MLive says: “Lake of the Clouds is the most photographed spot in the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park and when you visit, you'll see why. This is just a breathtaking spot where you can really fall deeper in love with Michigan. Unlike many parts of the Porcupine Mountains, which provide some killer hiking trails, this spot is pretty easily accessible during most seasons. Don't forget your camera!”
July 4-5, 2019
On July 3, I arrived in Gogebic County at Lake Gogebic State Park - within an hour of arriving, my best friend from elementary school, Chloe, met me there. This is the first time a friend was joining me for a county trip! We spent Wednesday night setting up camp and planning what we wanted to do with the next couple of days, and doing the catching up that two best friends do when they now live 660 miles apart.
On Thursday morning, after Chloe cooked up some breakfast, we took off for the absolutely gorgeous Porcupine Mountains State Wilderness. This was both of our first times at the Porkies, and we were stoked. Driving into the park, we started at the visitor center to pick up some maps and souvenirs, and got our bearings for what we were going to embark on that day. We chose to start at Lake of the Clouds and hike the Escarpment trail, which Chloe kept pronouncing Encarpment (which I continued to correct until she finally said it right, as is what happens when we’re together).
We drove to Lake of the Clouds, and took in the views from the trail:
After catching our breath from some jaw-dropping landscapes, we embarked on our hike. We learned, very quickly, that summer in the UP is dominated by bugs. While the hike was gorgeous, we spent much of our time swatting, running from, and yelling at horse flies. Without the flies, this would have been a physically demanding trail; with the flies, it was like an episode of The Amazing Race. Here are some photos from our hike along the Escarpment Trail:
We ended up cutting our hike a little short, because of the swarm of bugs following us around and eating our flesh…was not our favorite scenario.
We ended up walking along the road back to the car, and blasting A/C while killing random flies that followed us into the car. As we drove to our next location in the park, we made a joint decision to stop and dip into Lake Superior. We pulled off on the side of the road and went down to a little beach, where I dipped my feet and head into the water to cool down. After our brief visit to the lake, we made our way to Summit Peak. The drive over was way longer than it looked on the map, proving just how huge this wilderness area is.
When we arrived at Summit Peak, Chloe got a notification on her phone about possible flash floods in the area, and it started sprinkling. We don’t really heed those kinds of warnings, so we started hiking anyway, even though literally every other person was coming down and off the trail. While we hiked the rain stayed at a sprinkle. We made it up to the viewing tower at Summit Peak without any major rain. As soon as we came back down the tower, though, it rained. Then it poured. We were hiking down this massive hill in crazy storming hard rain. By the time we got back to the car, we were soaked through our coats and clothes. I kind of loved it.
We drove back to our campsite, outside of Porcupine Mountains (Lake Gogebic State Park) in the rain. When we got back, we changed and then made our way to a weird little bar/restaurant down the road. We got some appetizers and beer, chatted, drew pictures, and watched little hummingbirds fly by the windows. We also did some research about horse flies, since they’d claimed us earlier that day. It turns out that horse flies are attracted to heat, movement, carbon dioxide, and shiny objects; basically, if you’re sweating, walking, breathing, or existing they will come after you. There is no escape.
We got back to our campsite and cleaned up, and made our way to bed.
On Thursday, July 4, we woke up and headed back to Porcupine Mountains. We revisited the trail by Lake of the Clouds to take some more photos…
We then drove to the Presque Isle Trail, which is the waterfall trail in the park. This was BY FAR my favorite part of the Porkies. I don’t have a lot of words for it, so please enjoy the photos:
I adore water, and being near it makes me feel at ease. The only time I didn’t feel at ease was when Chloe slipped in her Chaco’s on a rock and almost fell into a rapid. That was not a zen moment.; the rest, though, was very zen.
We concluded our Porcupine Mountains Experience with this lovely hike. It was a wonderful introduction to the park, and I am determined to return and hike the rest of the trails (preferably in the fall, with cooler weather and less horse flies).
There is so much to be said for experiencing a wilderness area as opposed to a regular state park; they attract different people, they’re managed differently, they’re quieter, and they’re more wild. There were only a few visitors that I noticed in the park who didn’t seem to understand the special place that they were in. I very much support their catch phrase: “Keep it wild.” Some places are meant to be wild, untouched, and dangerous. This gorgeous region is one of those places.
I look forward to my return.