Little Manitou Falls

The Black River starts its journey to Pattison State Park on the Wisconsin-Minnesota border and drops 31 feet at Little Manitou Falls before forming Interfalls Lake and then going over Big Manitou Falls.  Big Manitou is a big show, but I found Little Manitou Falls to be more accessible and that's what it's all about for me.  What fun is just looking at a falls from behind a fence?

You can take the trail system to Little Manitou (bring your bug repellant!) or drive to the parking lot, which is what I did.  I went in the morning and checked out the trail a little bit, then came back in the evening for  some softer light to take pictures of the falls. There are a couple of spurs which lead to the area around the top of the falls from the main trail.

It didn't take long hopping around the top of the falls for me to christen my new trail runners that I bought in OshKosh on our way up.  They got nice and wet.

Notice the little tree across the top of the falls in the above photo?  Made me crazy, so I climbed onto a neighboring rock and tried to snag it with another branch.  That didn't work so I found another branch.  Flat on my stomach and hanging off a big rock, I finally snagged it and moved it enough to be able to climb down to my original spot and pull it out of the way. It's our secret, don't tell my physical therapist.

Of course the falls is at low flow this time of year, but that's what made it so much fun to explore!

Near the falls, the trail is like a garden.



Of course all the water and plants attracts the dragonflies.

I found this giant moth dead on the trailside.  I've never seen such a beautiful moth, anyone know what kind it is?  It made me think of fairies.  You can see where those old tales get started.

As I've said before, I didn't spend a lot of time on the trail because the mosquitoes were outrageous, but I did stop and set up the tripod for a shot along the Black River. I wonder what it looks like in the fall?