed Neil Harri’s aerial DVD tour of Isle Royale last fall, be sure to include one in Mom’s pasty order. I’m sure she’ll be willing to share both ;-)

Excellent photos!

I would bet the second falls to the left are only the result of the spring melt and not a permanant feature. If it is year-around, it's most likely a trickle during the summer months.

Beautiful photos none the less; good job Neil and Taana.....

Yeah, the left falls are seasonal (but spectacular!) -- and when I say "seasonal", that apparently includes winter too! I found (and climbed) that waterfall last winter -- it was all blue-green ice, and really an amazing number of cascades. (I posted some of the photos at my blog -- especially check out the green ice lit up from behind.)

Hungarian is really going well right now. It's the perfect time to take a hike up there if you can. Good photos, everybody!

Todays pictures bring back many,many memories this morning with the pictures of the Hungarian Falls..Ken and I would walk up the stream from M-26 and hand fish for speckies all the way to the falls..we carried a stick to poke under the rocks, watch where they swam to and with two hands would surround them, grab them and then put our "catch" into a Bunny Bread bag. I could write a book on my experiences there including walking the narrow path above the stream, swimming in the bluff, walking up the launders, swimming and fishing in the dam (MIMI would have had a fit if she knew this) and above the dam there was also a small falls and beyond that there was a dirt road from Dollar Bay to Calumet area and this is where the LUNKERS lurked. I have had a previous Pasty.com picture as my computers background for the last year..(g.kids got tired of looking at freighters all the time)

Eddyfitz: Did you mean to say swimming in the "buff"?

hahaha..no the little pond below the falls was referred to as "the bluff"

A feeder bluff is a coastal cliff or headland that feeds the beaches down current.(WIKIPEDIA)

We went up there the day before Easter, it was a nice day. There was still some snow hovering above the falls and it gave it a neat look.

Neil and Taana, thank you so much for sharing photos of one of my favorite spring spots. I would take my boys to visit this beautiful falls every spring! It was a family outing that my oldest son always looked forward to, because this was the begining of the many adventure trips that we as a family would part take in until we had to return to bundling up in our warm house in Calumet. When he returned to the Copper Country to attend Michigan Tech, he would venture out to this site. Thanks again so much for sharing with me your springtime trip.

I don't know about you Eddie, but Mike Zieminic and I swam there many times in the buff. Spent many great days in the summer swimming there and we would camp there at night. We were there one evening and a bear came into the camp, or so we thought. We ran out to the road and pulling Mike's wagon, hopped into it and down the road we went with the bear behind us. Never stopped to look back, but we could hear it running and trying to catch us. We came around the end of the road onto Main street and Jack Stevens was standing there. Told him the bear was in hot pursuit. He just laughed and said boys, the bear was Mike's dog. I think even the dog laughed at us that day. There never was a bear, just our imaginations.

Waterfalls are very picturesque. Good photo taking.

I need to get my eyes checked...when I first looked at Neil's photo I thought it was a seagull sitting in the grass.:) Now, the "over the top" pic gives me the willies!! Have a fear of height and water! Great photos all!

When I was a kid, my dad use to tell me not to go swimming in the dam above Hungarian Falls because there was a drain in the pond and you could be sucked into it and drown. It seemed like he was just pulling my leg. Years later my wife and I hiked up to the dam and found that the pond was drained. Sure enough, there was the drain my dad always warned me about. It was a large gage like device and the rust had eaten a large hole in one side of it. I guess when water was needed in the mills it was siphoned from the pond through this drain. So dad was right. Hey Mike, did dad ever warn you about the drain?

•••• beautiful i say

John, that's a pretty cool story! It also answers a question I always had, which is -- how did the reservoir work? There never seemed like enough water flow through the lower falls to feed the mill. But if the water came straight from the reservoir, that makes a lot more sense.

The drain fed the machine that washed the ore. The ore was crushed, stamped hence the name stamping plant, was put on these huge beds with water flowing on them and the ore was shaken with the sand being removed and sent into the lake along with the chemicals that were used in the process. And yes John he warned me also. I believed him, since he showed me fish that were sucked into the plant. Probably from the dam.

The 3rd and 4th pictures are of a third water fall which is up stream a short distance from the twin high falls. This third falls is what we always called the "Bluff". As Ed said there is also a fourth water falls above the dam. The dam was used as a back-up water supply to the mill should the main pump fail. It was also used as the high pressure water supply for the fire department. When the water level got low in the dam it was refilled by pumping water back up the pipe leading to the mill.

BEAUTIFUL PIC'S

Hei Eddyfitz and Mikie, I used to swim at the dam and the bluff, too. A friend and I were at the bluff once when there was still ice around the edges. We had our swim suits on going across that big rock that sits at an angle when his foot slipped and he fell in. I never saw anyone swim SO fast across that pond! So, not to be outdone, I jumped in and it was my turn to do a fast swim across. Wow, that was cold. :o) I sorta learned to swim up there and at the dam. It was a good swim across there. When I found out about that big pipe, I wouldn't swim there anymore. I could just see getting sucked into that pipe! Gave me the shivers. It was fun to swing off that tree into the water, though.
We used to walk out on the trestle to take pix of the falls this time of the year. We called the big falls the Daddy falls and the one on the left was the Mama falls. I remember Jack Stevens being at the UP State Fair with his chickens.