Two years ago, I was lucky enough to move into a house on Spartan Avenue with three lovely ladies and with four awesome neighbors. One of the guys next door, Alex, lives in Iron Mountain, Michigan, all the way up in the UP. Soooo Shiv (my roommate) and I had been planning our first ever backpacking adventure to be with him up in "The Porkies", or just "The Keys" as Alex says, for ages.
Getting there was an adventure in itself, but then again, it always is with the two of us. We had to make a few stops on the way... Cops & Donuts to take up north (obviously) because we stayed overnight at my sister, Laura's, in Clare, and Ace Hardware to get bungee cords and a tarp as last minute supplies to throw in our packs. Apparently there is also a Lucas Road in Feech, Michigan, about a half an hour away from Iron Mountain, so we took a little detour. Thanks, Apple Maps. Google got us back on track, though, and one time change later we finally made it to his beautiful childhood home! There we also met his friend, Brock (aka Swan), who would be joining us on the journey.
Continuing our not so great luck of the day, a tornado was supposed to hit that evening so we packed into his Hummer truck real quick and headed off to his cabin. While inside the grocery store, the sky opened up and poured rain while the tornado sirens went off.
By the time we finished drinks, burgers, and pool at the Wooden Nickel, though, the weather had cleared up! We finally arrived at "the Arcaro slice of heaven", a gorgeous log cabin built by The Pro (his dad).
Clear skies also meant that we could take the four wheelers down to the lake and cram into his tiny little paddle boat to go fishing. I HATE fish, so when the huge one he had on his line snapped it and took the lure, I wasn't too upset about it, though Alex was ;)
Breakfast at the diner in Watersmeet fueled us up for our first day's hike. We stopped at the scenic overlook of Lake of the Clouds before heading to the Lake Superior Trail. Annnnnd we were off!
We weren't exactly sure what we got ourselves into, but man was it beautiful. We dubbed our first two stopping points "Tortured Tree Turnoff" and "Rookie's Ridge", both pretty self-explanatory. Our campsite, "Da Ferns" looked out through a picture frame of trees onto Lake Superior where we watched the sunset and stargazed into the night. I'm pretty confident that the water we filtered from the stream feeding Lake Superior was the coldest, freshest, tastiest water I've ever tried. Oh, and Alex almost lit himself on fire and we sort of accidentally hiked a mile down the beach to make sure we had the best campsite possible, but now we've got plenty of memories ;)
Day two took us back the way we had come, into town for a few more supplies, and then onto the North Mirror Lake Trail. Three miles of hills and bogs were definitely trying, but "The Meditiation Station" (our campsite on Mirror Lake) was beyond worth it. There we watched a storm roll in across the water, the boys fished for hours, I sketched on a log, and we taught Brock to play Euchre like a true Michigander. We had been prepared for a storm but nothing hit and we lucked out to pack up dry tents in the morning.
Correction Line was supposed to be our shortest hike, but was one of the most challenging by far. It was about three miles of complete swamp with fallen trees and mud holes to navigate every other step. Just when we thought we had arrived at our Big Carp River camping spot, we had to cross the river. There was a blue dot on the trees on either side of the river, but no bridge. And I had no water shoes. And we were obviously carrying all our gear. So I rolled up my pants and trudged barefoot through the icy cold water to what might have been my favorite campsite of the trip, "The Final Resting Place"! (It was reallllly hard to choose between the three.) Alex caught three trout at "Supper's Bend" and we roasted them over the fire. I've never tasted fish so yummy and fresh! It was a great change of pace from the backpacking food, though I dehydrated my own using my cousin's recipe book and it was all pretty good if I do say so myself (the Mud Pie and Red Beans + Rice were bomb). Then again, you get pretty hungry after a day of hiking so anything tastes pretty good.
We had a lazy last morning before embarking on part of the Big Carp River Trail. Poor Alex lost a second fishing lure that morning so we had no fish for breakfast. Our hike then took us straight uphill for about three miles. I was so close to my breaking point with a blister rubbing my heel, mosquitoes swarming my head, and sweat dripping down my back when we finally reached "Shivone's Lookout" boasting sweeping views of tree studded mountains. All we saw for miles was breathtaking green blanketed by a clear blue sky. Nature, it seems, has a funny way of rewarding people in that way. I am sure that I so appreciated that view a million times more after having worked so hard for it.
I think our bedraggled, somewhat loopy selves scared away the other tourists when we arrived back at the Lake of the Clouds lookout where we had begun a few days before, but we made it! It was honestly one of my favorite trips I've ever taken - full of beautiful sights, wonderful people, quiet moments, and genuine laughter. Everyone gave their all, nature held nothing back, and I couldn't have asked for more.
The pizza at the bar on the way home tasted amazing and a shower at the Arcaro cabin felt like a luxury. One last night at Alex's and we had to head back south again so I could catch a 6pm meeting. Arby's on Highway 2 and a stop for Mackinac fudge were must-do's, however. Reality finally struck, but the mountains definitely left their mark and I will return soon!
The places we went:
- Cops & Donuts | Clare, Michigan
- The Wooden Nickle | Iron River, Michigan
- Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park | Ontonogan, Michigan
- The diner with no name | Watersmeet, Michigan
- Upchuck's | Kenton, Michigan
