Dark wooden steps and rails leading down from the deck into trees with gold and green leaves, a glimpse of the pond behind — The steps down from the deck into the gold.

October, at the lodge.

Gold aspens and red maples around the pond, long shadows in the pines and Lake Superior across the road. October is when we think the lodge looks its best.

When the color comes.

At the lodge, plan on the first half of October.

The color starts in mid to late September and peaks across the first 3 weeks of October, moving from the west and the hills inland toward the shore of the lake.

West of Marquette. The West End peaks in the last week of September and the first week of October.

Marquette itself. The city peaks 1 to 2 weeks later, and we are on the lakeshore east of town. Color follows the weather, so leave yourselves a few days of room.

Gold on the pond, long shadows in the pines.

The aspens turn yellow along the clearings, the maples red by the water, and the low sun lays long shadows through the pines. The evenings are cool: the fire pit by the pond first, then the sauna inside.

Inside the lodge

Tall pines with long shadows across a carpet of needles, a green tire swing hanging in the distance and the corner of the log lodge at the right — Long shadows in the pines, and the tire swing.

The low sun shining as a starburst between tall pine trunks, the ground below orange with needles — Low sun through the tall pines.

A sandy clearing edged with yellow aspens and young pines under a blue sky with white clouds — A sandy clearing edged with yellow aspens.

The pond from the air with a straight trail running through autumn pines beside it and the blue lake along the horizon — The pond and the trail through the pines, from the air.

A road running under golden maples in October in Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore — H-58 in October. Photo: NPS, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons, resized.

3 drives for color.

H-58

The road east from Munising along Pictured Rocks, under maples that turn gold in October: about 34 minutes to Munising, then the road itself.

Sugarloaf Mountain

About 25 minutes from the lodge, a climb with a view over the trees and the lake.

Laughing Whitefish Falls

About 30 minutes from the lodge, a waterfall in the woods.

For more days out, see Marquette and the days out; for the paths from our door, see the trails.

Your October dates.

Choose your dates and the calendar gives the price of your whole stay. The lodge takes 2 nights at least, and up to 2 dogs come too.

Good to know before you come Ask us a question first