Michigan's natural wonders: Hour Detroit maps waterfalls, dunes and a 133-acre lake

MICHIGAN. Hour Detroit's new guide to the state's natural sites starts at Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park in Ontonagon, Michigan's largest state park at 59,000 acres, with 90 miles of trails, 90 waterfalls and the 133-acre Lake of the Clouds. A Recreation Passport gets visitors in.

Near Marquette, the Black Rocks at Presque Isle are volcanic basalt formed more than 1.7 billion years ago; admission and parking are free, and the Anishinaabe have used the site for 7,000 years. Outside Manistique, Kitch-iti-Kipi, also known as Big Spring, is 200 feet wide and 40 feet deep, pushes out 10,000 gallons of 45-degree water a minute, and can be viewed from an observation raft that runs 8 a.m. to dusk.

Sleeping Bear Dunes, spanning Empire and Glen Arbor, is the world's largest freshwater dune system and charges at least $15 per vehicle. Tahquamenon Falls in Paradise, Michigan's largest waterfall, runs 200 feet wide with a 50-foot drop and up to 50,000 gallons a second; a 5.1-mile trail connects the Upper and Lower Falls, with seasonal shuttles available. Near Munising, Pictured Rocks became the country's first National Lakeshore in 1966, with 15 miles of sandstone cliffs rising 50 to 200 feet above Lake Superior.