Jaymie Depew, communications and special project assistant, Alger County Chamber of Commerce/Greater Munising Bay Partnership for Commerce Development, Munising Downtown Development Authority and Munising Visitors Bureau

MUNISING — Although first explored by the Ojibwe, formal tours of the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore didn’t begin until the early 1900s when Cleveland Cliffs Iron Company brought passengers along the towering sandstone cliffs and sea caves during the weekends.

Their vessel, the Ottawa, was also used to transport people to and from Grand Island on the weekdays.

Between the 1930s and 1960s, several area residents and other organizations provided tours of the lakeshore. However, most of them sold their vessels, retired, or moved out of the area because of the harsh Upper Peninsula winters.

Introducing Pictured Rocks Cruises

In the 1940s, Captain Everett Morrison brought passengers to the Pictured Rocks shortly after World War II with his boat, the Sea Queen.

He soon expanded his fleet to keep up with the increasing demand of visitors. What began as Morrison’s pipe dream is now Pictured Rocks Cruises, which was incorporated in 1971 and became a concessionaire of the National Park Service in 2009.

The Cruises’ now have six vessels, with Chapel Rock being the newest. The high-speed catamaran that’s named after one of the park’s landmarks hit the water in 2019.

While the first documented tours of the Pictured Rocks had around a dozen passengers, Pictured Rocks Cruises averages about 150 people per boat.

As a top U.P. attraction, the Cruises has shown millions of people the splendors of the park since it was established.

More recently, there’s another activity that’s made quite the splash in Munising. Besides taking a boat tour or hiking throughout the park to see the sights, people travel from all over the world visit to kayak through the sea caves of the Pictured Rocks.

Pictured Rocks Cruises brought its last passengers of the season along the shoreline on Sunday while most of the local kayaking outfitters closed the end of the September.

Changes in the Rocks

Over the years, some features of the cliffs and formations have changed due to erosion and the waters of Superior carving out the shoreline.

In April 2006, the northeast turret of Miners Castle — a popular feature in the park — collapsed into Lake Superior. One turret remains. While the rockfall at Miners Castle was startling, such events are not uncommon along the cliffs. 

Grand Portal Point

Once upon a time, steamships and sail boats glided through the archway of Grand Portal Point, another point of interest in the park.

The great collapse occurred in 1906, putting an end to any ships getting through as rock sediment settled underneath, blocking the entrance.

Most recently, a 200-foot chunk of the cliff face fell into Lake Superior this summer. A video of it was captured by a group on a pontoon boat, which went viral.

Although it’s not uncommon for parts of the cliffs to collapse into the lake, it’s rare for a piece that size to fall.

Editor’s note: Jaymie Depew is the communications and special project assistant for the Alger County Chamber of Commerce/Greater Munising Bay Partnership for Commerce Development, Munising Downtown Development Authority and Munising Visitors Bureau.