Backpacking the Porcupine Mountains

 

I just returned home from a short two-night 12 mile hike in the Porcupine Mountains State Park in Michigan.

Tim left early for the trip and put some time in on the Lake Superior Trail back to where the Big Carp River Trail meets the Correction Line Trail.  Ed and I hiked in two days later to meet him there.  The Big Carp River trail from the Escarpment is mostly a downhill 5 mile day with good views of the Lake of the Clouds and the river valley.  We camped that night near the Correction Line Trail on the river.

Day two is a short 3 miles on the Correction Line Trail over to Mirror Lake.  The 3 miles is deceptive - it's mostly uphill but evens out near Mirror Lake.

We camped on the south side of Mirror Lake on the second night.  The area was busy with some interesting groups including 10 or 12 kids with no tents, a solo backpacker, and two girls from Madison that got to camp later in the day.  We were packed in but the lake was nice and we washed some grime off with a swim.

Day three was up and down 4 miles on the North Mirror Lake trail -a steep descent back down to the Lake of the Clouds is followed by a steep climb back to the Escarpment.  Easier than I remembered from a past hike but still no fun.

It was a good trip with nothing too exciting besides Ed trying to wrangle snakes we spotted at the Mirror Lake camp.  The bugs weren't terrible but it was hot - hot enough I left the dog at home.  That turned out to be a good thing as it hit near 90.

Here are the pictures.