The Ottawa National Forest is a national forest that covers in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. It includes much of Gogebic and Ontonagon counties, as well as slices of Iron, Houghton, Baraga, and Marquette counties. The forest is under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Forest Service. The headquarters are in Ironwood, Michigan, on the Wisconsin border, and the principal visitor center is located in Watersmeet, Michigan, in the southern section of the Forest. These and other towns within and adjacent to the Forest are served by U.S. Highway 2, one of the principal highways of the Western Upper Peninsula. There are local ranger district offices in Bessemer, Iron River, Kenton, Ontonagon, and Watersmeet. Topography Wooded slopes mark the south shore of Lake Superior within the Ottawa National Forest, particularly within the Black River country between Little Girl's Point and the Presque Isle River. As the Black River, a National Wild and Scenic River, falls from near Copper Peak down towards the lake, it tumbles over seven separate mapped and named waterfalls. The Presque Isle river and its major tributary, Copper Creek, have eleven waterfalls, although four of the Presque Isle falls are outside the national forest and are located within the boundaries of the adjacent Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park. Underwood Hill, at 1,867 feet (569 m) in altitude (more than 1,200 feet (370 m) above the level of nearby Lake Superior) is the highest elevation in the Presque Isle River drainage area. However, this is not the highest point in the national forest. That honor belongs to an unnamed 1,900-foot (580 m) hill north of Lac Vieux Desert in southeastern Gogebic County. Rain or snow that falls on the north side of this hill flows through the Ontonagon River towards Lake Superior; precipitation on the south side flows through the Wisconsin River to the Gulf of Mexico. Climate The Ottawa National Forest is an area of relatively high precipitation in both winter and summer. Sections of the Forest receive more than 200 inches (500 cm) of snow annually. In winter, Lake Superior, which usually does not freeze over, is itself the source of much of the water vapor that falls in the area. In many of the summer months, moist air carried by southerly winds from the faraway Gulf does not fall below the dew point in temperature until it enters the Lake Superior basin.