United States
Pictured Rocks
Mineral-stained cliffs of rust, copper and jade rising from Lake Superior's clear depths.
The cliffs change colour as you paddle beneath them, iron bleeding rust, manganese streaking black, minerals in the groundwater painting the sandstone in vertical ribbons. Lake Superior holds the kayak steady in water so clear the lake bed shows far below, and the only sound is waves entering the caves ahead.
Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore strings together mineral-stained sandstone cliffs, beaches, waterfalls and wild shoreline on Lake Superior's Upper Peninsula coast. The colours are geology in slow motion: groundwater carrying iron, manganese and other minerals seeps through the rock face and stains it as it dries. Paddlers trace the cliff line and slip into arches and chambers at water level when the lake is calm, while cruise boats run the painted face for everyone else. At the lakeshore's eastern end, the Grand Sable Dunes climb away from the water as one of the best-known perched dune systems in the world, and inland trails drop through deep forest to waterfalls you hear before you see.
Solo
The lakeshore trail runs the full length of the park for one of the Midwest's finest backpacking lines, with cliff-top campsites and Superior's cold breath below.
Couple
Paddle at water level beneath the painted cliffs on a calm morning, then share a warm pasty in Munising while the boats come and go.
Friends
A multi-day kayak run along the whole cliff face, camping on beaches between paddle days, tests a crew against the biggest of the Great Lakes.
Family
The cruise boats put the painted cliffs in front of children without a paddle stroke, and the sandy coves and waterfall walks soak up the afternoon.
- Groundwater seeping minerals through the sandstone paints the cliff face in rust, black and green ribbons that name the park.
- Kayakers can enter arches and caves at water level on calm days, with cruise boats running the same painted shoreline for non-paddlers.
- The Grand Sable Dunes at the eastern end are among the best-known perched dune ecosystems in the world.
- Waterfall trails thread the deep forest behind the cliffs, the falls audible before the rock channel comes into view.
A pasty from a roadside hut, the Cornish miners' pocket pie that became the symbol of the Upper Peninsula.
Thimbleberry jam, made in small batches because the berry is too fragile to travel beyond these roads.
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