Like many people, I am tired of winter, especially of the icy conditions, and wishing spring would arrive and the water would be flowing at not frozen. The Black River plunges 165 feet down a gorge of sandstone and basalt and is the highest waterfall in Wisconsin.
Big Manitou Falls
If you continued downstream from yesterday’s picture, you would find the Big Manitou Falls, the highest waterfall in Wisconsin. And without any references to scale, it might not seem very tall. There is a person wearing a white shirt standing near the level of the top of the waterfall on the left side about a third of the way into the photo. The person looks like a little white dot.
Big Manitou Falls in Summer
A warm summer Saturday may have some people venturing to water to cool off. And while this water looks inviting to wade in, you don’t want to wade too far downstream as the water drops 165 feet as Wisconsin’s tallest waterfall.
Top of Big Manitou Falls
The cloudy day brought a few more snowflakes falling from the sky and now more below zero temperatures are moving in which makes me long for summer days and visiting a different type of falling water.
Big Water Drop
Sitting near a river and listening to the water falling can be very relaxing but hearing a forecast with temperatures falling to sub-zero weather is not a pleasant feeling. The cold makes you wish for summer time again.
Viewing Big Manitou Falls
The forecast calls for freezing rain tonight which is never good during January in Wisconsin as I was slipping and sliding on my path today and it felt almost as steep as this waterfall. The Native Americans, who originally settled in the area around this falls, believed they heard the voice of the Great Spirit within the roaring of the falls and gave it the name “Gitchee Manitou” which means Great Spirit, but it is now known as Big Manitou Falls.
Big Manitou Falls
