Waterfalls are awe-inspiring and majestic natural features that range from the extreme of a giant and powerful river crashing down a cliff to the gentleness of a small stream trickling over a slab of bedrock. Although Michigan lacks a huge waterfall comparable to Niagra Falls, our Great Lakes State has nearly 200 waterfalls with a wide variety of character. All but one of Michigan's waterfalls are in the upper peninsula. This article reviews the tallest and most popular falls along with the single lower peninsula falls.
   Laughing Whitefish Falls is a seasonal falls with a 100 ft drop on Laughing Whitefish River 30 miles from Munising. One of the tallest waterfalls in Michigan, it is best to visit in the spring. There are bathrooms, a picnic area, and parking. A mile-long trail takes you to the top and stairs take you to the bottom.
    Bridal Veil Falls is a seasonal "slide" of around 100 ft into Lake Superior. Bridal Veil Falls is along the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. Best viewed from the water but can be seen while hiking along the shore.
    Douglass Houghton Falls is a seasonal falls with a 100 ft drop. These falls are located on private property and is closed to the public. An impressive waterfall drops from grassy plains a hundred feet into a deep, wooded gorge. The falls split in two halfway down.
    Spray Falls is a 50-plus foot sheer drop into Lake Superior at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. Best viewed from the water. A short paved trail leads up the cool shaded sandstone canyon along Munising Creek to the base of the falls. Two sets of stairs lead to platforms for viewing.
    Bond Falls has a 50-plus foot drop and cascades on the Ontonagon River. From Bond Falls, the river continues northward to the Agate Falls Scenic Site.
    Upper and Lower Tahquamenon Falls. The Upper Falls are located on the 200 feet wide Tahquamenon River at Tahquamenon Falls State Park. An observation deck at the edge of the falls looks down on the 50-foot drop of falling water. Although not the tallest falls in Michigan the Tahquamenon Falls are the most popular. The Lower Falls are four miles downstream from the Upper Falls.
    Hungarian Falls is a group of waterfalls on the Hungarian River in Calumet. A series of waterfalls between Lake Linden and Calumet. Small deep pools at the base of two of the falls. At the top of the highest falls (50-foot drop) you can view Linden and Torch Lakes.
    Miners Falls has a 50 ft sheer drop and is located at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. A gravel path leads to two overlooks. There are 77 steps down to the lower viewing platform at the falls.
    Rainbow Falls has a 45 ft drop and is on the Black River. Rainbow Falls can be viewed from the North Country Trail. From Rainbow Falls you can hike or drive upstream to see Sandstone Falls, Gorge Falls, Potawatomi Falls, and Great Conglomerate Falls.
    Ocqueoc Falls is the only official waterfall in Michigan's lower peninsula and is about 10 miles northeast of Onaway. The falls are about 10 ft high with a 20 ft rocky gorge below the falls. Nearby is an underground river, a tributary of the Ocqueoc River that flows out from a hillside. The Ocqueoc Falls State Forest Campground is just across the road.

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    Fossils are petrified remains of animals and plants buried underground in the distant past. After thousands of years underground, bones and other remains absorb minerals. The weight of millions of years of new soil layers deposited over the fossil causes it to become stone. Older fossils are found at deeper layers of stone while younger fossils are closer to the top layers. The best place to find fossils is an area where rock layers have been exposed. Such a place would be where the bedrock has been exposed or where the soil has been removed by erosion or human activity. Cliffs, gorges, gullies, stone quarries, and strip mines would be ideal places to search for fossils.
    Because the ice age glaciers have erased some of the fossil record, there are no Michigan dinosaur fossils to be found. We have older fossils from deeper layers exposed in certain regions. Such older fossils contain remains of coral and shellfish from an era when Michigan was covered in a shallow sea. In Michigan, exposed rock containing fossils starting from about the Cambrian period (about 542 million years ago) up to the Early Carboniferous (about 359 million years ago). There are also remains from after the glacial retreat that are not quite old enough to be considered fossils. These remains include mastodons, mammoths, and other animals from the late Pleistocene Epoch (about 11,000 years ago).
    The oldest fossils in Michigan are from the Precambrian and Cambrian ages (from 2,300 million years ago) and can be found in the upper peninsula in Marquette and Dickinson Counties. Fossils include stromatolites (an algae), trilobites, and brachiopods.
    During the Ordovician Period (488 to 443 million years ago), most of North American was underwater. Nautiloid cephalopods were the largest life forms, reaching up to 15 feet in length. Cephalopods, mollusks, bryozoans, and brachiopods were the most abundant animals. Fossils of this type can be found in the upper peninsula in Alger, Chippewa, Delta, and Menominee counties.
    During the later part of the Silurian Period (443 to 416 million years ago) the seas covering North America receded. A shallow sea across New York, Pennsylvania, Southern Ontario, and Southern Michigan evaporated, leaving salt deposits. The seas contained corals, crinoids, mollusks, and other marine life including sponges, horn and colonial corals, inarticulate brachiopods, and trilobites. Fossils from the Silurian Period can be found in Chippewa, Delta, Luce, Mackinac, and Schoolcraft counties in the U.P.
    Deposits from the Devonian Period (416 to 359 million years ago) are the most fossil-bearing stone in Michigan. The Petoskey Stone, Michigan's State Gem Stone, are fragments of coral reefs from this period. There were fish called placoderms (fish with hard bony plated skin) that reached lengths of 15 to 40 feet. Other life included corals, bryozoans, mollusks, arthropods, and echinoderms. These fossils occur in the lower peninsula counties of Alcona, Alpena, Antrim, Charlevoix, Emmet, Leelanau, Monroe, Presque Isle, St. Clair, Washtenaw, and Wayne County.
    Shallow seas still covered central North America during the Early Carboniferous (or Mississippian) period (about 359 to 319 million years ago). By the end of the Mississippian Period, the retreat of the seas caused a shrinking marine environment, resulting in reduced populations. The trilobites in particular were reduced in both numbers and diversity. Fossils from the Early Carboniferous period can be found in Branch, Calhoun, Eaton, Huron, Jackson, and Ottawa counties in the lower peninsula. Carboniferous period fossils are also found in Clinton, Ingham, Jackson, Saginaw, Shiawassee, and Tuscola counties. Comment about this article on the Epress Forum Board .