Marquette is a paradise for those who love outdoor adventure, as the opportunities to visit waterfalls, hike mountains, swim in Lake Superior, or tackle a mountain bike trail are almost endless. We’ve been lucky enough to visit many of the waterfalls in the Marquette area, but there always seem to be a few more left that we haven’t seen yet. In June we finally made it to Wright Street Falls, an easy-to-visit set of drops on the Dead River. This waterfall is one of the closest to downtown Marquette, and one of the easiest ones to visit. The Noquemanon Trail network provides easy access to this waterfall and today we will look at some pictures from our visit and directions on how to get there.

A parking area with a sign for the Marquette Board of Light and Power has room for a handful of cars, and the trail begins on the other side of a gated drive. This segment of the Noquemanon North Trail Network is open to hiking and biking and follows the river upstream. We saw several small cascades as the river winds over and through rocky terrain and shortly came to a bridge at a second gated drive.

We first crossed this bridge and headed up to the penstock and graffiti-covered dam remains. While there was a decent view of the falls from here, it definitely looked like the best views would come from th other side.

Backtracking to the bridge, we then followed the path that goes under it and continued on our way. There was a boardwalk through a marshy section, then the trail made a bend and headed straight on for the falls.

The largest drop is just past where the penstock crosses the river, but there are also some scenic drops below. Like other falls we’ve visited where there are or were dams, it is quite a contrast between rugged beauty and decaying modern structures. This was a pretty cool stop that didn’t require a lot of effort, and nice to add another new-to-us Marquette waterfall to the list!

Directions: Head north on Wright St. from its intersection with U.S. 41 across from WalMart. Stay on Wright St. for just under two miles, looking for the sign pictured above (will be on your left). You will pass the gated drive and bridge (no parking is allowed here) before coming to the parking area.

From the parking area enter past the gate shown above then make an immediate left into the woods. Follow the well-worn trail here until you get close to the bridge, then continue on underneath the bridge. You will start to hear the falls. Once you get to the boardwalk section continue on through that bend and then start taking in the views of the various drops. The largest drop can be seen just off trail on the other side of the penstock.