Backpacking Porcupine Mountains
For our annual backpack trip, we planned for four days and three nights on Porcupine Mountain State Park trails.
The original plan was to hike about 10 miles each day
Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday and only about 5-6 on Thursday to depart. We had a motel on Sunday night and planned on a hotel for Thursday when done hiking.
Original Itinerary:
Monday park at Lake of the Clouds and walk the one mile to the start of the Lake Superior trail (LS) to campsite LS-10 (circled below)
Tuesday was about ten miles on the Little Carp River trail to an LC-campsite.
Wednesday we were going to hike the interior summit loop and back down to a campsite at Mirror Lake
Finally, Thursday the 5-6 miles out to the car.
We checked in the motel then went to a local pub for dinner. While there, a veritable monsoon struck, rain pouring down so heavily you could not see the lake out the window of the pub! Torrential! It did let up after about an hour.
Monday we hit the trail. The Lake Superior trail ended up being like literally hiking IN Lake Superior! The trail was literally rushing water as i hiking in a running creek. When not running water it was standing water and/or muck. 6-1/2 hours later and constantly wet feet, we arrived at our LS-10 campsite where disaster really struck.
The site was nice, right near the lake. We got the tent set up and I my Katedyn water filter out to refill containers and make dinner using water from the lake or nearby stream..... and found I’d forgotten to re-install the actual filter part of the unit! OMG how STUPID. It was a hectic week for me with two job interviews (and an offer on Friday) as well as my full-time job at the time .. and JEEZ If I had done my normal routine prep I’d have checked all gear and ensured everything was ready.
Without water we were dead in the water so to speak. There was absolutely no way to continue for the rest of the week. No stove and we could boil water on hot coals. But no water filter means no safe water means no further hiking.
After we assessed our remaining water supply we determined we could still make two dinners and a shared breakfast Tuesday. We'd be left with about a half-liter of water to hike back to the car. We could go back the way we came or take an alternative route along the Big Carp River (see red arrow on image above). We did NOT want to do the LS trail again - been there, wet feet. It was hoped that the Big Carp trail would be drier.
Hopes were dashed! When not actually running rivers like below we had marsh or muck again to navigate for most of the first 7 of 10 miles. Even when the trail went up to elevation and was away from the rivers there were still wet areas!
The last three miles were hard climbing uphill and eventually after 6-1/2 hours we reached the car!.
We cancelled our campsite reservations for Tuesday and Wednesday, cancelled Thursday's hotel stay and lodged there Tuesday evening. We had pizza from the hotel restaurant.
Being flexible we then decided to drive east toward home by way of Taquemenon Falls. We arrived there and the ranger said the campsites were full but asked where we were from. When we said GR and only had a backpack tent she was able to situate us for one night (Wednesday night) on a non-electric corner site. Perfect. Dinner at the brewpub there at the upper falls.
We had to be off the campsite by 11am so when we got up about 8am we packed up everything and pulled over to the parking lot near the trailhead. We had decided to hike the trail from lower falls to upper falls 4 miles each way, 8 mile round trip. We were on the trail by 9am.
Once back to the car we drove back into the campground to shower at the facilities there, then drove to Mackinac City for coffee and ice cream and then drove home a day earlier than planned.
Challenging days on Monday & Tuesday but still fun. I do NOT think I'd hike Porcupine Mountains again. The trail maintenance is awful. I understand wanting to keep it rustic, but for example on the Lake Superior trail water was gushing out of springs on the side of the hill and the water running right down onto the trail- and the trail was the path of least resistance hence the trail became a veritable river. All it would take is for trail maintenance to identify these running water spots, route the water across the trail and downhill, channeling it off the trail. The water on the trail creates erosion and many hikers trying avoid the water and mud create even more erosion bypassing the muck and water.
On a separate high note, on our way west Sunday between Marquette and the coast Joni spotted a bald eagle in a tree. Then, on Thursday heading east, I saw a big bird with white launch from the right side of the road up to a treetop on the left and as we passed it was a bald eagle. I now wish I had stopped and taken a photo. It may or may not have been the same one Joni saw.
