Laughing Whitefish Falls Scenic Site

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Laughing Whitefish Falls
Laughingwhitefish013.jpg
Location Alger County, Michigan
Coordinates 46°23′23″N87°3′58.3″W / 46.38972°N 87.066194°W / 46.38972; -87.066194 Coordinates: 46°23′23″N87°3′58.3″W / 46.38972°N 87.066194°W / 46.38972; -87.066194
Type Fan
Total height 100 feet (30 m)
Number of drops 1
Watercourse Laughing Whitefish River

The Laughing Whitefish Falls Scenic Site is a waterfall and state park located in Onota Township and Rock River Township, in far western Alger County, Michigan. The waterfall is in the southern part of the site, in Rock River Township, 8 miles (13 km) south of Lake Superior near M-94.

Waterfall Place where water flows over a vertical drop in the course of a river

A waterfall is an area where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops in the course of a stream or river. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf.

State park protected area managed at the federated state level

State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use "state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on account of its natural beauty, historic interest, or recreational potential. There are state parks under the administration of the government of each U.S. state, some of the Mexican states, and in Brazil. The term is also used in the Australian state of Victoria. The equivalent term used in Canada, Argentina, South Africa and Belgium, is provincial park. Similar systems of local government maintained parks exist in other countries, but the terminology varies.

Onota Township, Michigan Civil township in Michigan, United States

Onota Township is a civil township of Alger County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the township population was 352.

Laughing Whitefish Falls is formed by an abrupt limestone escarpment of the Laughing Whitefish River, which flows northward into Lake Superior. The falls is located within the Escanaba River State Forest. The escarpment is shaped so as to draw out the cascade into an unusual fan-shaped wall of water.

Limestone Sedimentary rocks made of calcium carbonate

Limestone is a carbonate sedimentary rock that is often composed of the skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral, foraminifera, and molluscs. Its major materials are the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate (CaCO3). A closely related rock is dolostone, which contains a high percentage of the mineral dolomite, CaMg(CO3)2. In fact, in old USGS publications, dolostone was referred to as magnesian limestone, a term now reserved for magnesium-deficient dolostones or magnesium-rich limestones.

Laughing Whitefish River river in the United States of America

The Laughing Whitefish River is a 19.4-mile-long (31.2 km) stream located on the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. The river rises in eastern Marquette County and flows east and then north through Alger County to its mouth on Lake Superior at 46°31′30″N87°01′43″W a few miles north of Deerton, Michigan. The total watershed of the Laughing Whitefish River is 36 square miles (93 km2).

Lake Superior largest of the Great Lakes of North America

Lake Superior, the largest of the Great Lakes of North America, is also the world's largest freshwater lake by surface area, and the third largest freshwater lake by volume. The lake is shared by the Canadian province of Ontario to the north, the U.S. state of Minnesota to the west, and Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to the south. The farthest north and west of the Great Lakes chain, Superior has the highest elevation of all five great lakes and drains into the St. Mary's River.

From M-94, a 2.8-mile (4.5 km) drive northward on Dorsey Road and a one-mile (1.5 km) hike from the roadhead are necessary to reach the falls. [1]

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References

  1. Michigan Atlas and Gazetteer (10th ed.). Yarmouth, Maine: DeLorme. 2002.