Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park
Upper Peninsula, Michigan
We were so excited to finally explore this park - we were supposed to go last year in October but unseasonably cool temperatures and rain got in the way of that. We decided to try again this year and we are so happy we did! The “Porkies” is a beautiful area right on the south shore of Lake Superior. It’s a backpacker’s paradise: breathtaking views, long trails out into the backcountry, and private campsites.
Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park is Michigan’s largest park at around 60,000 acres of wilderness. It has over 90 miles of trails and 63 backcountry campsites, and points of interest including many rivers, streams, waterfalls, Lake Superior, and the famous Lake of the Clouds. Despite spending almost three days here, we barely scratched the surface of this park and can’t wait to go back again someday!
Day 1: Lake Superior Segment
We stayed at the cabin Friday night as a pitstop, then left early Saturday morning to get to the park. It was our Subaru’s first long trip, and it handled great! We picked up our permit and drove to the Lake Superior Trailhead. The trail started out really rugged and rocky with some pretty Lake Superior overlooks right away. We were high above the lake, and were treated to beautiful vistas of the open water and rolling hills in the distance. The trail gradually descended and we peeked at the lake through the trees.
From there things got muddy and wet, and parts of the trail were flooded out by springs. It was one muddy section after the next, and both of us ended up getting our feet wet despite our waterproof boots. A quick clarification - I don’t think we can even just say it was “muddy” - this was deep mud, with two to three inches of standing water on top of it, and it took up the entire width of the trail. Going around the mud wasn’t really an option because of the thick forest, so we did our best to balance on little rocks and downed branches. It didn’t go so well…
We passed a decent amount of other backpackers and a few other dogs along the way, hiked through another section of forest, then made it to the section right on Lake Superior! It was really rocky with tons of driftwood, and we loved the sound of waves crashing onto the beach. The trail alternated between sections of more mud and rocky shoreline, and it was more challenging than we thought to walk on a bunch of loose rock. Next we ascended up a big hill and continued along a ridge for a while, ran into even MORE mud, and finally made it to our campsite!
Another thing we loved about this park is that all backcountry sites have to be reserved ahead of time, so we didn’t feel the need to rush along the trail. While we love our good old SHT, there’s always a pressure in the back of our minds that we have to hurry up and get to camp before all the tent pads are gone. In the Porkies, we had the peace of mind of knowing that we would have camp all to ourselves regardless of what time we got there. Our first campsite was LS-10, and it was awesome. Located right on the lake, it had a nice firepit and plenty of tent pads, and there was a big shelter around the firepit to block the wind. It also had a bear pole, which was a super easy way to hang our food (the rangers discouraged us from using our canister because apparently raccoons can get into them pretty easily).
We set up our tent right next to the water, got a fire going, and had some dinner. We had hiked about 8 miles with only ~ 230 feet of elevation gain, and we did NOT make good time (we’ll go ahead and blame that on the mud and rough trail). After dinner we watched the sun set right in front of us over the water with shades of purple, pink, and orange. Crimson was having the time of her life exploring the campsite and defending us from squirrels. Overall we were not impressed with the trail on our first day, the views along the shoreline were beautiful but the mud (and standing water on top of that mud) in addition to the loose rock along the shore made the hike pretty difficult and also frustrating at times. BUT, our amazing campsite and views of the lake from camp made it worth it!
Day 2: Big Carp River Trail
We got a late start Sunday morning…we wanted to leave camp by 7 to try to beat the rain, however, we didn’t wake up until around 7:30. Oops! Our alarm clock (a.k.a. Crimson) didn’t work! So we said screw it, and took our time packing up and having breakfast and coffee, and admiring our last views of Lake Superior before taking the Big Carp River Trail inland. We started hiking around 8:45, and the sky didn’t seem too dark so we were hopeful we could make it to our next campsite before it started storming. Sunday’s hike was much less muddy, and we followed the beautiful Big Carp River for a while. There were a couple of muddy sections but at least there wasn’t several inches of water on top of that! We crossed over lots of boardwalks and plank bridges, and made it to our first river crossing.
Since the water levels were so low we tried crossing in our hiking boots, but when Ashley slipped resulting in a wet foot, we went back to shore and changed shoes. Ashley crossed first; the water was cold and about shin deep, but not too bad. Then Crimson walked across the river all on her own! She is really turning into such a brave pup and it was a heartwarming moment for both of us - we are such proud dog parents!
We continued our hike and crossed a second, smaller river, then the trail really started to climb. It didn’t take long before we were out of breath and stopping for breaks, and even Crimson laid down to rest! It was brutal but we were rewarded with the most gorgeous views along the Escarpment Ridge, rolling green hills, and exposed rocky cliffs. We could see Lake of the Clouds off in the distance, and the trail followed the open ridge for a while providing us with continuous views along the way. The trail popped in and out of the woods and we passed by some really awesome campsites right on the ridge.
We hiked on through the woods and finally made it to the Lake of the Clouds (LOC) overlook. We didn’t linger here - it was busy and we wanted to get down to the lake and make it to camp. The sky was getting darker and it was quite windy, and it definitely seemed like some kind of storm would be rolling in. We got a little confused at some intersections but luckily found our way, and hiked all the way down from the overlook right to the lakeshore. It was a long section of trail…SO long, and we hiked through more mud, inclines, and past 3 other campsites before making it to the very end of the trail to our site, LOC-4. There may have been some complaining and mumbling of swear words (take a wild guess who was doing this), but eventually we made it to camp and it was 100% worth the torturous hike! The campsite was extremely secluded, at least ¼ mile away from the previous one and at the very end of the trail. It was situated on a peninsula with incredible views of the Escarpment Ridge and the overlook high above.
As tired and hungry as we were, we scrambled to set up camp and tried to prepare for the storm. We were so surprised that it never actually rained! So many times the sky was extremely dark and we thought it would start pouring down any minute, but then the clouds cleared. We laid in our tent and relaxed while Crimson patrolled the campsite, and after dinner we went to bed stiff, sore, and so tired! It was a really challenging day, about 10.5 miles and almost 2,000 feet of elevation gained, but we agreed it was completely worth it.
Day 3: Heading Home
We slept in Monday morning then hiked the three miles back to our car to complete our loop. We stopped at the Lake of the Clouds Overlook and spent some time up there taking in the views. We had seen so many pictures of this area and it was incredible to be able to see it in person. After the overlook we had to hike on the road for about a mile back to the Lake Superior Trailhead, and just like that, we were done!
And there you have it! It was a great long weekend exploring a new place, and we would highly recommend a visit to the Porkies for any backpackers out there looking to try something new!
Hope you enjoyed the post! Check out the rest of the pictures in our gallery.