In Search of Fall Color

Today had the feel of fall in the air.  Even before the temperatures drop, you can sense the change.  The sun is in a different position so the light is different and the air seems fresher.  Every fall we go in search of fall colors.  Today we decided to take a day trip with some friends.  We traveled north about 100 miles to the Green Bay, Wisconsin area.  My husband researched the area around Green Bay and found two waterfalls we didn't know about. For those who don't know Wisconsin and its position in the United States, Wisconsin's eastern border is on Lake Michigan.  Lake Michigan is the third largest of the Great Lakes.  It is beautiful with sand dunes and nice beaches, but it doesn't have many waterfalls.  We recently drove around Lake Superior and saw many many waterfalls. This is not the case of Lake Michigan.   If you travel clockwise around  Lake Michigan starting in Lower Michigan, the first waterfall you can find is Fonferek Falls in the Fonferek Glen County Park.  If you are interested in Earth Science this would be an interesting fact to research.

Fonferek Glen is on 74 acres.  It is located along Bower Creek in basically farming country.  The parking area for this area is right next to a farm.  I'm not sure I would like having so many visitors right next to my driveway, but that is where it is.  We weren't sure if we would even see the waterfall in this area.  Except for the time of the Spring melt, Fonferek Falls is usually just a trickle.  We knew that there had recently been heavy rains in the area so we were hoping for more than a trickle.  We walked down a path to get our first view of the falls.  We were pleasantly surprised to see the falls.

From this view of the falls we saw a trail into the glen.  There were signs everywhere warning of danger and steep drops.  About five years ago a woman was killed by falling over the edge so they have it well posted .  We were careful to stay on the trail and approached the top of the falls.  As we continued, we were able to cross the creek to get to the other side.  We wanted to see the area from another angle.

We didn't see much fall color today.  The area had a lot of birch trees which were turning yellow but nothing striking.

I couldn't find a lot more information about this park.  It appears to be part of a gravel pit of some sort.  It also had nice views from the trail of the dolomite or limestone cliffs.

We returned to our vehicle and headed to the next waterfall in the area.  There was a bridge out so we had to rely on our navigation girl to find another route.  We had a nice drive along the Bay of Green Bay and finally found the small roadside park.  It was a small park but it had a lot of information on signs to read.  I confess, I didn't read all of it, but I took pictures of the information in case we want to know more about it later.  This park was named Wequiock Falls park.  There is bridge which has a view of the falls from the top.  Then as you walk around to the opposite side, there is a set of stone steps.  These stairs take you down into the gorge area for a closer look.  We were lucky here too because the falls actually had falling water.

Wequiock Falls park also has a large grassy area which included a large statue of Jean Nicolet placed in 1939-1940.

When we finished viewing both of these falls, it was still early.  We headed back home.  When we got down the road a ways, we could see Lambeau Field off in the distance.  We thought it would probably be a good day to visit the home of the Green Bay Packers.  We visited the Pro shop, went into the Atrium and looked at the statues of Curly Lambeau and Vince Lombardi.  We ate lunch at the restaurant in the atrium called 1919. 

Vince Lombardi 

 

Curly Lambeau 

 

 

Mike doing the Lambeau Leap

We like these day trips.  It is something fun for us to do, and we don't have to pack for overnight.  Even though there wasn't much fall color, we had a really good day.