Porcupine Mountains... Lakes, Waterfalls, and Hikes Through the Woods

We had breakfast in Bayfield at a cafe where we could sit outdoors. My wife and I had Eggs Benedict with Lake Trout as we wanted don't make Benedict at home and we also wanted to eat the local fish. It was good. Kai had chicken fried steak as he doesn't like traditional breakfast food very much.

After breakfast we drove east, leaving Wisconsin and entering the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Our destination was Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park. The Porkies are known for its scenic sites and good hiking.

I wanted to do one main hike that would take us to two waterfalls and then over to the shores of Lake Superior. It was a good trail, mostly boardwalk, going through peaceful woods. There were a lot of stairs going up and down both ways but the temperatures were pleasant in the low 70s so it wasn't too tough.

The first waterfall we came to was the larger one, Manabezho Falls. You can't get right up to this one... here we are at the best vantage point:

Manido Falls was shorter, but I liked that you could walk right up to it. And the cascades were pretty.

From there we hiked back in the other direction until we got to the shores of Lake Superior where we had lunch. Subway never tasted as good. Something about eating outdoors while looking at a nice vista makes food taste better.

We felt the water with our hands and, surprisingly, it wasn't exceedingly cold. We experienced far colder water in Lake Michigan and thought that Lake Superior would be freezing cold. So I was surprised when Kai didn't want to take a dip. He wasn't wearing his swimsuit but that hadn't stopped him in the past. He was starting to be crabby after our hike and he just didn't want to do anything. He later said that he was crabby because he didn't get his usual amount of sleep the night before.

So when we went on a hike to Summit Peak, he was grumbling even though it was less than a mile to the tower, and then didn't want to climb to the top. My wife and I went up by ourselves and could see for miles around. In the photo below, you can see Lake Superior in the distance.

Our last destination in the Porkies was Lake of the Clouds which is at another high point in the park. It was a beautiful sight. We later saw a photo of it in the fall with all of the trees colored yellow and reflecting on the water. It was quite spectacular.

We then made our way to the motel where we would stay the night. It had a nice long pool and no one else was there (unlike previous motels where we had stayed on this trip) so we were able to go swimming. Kai was happy about that. But he wasn't happy that the motel was in the middle of nowhere, or rather, on the middle of a cellular dead zone, and that the motel's wifi was very spotty. (It kept me from posting my blog last night).

And so Kai was happy when we drove almost 20 minutes into the small town of Ontonagon to eat dinner. The food was just okay, but it was worth the trip for the free wifi which lifted Kai's spirits.

Back at the motel, we walked out to the Lake Superior shoreline to see the sunset. The clouds were in just the wrong position but it was still a nice, relaxing way to end the day.