Day 3: Warm Boyz take Rose River

What a great time today. I have been looking forward to this trail most of all, and since day 1 have been pitching it hard and advocating on its behalf fiercely. It looked like it had a little of everything and now that we’ve gone and came back I can confirm that that is true. The spot we chose for lunch was an added bonus as well, with the only drawback being cutting things short in an attempt to beat the rain (and right so because….. yeah…. You’ll hear about THAT)

Destination: Rose River falls Loop

Length: 4.1 miles 

Elevation gain: 830ft

Time: 11:15- 2:11

Backpacking trip 2024: The Porcupine Mountains (a recap)

It’s been almost a month since I took my annual backpacking trip with my cousin, Father’s Day is coming up, and my baby girl is graduating kindergarten….. Life is good. On that note: 

Posting a shortcut to all the pages for each day of the trip. Separating the videos and pics too. 

Super happy and grateful to be able to share these with you. Continue reading for the links

The Pre-journey Journey

The Journey Begins (Sort of)

Day 6: the long and winding road (after backpacking our last stretch that is…) (PHOTOS)

Headed back to the beautiful LAKE IN THE CLOUDS, only this time we are approaching from the opposite side. Got some real gems here, tons of majestic and natural beauty. Bittersweet that the trip is ending but had a blast the whole time. This is another successful adventure in the books.

Day 6: bittersweet endings

Day 5 photos (in no particular arrangement)

 

Day 5: No working title

A continuation of Day 5 as we chill, it rains, and the day passes. Very fortunate to have taken this trip and this path. Super grateful for the tradition of backpacking every year with my cousin Bryan. I am privileged to have see the sights and made the memories

Day 5: Big Carp river trail

 

 

Day 5 was exciting. We were rested and ready from lay over day, our trip was backtracking so it was a place we had already been through (swampy and flooded out), and we had to re-cross our bridgeless river area. Rain was in the forecast so we made haste! Luckily it held out, we were able to find camp and make it as well as gather wood before getting blasted. Also made a hot fire that withstood the downpour. It was a night of reflection for sure, and we tried to stay up for the northern lights. Unfortunately it got cloudy around midnight and we tried to hold out but we not able to see aurora borealis.

Make sure to check out the story after we crossed in river!

Day 4: Photos in no particular arrangement

Not much to explain here....had a lazy day, explored the local area of our campsite, took a day hike to a very underwhelming waterfall, visited Lake Superior, got firewood, listened to music, got wasted, and relaxed. Lot so music and definitely pigging out on trail snacks...YUM!

Day 4: Our Bs day. colloquially known as F#&k off day (aka Lay over day)

More from our lazy day including our impromptu day hike. Good times

Day 4: a Time Lapsed sunset of Superior

This one is pretty Self explanatory.....set up my camera and caught the sunset (which took FOREVER to disappear over the horizon)

 

Day 4: The most hype event in all of the forrest

Game of thrones? Star Wars? Shogun?

All pale in comparison to the number one show all across the forest.....

Day 4: What's in store?

 

A little rhyme scheme coming your way.....ya see, I rhymed 4 with store (take that EMINEM). Come join us as we navigate the lazy lay over day and recoup

Day 3: Photos in no particular arrangement

Captured ALOT of good footage today. Wonderful sunsets and good ambiance if you ask me. Check out the pics! 

Day 3: The end of our journey to Lake Superior. and the fruits of its labor

Honestly today was the day we saw more people on the trail than any other day. Obviously at the time we didn't know that, and I'm writing this part in hindsight from my cozy computer chair several days later.....BUUUUT this was the spot we chose after MUCH deliberation. Since the place was filling up we needed to tread lightly, technically did not have reservations here so the last thing we wanted to do was make camp and then get booted out by folks who did it right and paid for a site. The winds of fortune blew our way though and we found a nice secluded site atop a hill. The hill totally killed the cool superior winds for the most part, so we just got set up and found PLENTY of firewood. I had to do some engineering on our firepit to make it radiate heat better but that was our biggest hurdle and after the last two days or hiking and the soar feet setting in I aint mad about that.... CONTINUE READING for more.

Day 3: The Superior Way

Starting this part off at 8:40. Is that late or early for your backpacking? Honestly, depending on circumstances.... it can go both ways. Got a fun day planned ahead. Defintiely DID NOT ANTICIPATE the cold superior winds. Originally we wanted to sleep super close to shore but impending hypothermia totally shot that idea down. I wanna hike not freeze to death! On the plus side, we crossed this super sketchy log I'm calling the AMERICAN GLADIATOR bridge. CONTINUE READING to follow us and we reach Lake Superior

Backpacking Basics: the Trail Toilet

 Before leaving the Lake in the Clouds sites we came across only what we could assume was the last civilized toilet of our journey. Sadly that proved to be true cuz it was cat holes from here on out. Here’s a little insider knowledge though... CONTINUE READING for the crash course

Day 2 Photos in no particular arrangement

This was definitely our most challenging day. You'll often find the first few days (at least for me) are where we build in the easier hikes. Sometimes it possible and sometimes it is not but if you think about it.... Your packs are at their heaviest and your body is getting acclimated to the minutia of backpacking for several hours. As times goes on you eat food and use your disposable materials so packs get lighter (or in my case things get burned in the fire haha). Today we had elevation, a sight-seeing destination, some back-tracking, semi difficult terrain and max mileage so all of that together put some work on my aging body (plus I'm not in peak physical shape as my counterparts so there's that). IT was a b eautfiul hike nonetheless, we started early and strogn because our last weather report indicated midday rain and our goal was to put in as much distance as possible before that point. Day ended up with super minimal drizzling towards the last hour or two but nothing substantial or catastrophic. We hit government peak and the storm clouds rolled in at the tail end of our lunch, overall we were super fortunate. Continue reading for more, PLUS a bonus picture of my nude chest (sorry in advance:-) )

Day 2: a two part adventure

Day two was an interesting day (I suppose each day was interesting in its own right). Had another big day ahead of us. Made the hike from Lake in the clouds to Government Peak and then land in Mirror Lake for some beautiful shoreside camping. Had a lovely view and a clear canopy for stargazing. Before our day got started though we took a little aside, the map we got of the Porcupine Mountains indicated a historic mine not far from our Day 1 campsite. Naturally before we rolled on outta there we had to find it…… oh boy and we did. The weather forecast was constantly changing but before we lost signal we downloaded the “current forecast” and it indicated we would have rain in our future….

Day two was the hardest day of the hike, it had the longest distance traveling with packs and the biggest changes in elevation. So we were preparing to hike at least half of the day in rain gear. 8-9miles depending on if you go by the map vs. The trail heads/markers. MIRROR LAKE HERE WE COME!

Click to read more!

Day 1 photos in no particular arrangement

I think for the photos I'm going to say as little as possible unless there is needed context or a good story behind them. A picture is worth a thousand words as they say!

Day 1: our one-shot Day Adventure

 Had a really easy day today,when all was said and done we ended up doing like 10 miles. Since we explored the ridge and peaks by LAKE OF THE CLOUDS, we left our backpacks at the car in the overlook parking lot. After completing about 90% of our mileage for the day we got our packs and proceeded to descend into the lake below. We scouted the area for the best site prior (which was nice) so wr just set up camp off the beaten path. Twas nice. Perfect night outside. Perfect day. Nice little warmup and intro for our bodies as well. After setting up camp and exploring we got firewood and just chilled until midnight. No cell signal so I couldn’t call my daughter :-(

CONTINUE READING for more!