By John Keefover of Keefography
PORCUPINE MOUNTAINS SUMMER BACKPACKING TRIP
Trip report of my recent & 5th backpacking trip to the Porkies in Michigan.
The Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park on the Upper Peninsula in Michigan is one of my favorite places for backpacking in the region. I recently returned from my 5th trip there. This time I brought my partner with me to show her why this place is so special to me. She’s newer to backpacking so we planned a 3 day trip with very short mileage out-and-back hikes. We used our car as a re-supply point for cold drinks & food and to get to completely different parts of the park each day. Day 1 we stayed on the cliffs along the Big Carp River Trail overlooking Lake of the Clouds at BC-2. Day 2 we drove to Summit Peak where hiked up & down it to Mirror Lake at SML-3. Day 3 we day hiked around Presque Isle on the western border of the park on the shores of Lake Superior. This is our trip report.
If you enjoy this free content please consider making a CONTRIBUTION, buying my 2023 PHOTOGRAPHY CALENDAR, purchasing PRINTS, and following along on Social Media at Instagram, Facebook, & YouTube. Your support is greatly appreciated to help cover travel costs, permits, gear acquisitions, and time commitments needed to get outside and share these adventures with you all. Thank you!
DAY 1 - BIG CARP 2
I love the drive up to Porkies. The rolling hills invite you in and then abruptly puts you right on the shores of Lake Superior. The shoreline here feels quite different from the ones we’re used to in our hometown of Duluth, Minnesota. We followed the lake until we reached South Boundary Road where the Visitors Center is. There we checked in with the rangers to get our permit & parking pass while learning about the history of the area from exhibits inside the building.
After that we headed for Lake of the Clouds. We packed up our gear and left our car behind at the parking lot. The overlook here is the main attraction and was full of people. There was even a wedding party there taking pictures and absolutely blasting music which was pretty annoying. The view is incredible though! Lake of the Clouds is surrounded by small peaks covered in green trees. It’s even more spectacular in the fall!
Lake of the Clouds from the main overlook.
I personally think the view from the end of the boardwalk to the right is even better. There you get a view of the whole lake and the cliffs we were just standing on. You can see people standing on top of the cliffs to really give it all some scale.
Lake of the Clouds and the Big Carp River as seen from the furthest platform to the right.
You can also see the Big Carp River winding through the valley below. There’s a picturesque wooden bridge over the river where a trail continues on to Mirror Lake. We’ll be staying there tomorrow night, but will be taking an entirely different way.
Bridge on the North Mirror Lake Trail from Lake of the Clouds.
As we hiked along the Big Carp trail the views just kept on coming. Every once in awhile the trail would lead open up to an overlook back at Lake of the Clouds where it started to appear smaller and smaller each time. The shape of the long lake changed the further away we got. The 1.5 mile hiked seemed to take a long time with all of the stops along the way to check out the view. That’s okay though we weren’t in any hurry.
One of the many overlooks along the Big Carp Trail.
We eventually got to the first campsite here at BC-1. I’ve stayed here before and actually wrote about in my other Porcupine Mountains blog. There’s a tent pad right on the edge of the cliff here where I set up last time which was incredible. It’s a little too windy for that right now though… there were two guys at the site when we went through. One thing I didn’t like about that site was that the trail goes right through it so there’s not much privacy. We said hello to our neighbors and kept on going to our home for the night.
The shape of Lake of the Clouds changes the farther away you get. This is near the campsite at BC-1.
Turns out I actually like BC-2 more than I did BC-1! The view is mostly the same but the site itself is tucked away into the woods which made it feel more secluded. There were a lot more tent pads as well. We chose to pitch the tent on a pad that was surrounded by trees and a mossy hill. One thing to note about these sites up here and on the Escarpment Trail is there is no water source. You have to carry in all of the water you need to drink, cook food and to put out a campfire if you have one.
My Zpacks Duplex tent set up at camp surrounded by a hill of lush moss.
After we got all set up we went back to the cliffs to have dinner with a view. Our other neighbors at BC-3 were out on their cliffside spot as well. The sites are spread out pretty far which is nice. From afar I got a couple photos of them enjoying the landscape all around them.
Our neighbors at BC-3 enjoying their view .
