Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park, UP-MI, (Part 3)

We spent the better part of a day hiking along these lush rivers and falls and forest.  Most of the river side walk was on board walkways, which made for a nice walk, save all the steps up & down.

You'll notice that the water tends to foam up around the falls.  It's because of the tannic acid, the brown-colored tannin from the minerals and leaching from the tree roots and other minerals in the soil.

We noticed no irregular odor from the water.  In fact, the air seemed very crisp and clean here, and throughout the Park.  Presque Isle is situated in the most south-westerly part of the park.  There's another campground here too, but it is a primitive type, with no hook-ups and mostly tent campers.

It seemed fairly unusual for us to see so much water in these rivers considering the time of year, early September.  However, it had rained quite a bit over the past couple of weeks, so I guess that would cause the levels to higher than normal.

Miss Nancy posed for a pic with the rushing waters below her.  Just about 500 yards or so to the left, downstream, is the mouth of Presque Isle River, and Lake Superior.

There were lots of stair steps, but we didn't mind.  At least it was safe as anyone slipping into that swift water would not survive.

Looking downstream to the mouth and the big lake.

Nancy getting her cardio workout for the day.

There at least two named falls here in the Isle River area, and this is one of them.  Below, Nancy crossing over the river on the foot bridge.

Above, a lone sentinel looking over the river and falls and below, break time.

This walk was relaxing, with eye-pleasing scenery every step of the way.  We just hoped it would go on and on.

I wasn't resting here.  Nancy told me to stop and say "cheeeese".  So, not wanting to disappoint her, I obeyed.  :-)

And here is the other named falls.

Driving all the way back to the Union Bay Campground, which was about 45 miles, we made it back in time to catch a beautiful sunset.  What's neat about being here, is that the sunrises are just as dramatic. 

We just sat here for while and watched sun disappear into the water.

 

We were really pleasantly surprised with the Porkies.  Frankly, we had never heard of this state park, and barely had even heard of the "UP" of Michigan.  So if your thinking about taking a trip around the top of the UP, starting at Mackinac, just do it.  The State Parks are really nice, even for big rigs.  Summer would be our preference, but I am told by the locals that winter is even more adventurous, and COLD.  And that leaves me & Nancy OUT.  Florida works for us in January.  :-)

Well, that's a wrap on our time in Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park.  We left here Monday morning, Sept 8 headed for Minnesota, somewhere.  So, tune in for our next blog and find out where we went.  Till then, RVing Beach Bums signing off.  This blog written & published from our home in Virginia Beach, Nov 1.