My buddy Mark and I took a grand tour of the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness
State Park this weekend. A rain-studded weekend proved our toughness
but the payouts of old growth forests, raging whitewater and a forest
ablaze with the colors of fall were more than worth it. View the Complete Trip Report at my backpacking Web site.

Edited by sharalds on 10/08/2007 09:35:09 MDT.

Thanks for posting your trip report Sam I really enjoyed reading it. I would like to get to the porcupines some time in the next year if it works for my schedule.

From looking at the pictures it seems you and Mark shared a MSR Zoid for the trip. If you had done this trip alone do you think your beaked tarp and MLD bivy could of handled the conditions?

Had I done the trip solo, yes I would have certainly went with my tarp/bivy combo. It would have required proper site selection to keep water from pooling under the tarp but that is something we were doing for tent placement anyway.

I highly suggest anyone living within 250 miles of this area going to check it out. I would say it's large enough for three days of moderate-distance hiking. We covered thirty miles in 2.5 days and could have added another ten or fifteen miles to the trek giving us the full range of what the park had to offer.

We plan to go back again sometime and spend more time in the Northeastern section of the park as well as walking the shore of the Lake in it's entirety as well.

Thanks for answering my questions Sam. I want to get and use my tarp/bivy combo now that bug season is done but I am nervous to use it with all the rain we have been receiving recently. I am planning on getting out for an overnighter later this week on the SHT. I think I will use my tarp bivy combo and leave my contrail at home. The forecast looks drier for Thrusday and Friday so I should not have to deal with rain but I am sure there will still be standing water on the trail (but hopefully not the campsites).

I also thought it was great that you finished off your trip at the Anchor. I love it when they have $2 pitchers.

Edited by burkest on 10/08/2007 18:10:14 MDT.

Once again these pictures bring back killer memories. Thanks for sharing!

You're welcome, Matt. I look forward to seeing other's Midwest trip descriptions and photos. We've got a lot of good places to explore up here and I love to add places to my "gotta go" list.

- Sam

When I return to Michigan I can't wait to start planning more trips. I'd love to make it back to Isle Royale for starters...

Thanks for posting that, had been wanting to go up there for years. Some great photos. Every bit as beautiful as I'd been hearing it was. BTW, I think I'm going to head up to the Manistee State Forest area this coming week for a little winter bike touring. I hear they got some snow and I love snow.