Little Union Gorge Falls, Michigan

This is a fascinating waterfall for me, not because of any size or feature distinction, but instead because I visited this waterfall, but didn’t identify it for years. I visited Little Union Gorge Falls in September 2010, but it probably wasn’t until 5 or 6 years later when I was organizing, likely for this blog, that I noticed there was a photo of a waterfall that I didn’t have on any map. I went through a process to identify the waterfall, and “discovered” I had visited Little Union Gorge Falls.

Because I didn’t identify it until years later, visiting the falls is a bit fuzzy. At that time, I often visited many waterfalls in a day and some weren’t as distinct as others, and I feel like this was one of them. It’s a beautiful small waterfall and there are multiple drops, but I think I found one and then headed back to my car. With some of the rivers in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, there are many smaller drops that add up to a bigger elevation change. You could likely add a few more drops to the list if you search for them. As part of the Porcupine Mountains, this is an enjoyable waterfall, but I would probably stop at a few different places before heading to this.

Directions:

1. Silver City is not far from Ontonagon, one of the more populated towns/cities in the Upper Peninsula. Silver City is at the entrance to the Porcupine Mountains State Park.
2. Head west on the 107th Engineers Memorial Highway, which follows the Lake Superior shoreline.
3. Instead of continuing toward Lake of the Clouds, if you turn left onto S Boundary Road, you’ll head toward the falls.
4. There is a turn onto a road (also called S Boundary Road on Google Maps) that leads to the Union River Outpost Campground. Head down that to the Union River. Park on the road near the bridge.
5. Head a bit east and south to find the falls. Follow the river as your guide.

Accessibility: 10/10 (easy)
Height: 12′
Hike: 0.2 miles round-trip

Where in the World is Little Union Gorge Falls?