CliffsTag | Jacob Emerick's Blog

Norwich Bluff

A cold, misty morning wrapped around Norwich road like a tunnel as I barreled south from Ontonagon. I was meeting a friend at the North Country Trail parking area near FR630 and was running late. It turned out that Emily was also behind schedule, and we met at the small parking area at the same time. We both donned extra clothes in hopes of keeping dry through the slow drizzle before jumping into my car and driving up Victoria Road.

Misty two-track on the way to Gleason Falls

The Norwich Bluff hike had been on my radar for several years. Most of my hikes tend to be circular - I dislike backtracking and usually have access to a single vehicle. This adventure was a bit too linear to make a good circle. Starting at Gleason Creek, we were going to follow the the edge of a south-facing bluff over hilly terrain to Norwich Road. If there was a single vehicle, I'd have to either walk along Victoria Road for three miles or retrace my hike over the rough terrain. Thanks to Emily and her truck parked on Norwich, we could cut out several extra miles of ...

• Tags:
• cliffs
• north country trail
• ottawa national forest
• trap hills
• waterfalls

Eastern Cliff of Clark Creek Valley

Cliffs have quickly become one of my more recent hiking interests. Like mountains, they offer some excellent views of the area, and the sharp relief can make for some interesting routes and rock outcroppings. Good cliffs are hard to find in the Upper Peninsula, thanks to the millennia of erosion gnawing down on the terrain. An unexpected ally can help keep the steep rock face from getting buried by its own sedimentation - flowing water.

Cliffs of Eastern Clark Creek Valley

A river or a creek flowing at the base of a cliff can wash away any sort of debris that is eroded off of a cliff. I've already seen a number of examples: downstream of the McClure Basin (Dead River), southeastern edge of Mulligan Plains (Mulligan Creek), and the deep gorge near Cliff Lake (Cliff River). Mulligan Plains is the most interesting; with steep slopes stretching along the entire eastern wall, it is only the southern half, with Mulligan Creek flowing at the base, that the cliff's steep rock face is exposed. Today I was hoping to find another exposed cliff ...

• Tags:
• bushwhack
• cliffs
• old growth

Cliffs of Mulligan Plains

The -15ºF air hit me like a brick wall as I stepped outside of my car at Mulligan Plains. Unaccustomed to the cold Upper Peninsula mornings I quickly covered my nose and mouth with a warm scarf before heading down the plowed two-track. The sun's early rays had only just begun showing over the eastern cliffs and I didn't have time to wait for the valley to warm up; there was a long, hard hike before me.

Last summer marked the first time I visited Mulligan Plains without stopping by Mulligan Falls. I had always known that there were other attractions in the narrow valley but had never made a direct effort to see them until then. The main goal of today's trip was to revisit one of these sights: Rocking Chair Lakes. My route wouldn't be an easy one but did a promise some awesome views of the plains. I planned to start near the bridge over lower Mulligan Creek, follow the top of eastern cliffs to Rocking Chair Lakes before looping back to the car, resulting in a 6 mile hike with plenty of vertical distance change.

The first climb of ...

• Tags:
• bushwhack
• cliffs
• mulligan plains