Rock River Falls Forest Waterfall (summer)

This image was taken along the Rock River Falls trail in the Hiawatha National Forest's Rock River Canyon Wilderness. To get to this spot, you'll need to drive from Munising and then take a mile-long hike. The trail for the hike begins fairly wide but becomes quite narrow and indistinct as you get closer to the falls. It's a very swampy and muddy trail and winds through a deep 4,000-acre wilderness. Follow the GPS coordinates to know where I stopped along the trail for this view. By car: - Travel M28 East from Munising about 1.2 miles - Turn Right onto M94W - Drive 15 miles to the blinking light - Make a right at the light, traveling on M94W/Rock River Road and drive into the town of Chatham - In Chatham, M94W branches to the Left and Rock River Road continues straight ahead (north) - Take Rock River Road North about 3.3 miles (this two-lane road is paved at first, then becomes gravel) - After crossing the Rock River Bridge, turn Left on FR2276 - Travel 3.7 miles on this rough, one-lane gravel road - Make a Left on FR2293 at the fork in the road (this is a very narrow, rough dirt road, barely one lane wide) - Go 0.7 miles on FR2293 and you'll see a very small parking area on the left, enough for about 3 cars; large boulders edge the parking area and the trailhead, where a small wilderness marker stands - Take the trail about a mile to get to the falls

You can photograph lush greenery surrounding the falls in the Summer. August, September and October are the best months if you want less mosquitos (I went in June and there were tons!).

I always visit this place when it's cloudy since photographing the waterfall is easier in overcast conditions. If there's direct sunlight, the lighting can be too harsh. The opening of the waterfall is very wide, so it tends to let in a tremendous amount of light.

In addition to the 16-35mm lens that I brought, it's also a good idea to bring a 24-70mm or 24-105mm lens because there really are a lot of shots you can take around this waterfall.

Get creative with your angles! You can take the photo from above, do a wide-angle perspective or can zoom in from down the stream. Work with the scenery and try out different angles.

I recommend visiting this waterfall in any water flow conditions as it is hard to take a bad photo of this location. If there's a drought, you can capture very interesting rock structure beneath the water. It's also a really great shot if you have tremendous amount of water.

Check out another waterfall called Silver Bell Falls on Nelson Creek.

Close by, there's the town of Chatam. It has a small grocery store and in another town called Eben Junction, there's a small restaurant where you can grab a bite to eat.

For more restaurants and activities, head to Munising which is an hour drive away from the falls.