Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park

Day three dawned grey. Again. But it was not raining. Following a cold breakfast featuring shelf-stable ultra-pasteurized milk and granola bars, we drove the final hour to the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park. This park is managed by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, so requires a Michigan Recreation Passport, $17 for the year for instate vehicles if you buy one at a park entrance but less ($12) if you get it when you renew your license plates.

I planned for one not-too-long hike by the Lake of the Clouds, the one place everyone goes if you go to the Porcupines. When I asked my coworkers, they all said they’d be okay with some hiking, but I am aware that most people don’t casually go for three mile romps through the woods in all kinds of weather on an average evening, possibly after a full day of work. The internet told me that the Escarpment Trail, leading away from the Lake of the Clouds, had some of the best views in the park, and if we hiked it as an out and back, we could choose how long we wanted our hike to be.

When we arrived, it was foggy/misty/cloudy (again) with clouds rolling across the landscape. We went first to the Lake of the Clouds Overlook where we got our first look at the lake and surrounding mountains. Although it was supposed to be late in the season for fall colors, there were still a lot of yellow and even green leaves on the trees and the view, when not covered with clouds, was lovely. The overlook is located at the west end of the lake, facing east down the length of the lake with mountains sloping upwards from the north and south shores.

 

Clockwise from top left: Lake of the Clouds upon arrival, Lake of the Clouds partway along the Escarpment Trail, the Escarpment Trail, close up of trees

From the overlook, we found the Escarpment Trail that leads east along a ridge on the north side of the Lake of the Clouds. As I’ve mentioned already, it was pretty quiet because we were there past what’s considered peak timing for the fall season, and it got even quieter on the trail away from the overlook. At times the trail winds through trees, at others it comes out onto rocky ridges with spectacular views of the lake and surroundings. Would highly recommend this trail.

Upper Carp River east of Lake of the Clouds

Clockwise from top left: View from our lunch spot, Upper Carp River, Lake of the Clouds post hike, view looking west from the Lake of the Clouds overlook

We ended up hiking somewhere over two miles down the trail past the eastern end of the lake and a little ways up the Upper Carp River. We stopped for a snack/lunch break right by the eastern end of the lake where we could enjoy the sights. As we hiked out, the weather cleared up a fair bit, but as we started on our way back to the parking lot, the clouds began to thicken yet again. At one point I think we walked through a cloud, but any rain held off.

 

Big Carp River (from the Lake of the Clouds overlook)

From the Lake of the Clouds, we moved to the Summit Peak Scenic Area for a different view of the park. The trail here was 0.9 miles one way to the top of Summit Peak, the highest point of the park. The lower half is a nice walk through the woods that transitions into a wooden boardwalk and steps ending at a 50-foot observation tower. The views weren’t amazing, but it was worth a quick look and now we can say we’ve been to the park’s highest point.

 

View from Summit Peak

Observation Tower

Like the previous day, because of our limited time in the area, I opted for visiting a few places for a shorter amount of time rather than spend more time in one or two spots in order to get more of an overview of the park. That said, our last stop of the day was the Presque Isle Scenic Area to see waterfalls. This hike reminded me of some hikes through the gorges in New York’s Finger Lakes region. The trail wound through a gorge right off of Lake Superior with several waterfalls, smaller than the ones we saw the day before, and was a nice end to our day in the Porcupines. I think this area was where we encountered the most people in the day, but still nothing compared to some of the summer crowds I’ve seen.

Presque Isle Scenic Area

We made the drive back to Baraga State Park, where we prepared another camp dinner (oatmeal and a banana for me) before enjoying a second night in the mini cabin. It was definitely cool at night, but the cabin with four people in it never even got cold enough for me to put on pants. (I wore shorts for the entirety of the trip.) There was a space heater provided, and at one point we turned it on to see if it worked, but we didn’t need it. The shared bathroom block was nice, and there were individual shower stalls, with nice hot water, at the back of the building. Overall, even with the traffic noise, $52 a night split between four people was well worth it for a fun experience that requires less vital equipment than tent camping.