Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park in western Upper Michigan is one of my favorite play spots! I used to live in Houghton about 2 hours north, so it was “almost” in my backyard at one time. I can still get there in 5-6 hours from the Twin Cities. At 60,000 acres, it’s the largest state park in Michigan and you can spend a lifetime exploring and still not see everything.
I highly recommend stopping in the Visitor Center on the east side of the park. Check out their bookstore – they have lots of titles covering the history of the area as well as guides about your favorite activities. One of my faves is The Last Porcupine Mountains Companion by Michael Rafferty & Robert Sprague (fifth edition).
So, here are a few highlights:
Hiking the Porkies
If you want to see the best of the Porkies, you’ll want to get out on the trails. You have options ranging from short and easy jaunts to multi-day backpacking adventures on fairly rugged trails that can test your endurance.
The Escarpment Trail is truly awe-inspiring, providing beautiful vistas of the Big Carp River Valley and Lake of the Clouds. The easiest way to enjoy it is to start from the Lake of the Clouds overlook (which is typically very crowded). You can simply turn around and go back the way you came at any point, or have a choice of 2, 4 or 8 mile round trip loop options.
The Union Spring Trail can provide good options for birding in the summer. It is one of the less-traveled hikes and is typically quiet for those seeking more solitude.
Lake Superior Trail is an out and back 4.4 miler if you go all the way to the shoreline. The first half is relatively easy, but you’ll have a long climb back if you go all the way down to the water’s edge.
Waterfalls
The Porkies is loaded with waterfalls! Another nice hike is to Greenstone and Overlooked Falls from the Little Carp River Road. It’s a short easy jaunt to Overlooked Falls, which is probably my favorite spot in the park.
There are several smaller falls all along the trail if you choose to continue to Greenstone Falls.
The Presque Isle River on the western side of the park has several beautiful waterfalls as well, but the Potholes section just before it empties into Lake Superior is my favorite.
Fall Colors
Just two things you need to know:
- First week of October
- Fall colors in the UP are like nowhere else on Earth. They glow in the day. Literally. A nice lady visiting from the south asked me at one of the overlooks, “Who turned the lights on?” referring to how brightly colored the leaves were. Word.
I hope you get a chance to see for yourself some of what the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness has to offer. Lots of mining history as well as beautiful scenery. Put it on your bucket list!
In the meantime, head over to the gallery and dress up your walls by bringing some of the North Woods wild inside 🙂