• Monday-What'sUP May 24 - 10:39 pm

Not being a horticulturist, I won't even venture to guess what type of blossoms these beauties might be. But I will stick my neck out, risking a guess that it's a variety of fruit tree which Suzanne Anderson spotted on a hike to the Hungarian Falls, near Hubbell. By the looks of this slideshow in her Guest Gallery, getting to the falls was half the fun. Suzanne has quite a neat collection of shots along the way and a few more once she arrived to the cascading waters.

Great picturs. don't you just love the blossoms?

Are they cherry blossoms? It sure is nice to see flowers again! I love this time of year here in the C.C. Everything is coming back to life.

It's difficult to get a perspective on the size of the blossom, but the flower looks like a shrub I call a Star Magnolia. But if this was taken "in the wild," I'm not sure that would be it.

Ahh the memories...We were lucky enough to have swam and fished in this spot while growing up in Hubbell.
http://www.boatnerd.com/fitz/firstseason.htm

Great slideshow, Suzanne. I love the picture with the trees reflected in the water.

It is a sugar plum tree? The early blooms are out and look quite stunning in Keweenaw County.

Are the Doughlass Houghton falls private, or maybe always were, and the owners are afraid of liability or whatever. We visited them many times during Toot days, but on my last 4th of July visit, I noticed no signs of the spot between LL and Laurium to pull over and look after a very short hike.

Suzanne, thanks for catching the essence of the terrain in your slide show. I got that ache of homesickness watching the slides, and then realized that I will be up home in a couple weeks. I'm fortunate to live in a beautiful corner of Maryland, and still yearn for the U.P.

Where are those falls located?

The Douglas Houghton Falls are indeed hard to find nowadays. I haven't been there in years and am aware that now you are not allowed down there. They are quite a sight to see!

Are the Hungarian Falls easy enough to get to for someone who has arthritis quite bad (at the age of 53)? I'd sure like to give it a try. What's the shortest way to get there?

Marsha,

Here are 2 links to help you find Hungarian Falls:

http://www.keweenaw.org/waterfalls.htm

http://www.sos.mtu.edu/climb/directions/hungarian.htm

The trails are a bit rugged. The farther uphill you drive, the easier the walk to the upper falls should be.

Thanks, Sue. The first site says the Douglas Houghton Falls are closed for "revegetation" and to implement safety precautions. So maybe it will once again be open to the public.

Love the picture of the falls. There is a tape I listen to when I fall asleep, and it has the background sound of water, and I always close my eyes and picture a scence like this very picture. Nice to know its real.

"The Douglas Houghton Falls are indeed hard to find nowadays"...Because the owner was afraid of more people falling over the side, as rescue squads have had to save a few too many Toots...

Sgt. Nate makes the front page !!!

Just adding my note of thanks to you and all of other armed forces members.

Read all about it over on the What'sUP page for today! :->

Beautiful photos, thank
you from another person who has difficulty walking.
You bless us with your art.

Could those blossoms be dogwood? (in the Magnolia family) I would love to shampoo my hair under those falls. (with environmentally friendly biodegradable shampoo of course!)

Yes, I believe they are dogwood. There are a number of trees at Lake Arrowhead, Calif. and I picked some of these flowers this past weekend.

The only thing I can find in my "Wildflowers of Michigan" book that these are like is "Bouncing Bet" aka "Soapwort". Unless of course as has been suggested are blossoms of a tree or shrub. (another book then that I don't have!)

The blossoms look they may be on a Sugar Plum or Serviceberry Tree, both names for the same plant.

UP trivia,

Would anyone like to comment as to where the term "serviceberry" came from .....

When when I got drafted in 1970, I was in the Service and called a dingleberry on more than one occasion.I think that makes me a serviceberry.
And this Toot never needed to call 911 after making bad decisions re: Douglass Houghton Falls..

The way to tell if it is really a dogwood is by it's bark

I have been away from Sugar Plums for a long time, but if I remember correctly, the flowers hang in many clusters, not like this picture. Just my two cents.

Our neighbor had a sugar plum tree in her yard where we as kids used to go there and pick the fruit off every summer. They sure were sweet, ate too many of them though & ended up with a bellyache. I think the flowers did hang in clusters too.

My Dogwood has very different looking flowers.They are much larger also. Whatever it is it is pretty and the falls are gorgeous!

Looked at the link for the Edmund Fitzgerald and it gave me goosebumps, as it pretty much always does. I think of the song, and how my dad would listen to it in awe, being from the U.P. Wow...

Thanks for the wonderful pictures Sue. All the years I lived in the UP with my folks, and in my summer return visits, I have never been to the falls......perhaps this year.

The flowers are sugarplum, also called serviceberry, shadblow, shadbush, and Juneberry, or Amelanchier. There are a bunch of Amelanchier species; some grow to be tall trees, some are short and bushy. They all have bronzy spring leaves with fine-toothed edges, and light gray bark, and bloom early. Fruit ripens in early summer, and birds love it.