On the other side of the picnic area was the small lookout area, where we were able to get the picture you see at the top of this page between an opening in the foliage. Walking past a picnic area on the way to Big Manitou Fallsįrom that nearest lot, we carefully crossed East County Road B before going around a small lawn and picnic area. Experiencing Big Manitou Falls – The Easy WayĪlthough there was a signposted road and parking lot for the main office of Pattison State Park, it turned out that the easiest way to experience the falls was from a separate parking lot (see directions below). The fog conspired to keep the falls from being clearly visible, and that photo above was probably as clear as it was going to get during our morning visit.

However, we had to contend with unseasonably foggy weather during our Autumn visit in late September 2015. Thus, our four-year-old daughter didn’t have any trouble viewing the falls from the sanctioned lookouts.

Given the waterfall’s notoriety due to its height, it wasn’t surprising to see that it was both popular and it had a lot of infrastructure to make it accessible to almost anyone. Big Manitou Falls was said to be the highest waterfall in the state of Wisconsin where the Black River dropped 165ft.