Yooper Troopers, Pt. VI

 (contd.)

On today's agenda we had a daunting task - the thoroughly canvas the Porcupine Mountains, Michigan's highest terrain and an expansive state park.

Our first stop of the day was the main attraction of the mountains, and it's most scenic location - The Lake of the Clouds.  We wanted to get there early in order to avoid crowds and get a lot of good pics in, so we got there around 10am and there was barely anyone there (thank God.)

Don't fall from cliffs.  Noted, sign.

Scaling the rocks at the end of the trail that leads from the roadside parking lot to the viewing area of Lake of the Clouds.

The view from up here is absolutely ridiculous.

Typical pose from the teenager.

Sweet backpack, Smitty.

Houghs on rocks

Rita and Smitty in front of the Lake of the Clouds, which I assume gets its name because it's a small lake that's located high up in the mountains. . . ?

I was in a state of perpetually hunching over because the wind threatened to blow my hat off at any moment.

Seriously, how awesome is this view?

Kris likes her selfies.

Smitty checks out some scenery.

I took a shitload of pictures up here.  I'm not gonna caption them all because they're pretty self-explanatory - check it out. . . .

Some classic Resting Bitch Face from the Mrs.

(That's Abby and Rita off to the right, there.)

We worked our way down along the cliff to a second viewing platform, this one with one of those viewing thingies.

Not as windy down here.

Educate yourself.

Bathroom break following Lake of the Clouds.

They had little grills set up back in the parking lot, so once we got off the trail (which you can see in the background, there) Smitty lit one up in order to grill up some brats and burgers he brought along with him.

I love flavored brats.  The top few there are mushroom and swiss, followed by jalapeno and cheddar, and then bacon and cheddar at the bottom.  We have something similar at Jack's back in Midland, and they're sooooo good.

It took a while to heat up and eat, so we stood around for nearly an hour while the girls watched a movie in Kris' van.  Once that meat was ready, though, we made short work of it.  By the time we wrapped up, the crowds were getting pretty thick - so glad we got an early start to our day.

After lunch, we drove down the mountain a ways in order to hit up the gift shop.  Smitty tried on a few scarves at the girls' request.

Alayna didn't find much she liked as far as souvenirs go (neither did I, for that matter - I haven't bought anything aside from a Christmas Tree Ornament so far), but she's not one to turn down ice cream.

Umm. . . . what?

If there's a place for photo ops, you're damn right we're going to take advantage of it.

The timer feature on my SLR is a godsend at times.

51 cents for a souvenir isn't too bad, right?

An hour, some pictures, a couple ice cream cones, and a few new hoodies later, we left the gift shop and got back in the van to continue our traversing of the Porkies.

This trail led to one of the highest points in the mountains, so we figured we should check it out.  Unfortunately, it was about a mile-and-a-half way uphill from the parking lot, so it was a rough go.

The rearguard got tired out easily.

Personally I did okay with this, since I try and jog a few times a week.

These two, on the other hand, needed multiple breaks on the way up.

Abby took a lot of video of, well, weird shit.

Checking out a viewing platform on the way up.

Lotta steps on the way up the mountain.  Our quads were definitely getting a workout.

At the end of the trail was a viewing tower that you ascended to get you above the treetops.

Kris atop Summit Peak.

Abby documents the achievement.

Honestly, I was a little underwhelmed by all of this.  The view was partially obstructed by trees, and all you could see were rolling hills, no cool geological formations or waterways or anything - just more treetops.

For the amount of time we put into walking our asses up this mountain, the end result was definitely a letdown.

Kris took the time to add our surname into a board of the viewing platform.

After a couple minutes, Rita, myself and the girls were funned out and came down the tower.  Another couple up there offered to take Smitty and Kris' picture for them, mistaking them as a couple (which is hilarious.)

After Summit Peak, we continued on through the park, hugging the shoreline of Lake Superior.

Stopping off at the Visitor's Center for a bathroom break and maps.

Is this a wolf or a coyote?

Smitty checks out some stuffed animals.

Beavers.

After the Visitors Center, we drove over to Presque Isle to check out some falls there.

These round shapes in the rocks along the river form over hundreds if not thousands of years as water continues to swirl its way down the river.

Don't swim in the waterfalls.  Check.

Crossing the bridge that leads to Presque Isle.

It's not a legit island, because its only this river that cuts off Presque Isle from the 'mainland,' not like a sea or a lake or something. 

These falls aren't tall or anything, but the rock formations they've left behind over thousands and thousands of years are pretty awesome.

Kris, pensive.

Took a lot of pics and video while here, and most of 'em don't warrant a caption, folks. . .

Kris would like to speak with the waterfalls' manager.

A man of many hats.

Thug life.

Keeping the girls off these rocks was a pain in the ass.

Checking out tadpoles (or small fish, I can't tell the difference.)

Kris and Rita, ready to move along.

After climbing out of the riverbed, we walked down a short trail to the shoreline.

Lake Superior

The Cannonball, on a dead tree.

Rita and Smitty take a smoke break.

Another panoramic attempt.

Red water is weird.  I assume it's the iron in the lake bed, but I'm no geologist.

Unoriginal tourists and hipsters like building these things when they travel.  You know, the same sort of f***ers who have 'Wanderlust' decals on their Jeeps.

Getting down closer to the river that feeds into Superior.  At some point in time during this excursion, Yours Truly found a tick on the small of my back.  No idea how I got one - I was wearing hiking boots, socks, jeans, an undershirt, and a hiking shirt.  Felts something on my back, when to swipe it off, and it was stuck to me.  With some prying, I got it off, only to discover it was a tick and throw it off in horror.  You can rest assured we all thoroughly checked ourselves when we got back to Duane's - fortunately I was the only one who had gotten one.

By 5pm, we were pretty exhausted from exploring the Porkies all day, so we decided to head by nearby Ontonagon (did I spell that right?) in order to grab some dinner on our way back to Duane's rental.  Kelli, who is originally from here, highly recommended this joint.  Food was really good, but took forever to come out, and unfortunately they didn't serve alcohol at this place, which sucks because after a day like today a nice, cold beer with your meal is about as close to Heaven as one can get.

Hi yourself, you creepy bastard.

We got back to Duane's around 8:30pm, and very shortly afterwards all the womenfolk crashed - the day had been exhausting.  Smitty (who stays up late) and I stayed up and had a few beers while I began uploading my pics from my SLR's SD card to Google Photos (part of my end-of-the-night routine on this trip, it's definitely a process.)  We also decided to check out Pee Wee's Bigtop Adventure, for whatever reason - we were in an '80s mood, having checked out Weekend at Bernie's earlier on in the evening.

- Brian