What’s So Special About Kitch-iti-kipi?

ByChristine Updated on

When visiting Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, don’t miss Kitch-iti-kipi, Michigan’s largest freshwater spring!

Our family loved our visit to this spring in Palms Book State Park, not only because it is so pretty and picturesque, but because of the unique activity you too can do there! You must ride the self-propelled raft across the water to get the best view looking straight down into the spring.

In this post we’ll share the best ways to see and experience Kitch-iti-kipi, a popular spring with a very unique way of experiencing it!

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Kitch-iti-kipi

Located in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Kitch-iti-kipi is also known as the Big Spring and is Michigan’s largest freshwater spring.

How To Get Kitch-iti-kipi

To visit Kitch-iti-kipi, you’ll make your way to Palms Book State Park. It is located near the towns of Manistique and Thompson, which lie on the north shore of Lake Michigan. Palms Book itself is just north of there just off of Indian Lake. If you’re visiting Pictured Rocks near Munising, MI, you can easily drive down this way as a day trip as well. It’s only about 44 miles southeast of there.

Palms Book has no camping. We stayed with our RV over at Indian Lake State Park just down the road. It’s an easy drive over to check it out.

There is an entrance fee so you’ll need the Michigan recreation passport.

About Kitch-iti-kipi Spring

Kids at Palms Book State Park with spring behind

The spring is 200 feet across, and it’s 40 to 45 feet deep (there were some conflicting measurements that we read about the depth). It’s also 45 degrees Fahrenheit constant year-round. We read it might get an ice crust on it, but it typically doesn’t freeze over.

Coming out of the spring in the fissures below is 10,000 gallons of water per minute. No wonder it creates roiling sand dust clouds underwater as it comes out of there. It’s really impressive.

You can see ancient tree trunks down there, lime encrusted branches, and big lake trout. It is so crystal clear you can hardly tell there is water between you and everything you’re seeing underwater.

Take the Self-Propelled Raft

Family standing in front of the observation raft at Kitch-iti-kipi

The really special thing about this spring is that you get to get on the self-guided and self-propelled observation platform. This allows you to best view and enjoy the spring and everything underwater. It is essentially a raft that you move with a wheel to go across the lake and look down into the spring.

It’s an open bottom platform, and the water is crystal clear. What a neat experience (whether you have kids or not)!

You’ll go through the gate, lock the gate, pull the levers as the posted instructions direct, and turn the wheel in the direction you’re headed across the spring. You might have to put a little muscle into turning the wheel! After a while it feels like a little bit of an arm workout!

Woman on the observation raft at the wheel

Once you make it to the end at the other side of the spring, you just turn the wheel in the other direction until you make contact with the dock again.

We recommend you get there early so you can try to have it all to yourself or have to share it with fewer people. That way you will have more space to walk around and view the spring as well as get to turn the wheel. We’ve seen that it can get quite busy here.

History of Palms Book State Park

The land that the spring sits on now was originally owned by a lumber company. Back in the early 1920s a guy by the name of John Bellaire fell in love with the place. He arranged for the whole area to be sold to the state of Michigan to preserve it for just $10.

The name of the park comes from the Palms Book Land Company which is who owned it and sold it to the state.

We hope this post convinces you to check out Kitch-iti-kipi and ride the unique observation raft across!

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Pinnable image of Kitch-iti-kipi observation raft and woman steering
Pinnable image of Kitch-iti-kipi observation raft and spring

Christine is the co-founder of Never Stop Adventuring, and an avid traveler who started traveling the world as a child growing up in a military family. She even lived in Germany for numerous years. Since then she has been to 48 U.S. states, 17 countries, and traveled the U.S. in an RV for over 7 years.

With her 3 kids, the adventures continued family travel style. She has planned and coordinated travel with kids for the last 10 years and shares family travel tips and tricks, destinations, costs and even the mistakes so you can be empowered to take your own family trips with confidence!