Porcupine Mountains State Park - Mid October 2010

(I haven't been able to find my journal from this trip so this is just a short summary for now...I hope the journal eventually shows up though). 

A few months back my friend Jamie had asked me if I would like to hike the Porkies with him when he returned from six months of seasonal work at Isle Royale National Park. He hadn't left that island for his entire work time so I was surprised that his transition to the mainland would be to go directly back into the wilderness. I guess it was a good step though, before he headed back to his home below the bridge.

Although Jamie had been to the Porkies before, he hadn't backpacked it so I planned the trip. Our trip started at the Lake of the Clouds after we had picked up our required back country permit at the Visitor's Center. We worked our way along the escarpment before descending further on the Big Carp River Trail. I was surprised at how many people we ran into as the color season was just about over. However, I can only speculate that most of the people we saw had planned their vacations months ago when they thought color would be at its peak.

 

We had an awesome camp site along the shore of Lake Superior complete with rock chairs. The evening was cool but the big lake was relatively quiet. We were treated to a gorgeous sunset.

The second day had us following the Little Carp Trail with numerous river crossings and quite a few small waterfalls. We played cat and mouse with about a dozen college students who were one big group. It appeared they might of been doing the field work for a backpacking class. I noticed that all of their gear was numbered and mostly alike (most likely from the SDC at Michigan Tech). 

We hiked by Lily Pond and on to Mirror Lake for the night. 

During the third day we hiked up to Government Peak, and then eventually through some lowlands where beavers had recently damned up water. The park rangers had dismantled the dam but it was quite mucky in the aftermath. 

We climbed back up to the Escarpment via Cuyahoga Peak and settled in off the Escarpment. The highlight of the day for me was seeing a porcupine. It was not the fact that it was a porcupine, as I see those quite often living in the UP, but the fact that it was a porkie in the Porkies. Even though I have traveled there since I was a child, I can't remember ever seeing one there before...that was special.

The next morning the escarpment glowed with the rising sun. We only had a few miles to go but we stopped often to treasure the views. We had hiked over 32 miles during the trip and the weather had been really quite nice for October. It was a fun trip with loads of rivers, falls, lakes, peaks, vast hemlock forests, rocks, critters, good company and more.

To see more pictures from this trip:

Four Days at Porcupine Mountain State Park