We camped out here at the Union Bay Modern facility, 9/5-9/8. This was a real jewel of a place to stay and play. We mostly hiked, and went on several ranger-led hikes as well. In fact, we did so much while here, and the weather mostly cooperate, that it will take me three blogs to cover all the things we did and we have plenty of pics to share as well. When we left Munising on Sept 4, we knew were going to drive thru a weather front about the time we would arrive in Marquette. So we decided to drive to the Walmart there and ride out the storm in their parking lot. Next morning, weather was nice, so we headed on to the Ontanogan area and the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park.
One of the first things we did was to take a 30 mile drive to the other side of the Park and hike up Summit Peak. Whew! It was a pretty strenuous hike, but well worth it.
Some of us needed a break now and then. The benches were in just the right places it seemed. Below, Nancy preparing herself for trek up the steps to the lookout tower.
Beautiful Lake Superior in the distance...from the tower...
Nancy catching a ray and her breath...It was quite breezy up here on top of the world.
I caught her taking my picture from down below the tower.
Now the walk back down to the parking lot about a mile away. Couldn't resist the web of a local arachnid.
Below, a little background info...
Here a couple pics of some story boards that do a better job of explaining the geography than I could.
Later that afternoon, we drove back to the campground and on past to the "End of the Earth", as the road sign depicted earlier in this blog. Also there at the "end" was Lake of the Clouds. Another short hike up the hill took us to a beautiful overlook of the lake and the surrounding park forest and views.
The Scenic Lookout at Lake of the Clouds Scenic Area is probably the most popular attraction for day visitors to the Porkies and one you ought not to miss. The lake is not very deep, 15 feet or so, like a marsh lake, and is about 200 acres I would guess.
Looking west from the Lake of the Clouds overlook, and below, Nancy looking east and behind her would be the lake.
Note the footbridge crossing the lower part of the lake, which is Carp River at this point. The bridge is along one of the many trails in the park. We enjoyed the cool weather and mostly dry skies as it made for good hiking.
Well, that about wraps up part 1 of our stay in the "Porkies". Until the next blog, Porkies part 2, RVing Beach Bums signing off. This blog written and published from our home in Virginia Beach, Oct 31.
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