Michigan State Parks 100: Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park

We are often asked if we have a favorite state park. And with this video review, we reveal it: Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park. This place is huge, offers a tremendous amount of things to see and do, and we are always willing to go back and keep exploring this gem in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
It's a longer video than usual due to the size of the park and the number of activities. So, we're including time codes in case you want to jump ahead to different sections. But we highly recommend you watch the whole thing!
Timecodes:
Park montage: 0:00 to 1:56
Introduction: 1:57
Lake of the Clouds: 3:18
Presque Isle Scenic Area: 4:59
Summit Peak Trail: 6:25
Nonesuch archaeological site and Haliwell Mine: 8:19
Union Mine Interpretive Trail: 11:44
Camping overview (modern and rustic campground, plus backcountry camping): 15:34
Overview and recommendations: 21:54
We have published a blog post about The Porkies, as well, which gives you additional details about the area and links to even more: trekers.org/michigan-state-pa...
Opening Music:
Adventures by A Himitsu / @ahimitsu Creative Commons - Attribution 3.0 Unported- CC BY 3.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/b... Music released by Argofox • A Himitsu - Adventures... Music provided by Audio Library • Adventures - A Himitsu...
...
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[@valerybraunschneider5236]

You guys are so interesting! Love your channel, just found you today. You do a nice job!! I'll be binging :)

[@Trekers]

Aww, thank you. We appreciate it!

[@josephchristopher4347]

instablaster

[@debvoz]

so glad I found this. My late husband and I spent our honeymoon in the Porkies in 1993. great memories

[@Trekers]

We're happy you found it, too! The Porkies is our favorite state park in Michigan and it continues to rank really high for state parks compared to every other place we've been so far. Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@nealfry2230]

Pure Michigan is Fun all four (4) Seasons!,!!! Lots of Friendly Beavers (2) !! The RV Show is February 17, 18 and 19th in Novi, Michigan!!! I Love being a Bachelor and Retired over 19 Years.

[@Trekers]

Michigan is fun in all four seasons, but we're kind of enjoying wearing fewer layers in the winter by being in Florida right now. Thanks for watching!

[@aden1122331]

i just came back from UP, OMG so amazing wonderful beautiful natural land I love it thank you guys for the Beautiful video

[@Trekers]

Glad you enjoyed it -- the Porcupine Mountains are one of Michigan's most special places!

[@organichoney6990]

Loved going to the garage dump to watch the bears

[@shinobivice1800]

Def need to check this place out. Thanks so much for recording your adventures.

[@Trekers]

You certainly should. It ranks up there as one our top 3 state parks in Michigan. Thanks for watching!

[@johndoskoch5457]

Thanks for the video! We visit every fall for the gorgeous color show - it's a great place. I would highlight the 90 waterfalls in the park, and even more in the surrounding area! Non-campers can stay at the AmericInn in Silver City, 15 minutes from Lake of the Clouds, right on Lake Superior.

[@Trekers]

Good tip for the non-campers, thanks for sharing that. It is a beautiful area that all should experience and enjoy regardless of how you travel. Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@organichoney6990]

Love the pasties in white lake

[@maryannehoffman3921]

I am there right now. Lov it

[@Trekers]

We'll be back in September and excited to be heading there. Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@MAGA-kw3ol]

I’m hopeful my wife and I will get there this spring or summer in our Roadtrek, I am going in to hospital Monday morning for my 2nd knee replacement so if all goes well I will be hiking trails in the porcupine mountains soon, thanks for showing us all the beautiful state parks

[@Trekers]

Thanks for watching and good luck with your recovery!!

[@micheleelliott4726]

Your videos are so helpful to plan a visit to a park.

[@Trekers]

That's great to hear. Thanks for watching them and for letting us know this. Safe travels!

[@chrisdepoy3370]

You guys did a great job. Very informative!

[@Trekers]

Thank you, we appreciate you watching and commenting!

[@MichaelSchoenhofer]

Great video.

[@Trekers]

Thank you!

[@karlo8093]

Thanks for the awesome tour and description of the area. We are planning a UP vacation this year and I'm hoping to get this area on our itinerary.

[@SadlyKaren]

I love that park! Good vid!

[@johnnylightning1491]

I was there a few years ago but the weather was not cooperating, I froze every night as I recall. I will go back in the near future.

[@kampersadventures958]

Dang this was cool!

[@randolphlex714]

I hiked there in the sixties it was real wild back then no backpacks no cell phones if you got lost you were on your own and I once hiked to a cabin in 1977 in 3 feet of snow and my truck broke down but we got her going otherwise it would of been a long hike back to the nearest town

[@Trekers]

Yikes! Sound like you had quite a trip, but got a good story to share out of it. 😀 Thanks for watching!

[@organichoney6990]

Took the hard trail down with my fishing pole pretty much ran down maybe 15 to 20mins down

[@organichoney6990]

Lake of the clouds I bolted to the bottom when I was around 8 years old my parents freaked out due to the bears but knew the trail well from memory

[@Trekers]

That would be scary, but those trails are magical. Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@randolphlex714]

I am writing a book I have thousands of stories I also wrestled in up at nmu in the 1980,s and my granpa was in the Italian hall the night 73 people died it should be a best seller

[@tomtraynor5384]

Do NOT miss the U.P. in the winter. Keewenaw Peninsula had 305" so far this year. Most non-high elevation/mountain snow in USA. Figure 4-6 feet. on the ground

[@Trekers]

We've done Tahquamenon Falls in January for a lot of years but haven't headed to the heavy snow parts like Keewenaw. We might check it out for a visit some time though. Thanks for watching and for the winter tip!

[@drc1883]

Never seen "Trekers" spelled with only one "k". Might want to check that out.

[@Trekers]

We did that on purpose, playing off the Roadtrek we have, plus being Star Trek fans, and taking hiking treks. All with one K, so we went for it that way. 🤷‍♂️

[@henryflores8396]

Do you have a recommendation of a nice trail not to to long below the bridge

[@Trekers]

It depends on where you are in lower Michigan. For state parks with nice trails to check out, we recommend Wilderness in northern Michigan, Pinckney and Waterloo in mid-Michigan, and Ionia for lower-western. We go through some favorites in this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/pnmkg2mBjduJl8U

[@qxinstrapped]

can you camp/have fires here?

[@Trekers]

Yes, there are several established campgrounds (one modern and one rustic) plus some hike-in only campsites. They do allow you to have fires, assuming there isn't some sort of a ban in place due to dry conditions.

[@jojoc9240]

All touristy no place left to just walk with no people to venture through the wilderness those days are gone

[@Trekers]

I think it really depends on what you like to do and where you go in the park. It can be busy, and maybe more so in the summer. We tend to go in the fall, and when we head off on the longer hikes, we often don't see many people. On our recent visit last week, we only saw about 20 people on each hike, and most were backcountry camping. Having said that, Lake of the Clouds during peak color in the fall -- THAT's a busy tourist stop! -Ari