As the sun started to get lower in the sky shadows from the clouds and setting sun casted dappled light on the peaks across from us.
The cloud and the setting sun started casting shadows on the peaks across from us.
While we were eating the sun was starting to set and it lit up the clouds above the cliffs. It didn’t last very long but it was amazing!
Once we were full and light was gone we started collecting dead & down firewood to have a fire. The ground around the campsite was mostly picked over from other campers but I found a jackpot further down the trail. We had enough wood to burn for a few hours and enjoy each other’s company. Every once in awhile we heard a questionable noise off in the woods. It took us awhile to figure out that it was a chipmunk chucking acorns down from the trees! It particularly liked throwing them on my tent. They seemed to be raining down on it and there were now acorns everywhere all around it. Mice were also seen scurrying around occasionally lit up by the flickering flame. I’ve stayed at a couple backcountry cabins here in the Porkies and they all have a bunch of mice in them too.
We stayed up around the fire until around 11 when noticed the stars shining above us peaking through the leaves. The fire died down and then we went to the cliffs for some stargazing. It was beautiful. The gloomy weather from earlier completely cleared up now. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and there was absolutely no wind. It was still and quiet but for the occasional sound of an owl hooting somewhere in the valley below.
This time of year two meteor showers, The Perseids and the Delta Aquariids, converge in late summer. We laid down on the rocky outcropping staring up into the sky above where we saw countless meteors soaring overhead. It was so nice out we considered cowboy camping here even. Since we were all set up back at camp though we eventually retreated to the tent. We were running low on water but had enough to put out the fire and have breakfast in the morning.
DAY 2 - SOUTH MIRROR LAKE 3
We both slept great last night. Though I did wake up to the sound of acorns falling on the tent a couple of times… dang chipmunks. I got up right before sunrise. My partner wanted to sleep more, but she ended up regretting that choice after seeing my photos… I walked up the cliffs to a sea of fog in the river valley below.
Fog was rolling through the whole Big Carp River valley.
The sun will rising soon to the east towards Lake of the Clouds where the fog was really thick. In the opposite direction towards BC-3 there were some nice pastel colors in the sky and in the clouds. Once the sun rose it lit up the cliffs with beautiful golden light. The same scene I just photographed changed drastically with the light.
I turned back to Lake of the Clouds where the sun was rising above the blanket of fog, changing from white to vibrant yellow with magenta tones.
The sun kept rising higher and higher, but still the fog lingered on. It was absolutely beautiful. They don’t call it Lake of the Clouds for nothing!
After the morning light went away and the fog burned off a little bit I went back to camp. I grabbed our bear bag that was hanging in a tree and laid down in the tent for awhile. We decided to skip breakfast since we were running low on water up here. We also had a cooler full of fruit, yogurt and cold drinks waiting for us at the car! We packed up and headed out the same way we came in yesterday. The hike back seemed to go by way faster! It usually does I suppose, but especially so this time when we weren’t stopping at every single overlook along the way. It was also mostly downhill on the way back which was nice. Another reason I was ok with leaving early was to use the bathroom at the trailhead instead of digging a cat hole at camp…
Once we got to the car we threw away our garbage, re-supplied our food & water, and ate a quick breakfast before driving to the other side of the park. We went to the Summit Peak trailhead where we will be hiking into our campsite on Mirror Lake. First though we have to summit Summit Peak. There’s a gradual hill up to it and then a whole bunch of stairs and a long boardwalk which leads to an observation deck and a look out tower. Maybe we were just spoiled by our view at our campsite last night, but it wasn’t anything special up there really. It’s also pretty grown in. Bet in the fall it would be amazing up there though! This is the highest point in the Porkies at 1,898 feet. We’ll soon be hiking and camping at the tallest point in Minnesota, Eagle Mountain in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness at 2,301, stay tuned for that trip report!
The hike down from the peak and onto the South Mirror Lake Trail wasn’t that bad. Not much to note through here either until we got to the lake. I’ve stayed on Mirror Lake before, but that was on North side. We’ll be staying on the South side tonight. The sites here are pretty lovely in an open wooden area right on the shoreline. We walked through SM-1 & 2 which were both empty as of now. We got to our site and were curious about site number 4. We kept walking but there wasn’t another site. There was though a row of bear boxes for each site that looked like they were just recently built. They’re kind of far from the site, especially the other ones, but it beats having to hang a bear bag! Site 1 does have a bear pole next to it as well.
