Schweitzer Falls is located a few miles south of Palmer Michigan. This is a very wild waterfall, despite being only a few hundred yards from the road. There is no established trail to the falls, and no signs of any human disturbance at falls. Despite that, reaching the waterfall is not particularly difficult.

Schweitzer Falls is a two tiered falls, dropping about 20' feet in total. The second tier is higher and steeper than the first, and you can get nice and close to it. There was not simple and obvious way to get close to the upper tier. If you are willing to get your feet wet you could probably just wade through the pool at the base of the lower tier and climb the rock to see the upper one.

To reach Schweitzer Falls, take Highway 35. Highway passes through Palmer Michigan. Just south of Palmer take County Road 565 to the southwest. When you reach the junction of County Road 565 and County Road 476, continue on 565 by taking a left. Continue another 1.5 miles until you reach the bridge over Schweitzer creek.

From here you have options. You can either try to slog your way up the creek to the falls. It is only a couple of 100 yards, but the area below the falls is swampy and it is easy to get turned around. The easier thing to do is to continue about 100 yards beyond the bridge to the two track on the right. Hike up the two track. After a couple of hundred feet, as the two track is curving to the left, there is a faint path on the right. From here you head into the woods and down the hill, kind of veering to the left. You might be able to hear the falls at this point. At the bottom of the hill a more clearly defined trail leads towards the falls.

The much easier to visit Warner Falls is just a few miles away. Warner Falls is located alongside of Highway 35 just south of the junction with Country Road 565. Black River Falls is about a 30 minute drive to the west. Marquette is about 20 miles to the northeast, where you can find the Carp River Falls, Morgan Falls and the Dead River Falls. Alder Falls and Yellow Dog Falls are another 30 miles north of Marquette.

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Last Modified: Saturday, 02-Jun-2012 16:45:23 MDT.