Tannery
Falls in Motion |
Tannery Falls is the original
name for these falls, which are now part of a nature preserve owned
by the Michigan Nature Association (MNA). The MNA has renamed them
Olson Falls in honor of Rudolph M. Olson. I don't know whether the
new name will stick or not. It all depends on what people get used
to, I suppose. Tannery Falls is the name listed in the United States Geological
Survey Geographic Names Information System database.
Warning! While visiting Tannery Falls you may
encounter falling rock, ice, slippery slopes, sheer cliffs, and
debris. There are no railings. Be cautious. Watch your
kids!
Where to Go, Where to Park
 The
stairs
|
To get to Tannery Falls, take
Munising Avenue east out of downtown Munising. Going east, Munising
Avenue is the same as H-58. You don't have to go far. Look for the
the intersection where Washington Street goes off to your left.
Washington Street takes you towards the hospital and the Munising
Falls Visitor Center. On your right, just before you get to
Washington Street, you'll see a stairway leading from the roadside
up into the woods. You should see a bridge as well, but the stairway
is closer to town, and it's the stairway that leads to these
falls.
Do not park on H-58 to visit
Tannery Falls! You'll get a parking ticket. I learned this the
hard way. Park on one of the nearby side streets. Nestor Street is a
good bet.
 The memorial
marker
|
The Hike In
Climb the steps, and just after
you get to the top, look down and to your left. You should see a
memorial marker embedded in concrete with the name Rudolph M. Olson,
and the dates 1909-1982. One of these days I'm going to phone the
MNA and find out the story behind this.
From here to the falls it's
just a matter of following the trail. Do be careful of falling
debris. Much of the time the trail follows the cliff side. I've
never witnessed anything falling myself, but there's ample evidence
of it. On a trip in December 2000, I saw several trees that had
fallen over the edge of the cliff and onto the trail. These had not
been there when I visited in May of that same year. If you're
visiting in the winter, be especially careful of the ice. You
wouldn't want a falling icicle to land on your head. That may sound
funny, but there is a real danger. Falling ice is heavy.
 Tannery Falls in
November
|
At the Falls
When you get to the falls
themselves, you'll see that the stream has undercut the cliff. You
can easily walk around behind the falls if you don't mind getting
your feet wet. If you're careful, you may even be able to stay dry.
To your right as you approach the falls will be a smaller falls
about waist-high that may be manmade. I suspect they may be manmade,
because there is a six-inch brown pipe extending out from these. I
have no idea why the pipe is there. Someday, hopefully, I'll meet
someone who has lived nearby long enough to know the reason for this
pipe.
Right smack in the middle of
the trail, just in front of the falls, is a large pile of dirt and
rubble. The trail goes up to the top of this, and I think it's ok to
walk up it, but otherwise try to stay off the sides of this mound.
The nature preserve is trying to replant vegetation on the sides of
the mound where foot traffic has caused erosion. I suspect this
mound is the result of the rock walls caving in at some point in the
past, but I don't know how long ago that would be.
 John Grubbs on the
ice
|
Tannery Falls in the Winter
Tanner Falls in the winter is a
site to behold. I've visited once in March, and again in December.
Both times the falls were encased in a column of ice. You can
actually stand there and hear the water falling, but you can't see
it. At least you can't easily see it, because the water falls inside
the ice column. There will be some breaks here and there in the ice
through which you can see the spray falling.
 Water falling inside the
ice column
|
Ice builds up all around the
bottom of the falls, and you really can't even see where the water
hits the ground. What you have is a column of ice coming down from
the top of the falls and ending in a huge mound of ice on the
ground. The stream flows out from under the edges of that mound.
There's enough room in the ice
column that you could probably climb inside if you didn't mind
getting wet from the falling water. Don't do this! I'm
not suggesting you do this. It would be extremely dangerous. You
would be risking your life. But when I stand in front of that ice
column, the sound of the water is hypnotic, and it calls out to me.
I'm a cave explorer from way back, and to be inside a cave, next to
a waterfall, with the sound of falling water echoing all around is a
profound experience. Listening to these falls cascade down through
the ice reminds me of very much of caving trips gone by.
Upstream
 Upstream from the top of
the falls
|
The bank 50-100 feet to the
east of the falls is climbable, but barely. I don't recommend
climbing the bank. It's steep, you'll cause erosion, and you'll end
up in someone's backyard. You'll actually be very close to the
parking area for MNA
Memorial Falls. The backyard you'd be in belongs to the house at
the very end of Nestor street. I went back there once with the
homeowner's permission, and it really surprised me how close Tannery
Falls is to Nestor Street, and to MNA
Memorial Falls. I wouldn't have guessed it based on the hike in
from H-58. The photo to the right shows part of Tannery Creek
upstream from the falls. There's actually two or three smaller falls
just upstream from the large one that most people visit. The largest
of these smaller falls is about two feet high. One is so small I'm
not even sure it deserves to be counted. The stream is very scenic
in the winter as it winds it's way through the snow. Also back in
this area is an apartment complex. The stream seems to run around
behind the apartments somehow, but I havn't followed it that far
yet.
A Quarter for Your Falls?
A Cabin on Stilts
A neice of Hettie Lukowski recently contacted me and told
me about a cabin on stilts that used to be on the property.
It's not clear to me when the cabin was torn down, but it
surely must have been present in the 1950s when the Lukowskis
built their house on the property. |
Recently, I was in Wheel's, a
bicycle and ski shop on the corner of M-28 and Superior Street. I
was renting some snowshoes, and while talking with one of the owners
I discovered she had grown up on Nestor Street not far from Tannery
Falls. She told me that when she was young the falls were owned by
an older lady named Hettie Lukowski who charged tourists 25 cents to
walk back and have a look. I think the tourists got the better end
of that bargain—a visit to the falls is worth more than a quarter. I
was also told that Hettie landscaped the area very nicely. Hettie's
father, or perhaps father-in-law, purchased the property in 1935.
The site was kept in the family until the mid-1980s when it was sold
to the MNA, and was purposely kept undeveloped to protect the
beautiful site from commercialization. Sometime after the MNA
purchased the property, the Lukowski house was torn down.
Ownership
Michigan Nature
Association Box 102 Avoca MI 48006 313.324.2626 |