There's new bear boxes at the end of the South Mirror Lake campsites. A little far from site 3 and over some downed trees, but beats having to hang a bear bag!
We doubled back to our site still wondering where the heck site 4 was. By a tent pad we noticed what looked like old wooden stairs going up a hill. They were hard to see though. We climbed the steps and roots to find SM-4 way up there on a steep hill. Definitely don’t recommend that site unless it’s the only one open… Our site seemed to be the best of these Southern sites. It had two raised tent pads and the one furthest away by the bear boxes was the better of the two with no roots or rocks.
Our neighbors all started filling up the sites including the one up the hill at site 4. That group was a dad and two of his young kids. They asked if they could join us for a fire tonight and share some of their hot dogs and s’mores. They also said to make sure I mention not to book site 4 in the blog I told them I’d be writing! These campsites are popular and pretty picked over for firewood. It seemed like the best spot to gather wood was right on the shore far away from camp past the bear boxes. Wood must’ve piled up there during the spring or big storms. We all sat around the fire talking until the stars came out. The family stuck around to do a little stargazing and then they all went to bed. My girlfriend and I stayed up longer now that we had the fire to ourselves. We let it burn out and then went to the water’s edge to see if we could see any more of the meteor showers. It was another perfect night.
DAY 3 - PRESQUE ISLE
Morning was nice here on Mirror Lake. It was definitely different from the sunrise up on the big cliffs yesterday. Not as dramatic, but beautiful none the less. Mist was softly gliding across the lake as the sun shined down. I could see a boat far in the waters in the sunlight. The backcountry cabins in the park here have rowboats & canoes available for guests to use if they are on a lake. Sure would’ve been nice to be out on the water then!
The backcountry cabins in the Porkies have boats available for guests. These two were enjoying a morning paddle in the mist.
Mirror Lake was completely still. A mirror image was reflecting in the waters. They don’t call it Mirror Lake for nothing! This lake is also the highest elevation lake in Michigan nestled up here in the Porkies.
The sun was a welcome sight as it started to warm things up a bit. It was cold last night! A cup of instant coffee and some oatmeal warmed us up as well. We left the camp behind with a bunch of firewood for the next people to get a fire going easily. On the way back we took a different trail to change things up. The Beaver Creek trail was aptly named for a lovely little creek with a beaver dam right by a boardwalk over it the water.
Aptly named Beaver Creek.
On this trail in the thick woods we saw so many various species of mushrooms. Some I had never seen before such as the violet coral: Clavaria Zollingeri! The porkies has over 35,000 acres of Old Growth forest and it feels quite magical in here. Every once in awhile you come across a massive tree that stops you in tracks in complete awe.
Once we completed the loop back to our car at Summit Peak we ate some more fruit and enjoyed some cold beverages. We decided to do some day hiking on the Western part of the park at Presque Isle. I’ve been meaning to check out that area for a long time. It’s right on the border of the park as we head back home to Minnesota, but every time I go by I’ve always been too exhausted from the previous adventure to go exploring. It was nice though. The Presque Isle River features many pretty little waterfalls. When we got there it was mid-day with harsh lighting so I left my camera behind and didn’t take many photos on my phone. My partner and I were more just enjoying our time there. There’s a suspension bridge over the river that had a nice view of waterfalls upstream and towards the mouth of the river downstream.
The Presque Isle River flowing into Lake Superior.
Crossing the bridge brought put us on a trail through the woods to the mouth of the river and Lake Superior. The big lake was calm today, and actually pretty warm! The sandy shore here kept it a little bit warmer here compared to the rocky North Shore we’re used to in Minnesota. We hung out on the beach for awhile soaking in the sun and balancing on massive driftwood logs. Another great trip to the Porkies in the book! My partner now understood why I come here so often and we’re already looking forward to our next trip here checking out a different part of the park.
THANKS FOR READING & FOLLOWING ALONG! SOME OF THESE PHOTOS & MORE CAN BE PURCHASED AS PRINTS IN THE LINK BELOW:
Trip Report from backpacking the 42 mile long Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore Trail. It follows sandy beaches and dramatic cliffs along Lake Superior in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.