Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore

Forty miles of multicoloured Lake Superior sandstone cliffs, an hour east

Pictured Rocks, an hour east of Marquette around the lakeshore, is one of the most spectacular stretches of coast on any of the Great Lakes — forty miles of multicoloured sandstone cliffs, sea arches, beaches, and waterfalls. The most famous formations (Miners Castle, Chapel Rock, Battleship Row) are best seen from the water on one of the boat tours that leave from Munising.

For walkers, the North Country Trail runs the full length of the lakeshore and offers some of the finest day hikes in the Midwest. The Chapel Rock loop is the classic — about 10 miles, with beaches, waterfalls, and the cliffs all in one walk. Bring layers: Lake Superior keeps even summer days cool.

things to do sight
A story
The colours in the sandstone — orange from iron, blue-green from copper, black from manganese, white from limonite — leach out of the rock when groundwater trickles down the cliff face, painting the cliffs in long vertical streaks. The Anishinaabe people who lived here long before Europeans called the cliffs Aub-bub-bub-zhe-aub, meaning "echoing rocks".