The Porcupine Mountains

Having already been around the entire state of Michigan and having seen mother nature in her best, my wife and I decided to take a week long excursion to Porcupine Mountains State Park in the upper peninsula of Michigan. Although the Upper Peninsula is still in the boundaries of Michigan and the local tax payers eat and drink from the same pool as those below, you clearly feel as though you left the U.S. and entered an uninhabited euphoria of state and national parks. To the locals it is simply known as the "Porkies". Hello trip, meet my blog!

I figured the best way to go about describing our (my wife Dawn and I) experience would be to simply do a day by day walkthrough with pictures and hopefully good enough descriptions. I hope some of you are reading this, trying to determine if the Porcupine Mountains is somewhere you want to visit.

September 4, 2011

The first day consisted of a 5 mile hike from Summit Peak to Mirror Lake. The terrain is thick and deciduous, but due to the amount of foot traffic, the trails are very defined and clean. The Porkies are dozens of 1,000-2,000 foot mountains that were at one time full-grown mountains, however receding glaciers during the last ice age not only leveled the mountain range, but melted and formed the great lakes as well. The trails although well defined are steep. You are either hiking up or down, never coasting flat.

We camped at Mirror lake our first night on the North-East corner of the lake where the trails head to "Lake in the Clouds". Our camp was covered by large White Cedar, blocking us from the light mist that persisted for several hours. With camp set up, and hot tea brewing, I was able to use my Sven Saw (I will cover this in another Blog) to quickly and efficiently bundle firewood for some heat. In the past, firewood took some dedicated time, especially with the more heavily camped sites, but now with the Sven Saw it takes max 30 minutes. Now I am not marketing camp fires. I believe in no-trace camping and how one should only use fire when needed and not for aesthetics, but when the temp drops to about the 40's nothing is better than warming up around a toasty fire with a hot cup of tea.

September 5-6, 2011

The next day we walked a couple of miles up to the most popular attraction in the park, "Lake in the Clouds". Although the scenery is absolutely breathtaking, due to the higher rate of foot traffic, you don't get the feeling your alone in the wilderness. The periodical holler from nearby campers fills the canyon-like scenery. Looking up across the lake, the escarpment towers over the lake at a sheer 1900 feet. The weather could not have gotten any better! To the left is the view from our campsite at Lake of the clouds. The campsites were great, very wide open allowing for beautiful panoramic views and no bug problems other than the occasional mosquito.

The next morning we awoke to yet another insanely blue day. After fueling up at breakfast we took the long trek up to the top of the escarpment. No joke, its exhausting! This was the only time in the entire trip that we saw non-backpackers and that's due to the parking lot up top. It's a great place to take the family to get some amazing views, especially if your from mountain-less Michigan. We actually got to view our first Black Bear from up top in the mounted binoculars available to anyone. They were on the far side of the lake, but they were still in site. The park rangers stated that about 4 dozen bears live in the park.

The rest of hike that day took place along the escarpment, meandering in and out, up and down. Although there were some real cool views cliff-side, the trail takes you into some real rich "old growth" forests. You kinda feel as though your in the Shire (LOTR). The escarpment follows the Big Carp River all the way to Lake Superior, however we decided to stop at a location along the river at the base of the escarpment.

September 7, 2011

The next day at Lake Superior was yet another great day. The funny part about this trip is upon return we heard that our home town had some of the worst rain in many months. As you can see from the pictures we were not too worried about rain. The camps were right along the shoreline of lake superior and even better, they all came equipped with nice stone slab fireplaces. When you make a small fire in them, they tend to reflect more of the heat at you.

Dawn was busy making blueberry pancakes and I was washing some clothing when a Doe and her two babies came into our camp. Not too much to elaborate on hear as we took a picture that did a good amount of justice.

Blueberry pancakes over hot coals, Yum!

September 8, 2011
After we packed up camp along lake superior and headed inland again, we came across this little guy:

Our last night at the Porkies was spent at Greenstone Falls, most likely named for the rich aquatic grasses and mosses that grow in abundance at this location. On this specific evening we struggeled to find an adequate location to set up camp so we walked down river a bit and camped outside one of the few cabins that are available in the park. Although we didn't benifit from the cabin, it did have a fire ring which we enjoyed very much because this night got pretty darn cold.

With 4 dozen black bear in the park, it is not uncommon to find fresh tracks around your campsite.

The Porkies are an absolute must for those that are looking for great backpacking in the Midwest region of the U.S. Depending on the time of year, hopefully mid september after most kids start back to school, you really feel as though you are the only one in the UP (Upper Peninsula). Would I go back? Absofreakinlutely!