If Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore’s views are the last things you see before you die, well…there are not too many other views in Michigan that would beat them!

Whether you’re hiking a portion of the North Country Trail, visiting Miners Castle, doing a boat tour, braving Lake Superior’s waves in a sea kayak, or swimming on a summer day at Twelvemile Beach – there’s no shortage of pretty views in the area!

My husband’s grandfather said “That’ll do” after seeing Pictured Rocks shortly before his death in 1988. It was the first time he’d ever visited the area.

In November, 2024; the body of John Kueber was identified, making him the eighth person since 2006 to die in the national park from accidental causes. According to various published reports, Kueber was last heard from in late September before going missing while kayaking along the lakeshore. His body was discovered by hikers in early November, but it took nearly a month to identify his remains.

Two people have died at Pictured Rocks while reportedly taking selfies – a 32-year-old California woman named Tu Thanh Nguyen in 2018, and Dominic Rotondi, 21; of Lincoln Park, MI in 2021.

Key words from one of the MLive news reports about Nguyen’s death:

She had been standing there taking pictures of herself when she fell off the edge

Was Rotondi doing the same? I’m willing to bet money that he was also attempting to take a selfie.

Since Rotondi’s death in 2021, others whom have perished in Pictured Rocks include a couple of kayakers – Kimberly Aiello of Troy and David Delegato, of Shelby Township in September, 2021; ice climber James Bake 31, of Gaylord in February, 2023; and Steven Poppema, 45; of Holland in May, 2024 – who fell to his death after showing signs of exhaustion. Kueber’s death was the most recent accidental desth.

Let’s rewind about 40 years or so to 1981 – when my mother, grandmother, 12-year-old brother and 9-year-old me visited this place. Things were different back then – there weren’t as many caution signs, not as many fenced off areas, and not as much concern for erosion, as evidenced by this photo (take note of how uncomfortable I look in it, I’m on the left):

Back to the subject of deaths at Pictured Rocks – Nguyen and Rotondi weren’t the first people to die from falls there. The first person was 43-year-old Juanita Richardson of McBain, MI – who died there in 2006 while on a “second honeymoon” with her husband Thomas. He was convicted of killing her in 2008 and was sentenced to life in prison. And to this day I’m still haunted by conversations I overheard in a bar by people who might have witnessed the events leading up to this death.

My husband and I happened to be backpacking at Pictured Rocks in July of 2006 when we unwittingly stumbled into a heavily brewing (in a bar – see what I did there?) news story – and a possible “whodunit!” We’d just finished a two-night backpacking trip along the coast and were having a well-earned whitefish dinner accompanied by cold beer at a Grand Marais restaurant called The Dunes Saloon, aka Lake Superior Brewing Company. A little bit about Grand Marais (population estimate 1,300 people) – it’s a sleepy coastal town on Lake Superior, roughly west of Sault Ste Marie, northwest of Tahquamenon Falls.

Though it gets its share of tourists in the summer – and even winter (mainly snowmobilers), it’s not a typical tourist town. There are no chain restaurants, but what it lacks in that regard it more than makes up for in terms of its glorious sandy beaches.

To say it’s remote is an understatement. It’s not a city you’re likely to just “pass through” on any U.P. road trip. It’s about 25 miles or so north of M-28, a popular east-west route. When you’re taking 77 north to get there, it’s relatively boring – but so, so exciting when you start to see a glimpse of Gitche Gumee (old Native word for Lake Superior which you might have learned from that one Gordon Lightfoot song about the shipwreck).

A Whodunit – at pictured Rocks?

So we were sitting there in the Dunes Saloon in July, 2006 enjoying our deep fried goodness – which always seemed to hit the spot after a couple of days of eating rehydrated backpacking meals! Seriously, you should try it sometime, but I digress! And we overhear some people at a table near us in the restaurant talking about having possibly been witnesses to an incident leading up to Richardson’s death. At the time we didn’t even know about what had happened – we were there in early July, 2006, and her death happened on June 22. We hadn’t read or heard anything about this death prior to our trip, so when we just barely heard the whispers of the people in the restaurant about this, well – it was news to us! We really didn’t hear much – but it sounded like the people overheard an argument between the Richardsons before it happened. As I said, we had only just learned of this incident, we made no contact with the people whom were talking about it – and I can only wonder if these people wound up speaking to investigators. Little matter now that Mr. Richardson is behind bars, right? Still, it’s just one of those things that makes ya wonder…

How long until something tragic happens along the lovely cliffs of Pictured Rocks again?