Jacob's Falls
Located right off the road near the famous ‘Jampot monks’, Jacob’s Falls is a mainstay of Keweenaw visitors. The main drop is visible from your car, a tall slide down smooth rock that pours from an impressive cut above. Visitors that are willing to do a bit of climbing can follow the creek up, finding one drop after another in a long chain that stretches from M-26 up to a steep, grassy gorge. A few particularly tough sections come up, including the initial climb up the lowermost drop, but a footpath runs along the eastern bank for those unwilling to stick to the creek and don’t mind a more distant view.
Plenty of other things are worth checking out here, including two more waterfalls further upstream, the abandoned Arnold Mine less than a mile to the south, Great Sand Bay further up the road, and of course, the Jampot filled with sweet treats and delicious jams.
Directions
Jacob’s Falls sits right off of M-26, about 3 miles east of Eagle River. Park near the falls or over at the Jampot parking area and follow the creek upstream to see all of the drops. If the going gets too tough head up the east bank to a footpath that follows the top of the creek’s bank. Once the creek levels out in a grassy, overgrown channel there are no more drops until Upper Jacob’s Falls, about a half-mile upstream.
Photographs
Visits
Seen in January, April, July and October.
- more flow than a typical summer run
Jacob's Falls was running nicely, a smooth sheet of white covering much of the lower falls. There was more flow than a typical summer run but not so much as to overflow its banks and complicate access. Seeing the drops above involves climbing up the side of the roadside slide and playing around within a narrow canyon, one that is cluttered and can be difficult to follow. Today it was difficult; slick rock combined with wet snow to keep me on all fours for most of the journey upstream. The creek narrows into a crack maybe two feet wide with no banks to speak of and always forces me to climb out.
- a narrow window of water through the thick snow
On the way back down M-26 I got some more GPS readings. They were right off the road, easy enough to click 'save' as we drove past. Jacob's Falls even had a slight amount of water poking out, a narrow window through the thick snow.
- flowing more than on the last visit
This waterfall is always a fun visit. There are lots of drops above the roadside one that can be reached by climbing right up the steep rocky creekbed. The falls were flowing more than on my last visit, forcing me up a path that follows the east bank when I reached a particularly narrow chute, but I was able to double back upstream and see all the falls.
On previous visits we had never really looked at more than the lowermost drops. Today we headed up the steep path along the falls, climbing up the different cascades and plunges above the lower drop, and found numerous drops further up. The little gorge with its wide variety of waterfalls was a lot of fun to explore.
Leave a comment