Day 5 – Rainbow Falls

Day 5 – Rainbow Falls

We woke up at our usual 6:00 am.  A check of the outside temperature says I’m going to need sleeves for a while.

We haven’t seen that kind of temperature is quite some time.  It was just a little chilly inside too so we dug out the electric heater and warmed the RV up a little.

After breakfast and waiting just a bit for the temperature to climb a little, we headed over to the falls site and Whitesand Lake Campground.  We drove the house over because it looked like a few hundred feet elevation change in the two miles between campgrounds and I’m not hill friendly with my 7 speed Schwinn.  We can hear the semis struggle to crest the hill.  I’d probably be making the same kind of noise after that kind of climb on my bike.

It looks like a nice campground that is nestled in the pines and much more convenient to the falls and trails in this park.  We did notice a lot of bugs over there so that might be the down side vs. our Lake Superior shore site.

We found the “trail” head for the Rainbow Falls viewing.

Great!  Another boardwalk.  Piece of cake.

A hundred yards (91.44 meters around these parts) down the boardwalk and we arrive at the head of the falls.

The orientation of the falls to the sun was completely opposite of what I expected so some of the photos weren’t the best.

We continued DOWN the boardwalk and took the many side trails to various parts of the falls as they cascade down the hillside.

We noticed a ton of bugs swarming the falls.  I finally determined the bulk of them to be the midge flies we experienced at the Mackinaw City marina in the early summer.  Cedar Waxwings were flitting around as well like this one.

Oops…they only landed for a second before taking off again.  It was nearly impossible to photograph one…but I got lucky.

Since the lighting wasn’t too bright, I slowed down the shutter speed a little to try to get the “rushing water” effect in these shots.

And the final shot at the end of the boardwalk.

But wait…there’s more to this falls down below.

Time to do a little trail blazing and see what the rest of it looks like.

Off we go.  There’s almost a trail.

At the bottom of the falls, I picked my way out on the rocks and got the real final shots of the falls.

These falls are worth the time to see and I’ve done that.  Now back to the RV…

Oh yeah, we have to go back up.  Ugh!

Never an escalator when you need one.

Back at the head of the falls, we looked out over Whitesand Lake…

It looks like it’s raining on the surface of the lake.

Nope, it’s a sunny day now.  Those are bugs hatching.

We walked over to the day use area and got a couple nice shots of the lake there.  The reflection was very scenic.

Tomorrow is another travel day.  Westward Ho!