How many waterfalls are in the UP? Meet the Michigan man who keeps counting

• ‘Yooper Steve’ Jurmu has documented over 800 waterfalls in the Upper Peninsula, aiming to reach 1,000
• Many waterfalls in the region are small, remote and lesser known but still visually appealing 
• His mission highlights the UP’s unique waterfall landscape, shaped by ancient glaciers 

Steve Jurmu is on a mission to find 1,000 waterfalls in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. 

It's an ambitious goal, considering state and UP officials generally recognize closer to 300 waterfalls in the region. 

But Jurmu, who’s known as "Yooper Steve," is determined.

By his count, he's already spotted more than 800 waterfalls in the UP, including 125 this year alone. He uses an admittedly broad definition. In some cases, the same creek may have a few different drops, which he counts as separate falls. 

“Some people look at waterfalls and think, ‘It's got to be 50 feet tall or it's not a waterfall.’ That’s not the case. That’s not how a waterfall is determined,” Jurmu told Bridge Michigan.

The 49-year-old Houghton resident has chased waterfalls most of his life, trekking through forests and remote stretches of the rural peninsula that are rarely traversed. He explores alone but has started offering tours that include some of his discoveries. 

His quest highlights a broad curiosity about Michigan’s waterfall landscape, which is concentrated in the UP. Tourists flock to waterfalls like Tahquamenon Falls or Munising Falls each year, but fans say many others are a sight to see. 

“We have waterfalls up here that are three or four foot waterfalls that fall over a sandstone ledge or the waterfall drops straight — that’s something that we really don’t talk about a whole lot, but they’re pretty in themselves," Jurmu said. 

A waterfall is generally defined by a river or stream that drops sharply over a rocky edge. Though there isn’t a specific way to categorize waterfalls, scientists can classify them based on various factors, like width, volume of water and height.

Experts say the UP owes its waterfall riches to geological history. 

When glaciers formed the land that is now Michigan, they picked up sediment from the UP and brought it south, leaving behind exposed rock that was soft enough to erode and create the kind of cliffs that produce falls. 

“They’re concentrated (in the UP) because that’s where a lot of the volcanic rock, rock formations, the ponds and the lakes are, that give it the ability to fall over the rocks and down back into Lake Superior or Lake Michigan,” Jurmu said.

The UP’s waterfall bounty is a boon for the local economy, according to Jesse Wiederhold, public relations coordinator for Visit Keweenaw, which promotes tourism in the region. 

“As soon as the snow melts, we are just flooded with folks coming into our office asking, ‘where all the waterfalls are’,” he said. 

“Some of them are very uneven terrain and a lot of them aren't signed. I believe those are definitely some reasons why some of these lesser-known ones aren't as visited.”

Jurmu hasn’t published a full list of his waterfall finds, but he often documents new discoveries on social media, including GPS coordinates. 

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Some of his finds come from tips, others from old U.S. Geological Survey maps or exploratory hikes. He offers waterfall tours, but “stay away from the more popular ones,” he told Bridge. 

While some of the waterfalls he’s found were difficult to spot because they are significantly smaller than more well-known ones, he said many were simply in remote areas that had not been documented in decades.

Others are also only visible in the spring, when they are most active due to snow and ice melt. 

Jurmu isn’t the first to dedicate himself to finding Michigan’s hidden waterfalls. 

Photographer Phill Stagg began a similar search years earlier and has since published multiple books that detail more than 600 falls, many of them previously undocumented. 

“There's no doubt that we hit the same waterfalls,” Stagg said of Jurmu. “Because there's only so many out there, even though that number is a big number.”

The 59-year-old Cadillac resident published his first book, “Waterfalls of Michigan” in 2016. Others have followed. They include GPS coordinates, pictures, maps, suggested gear, what type of vehicle is needed and even whether or not the waterfall is dog friendly. 

While Stagg has found fewer waterfalls than Jurmu, his discoveries continue, including some he said he uncovered after his guidebooks went to print. 

“Bringing it to light is all that I've been doing,  and Steve's been doing as well,” he said.

“Most waterfalls have their own unique look. And then you add to that the sound of water falling. It's almost like it's doing something unnatural.”