A beautiful morning on Lake Superior. I had my morning coffee watching the waves. Chilly morning, but beautiful! While the Lake Cabin may be rustic, the location can not be beat!
First we had a breakfast of scrambled eggs with cheese, toast and chicken sausage. Then we headed for Porcupine Mountain which is about 10 miles south of where we are staying. We went to the visitor center which is very nice. The ranger there gave us a good map and talked with us about the various lookout points and hiking trails.
First stop, Lake of the Clouds Overlook: There is a very short walk from the parking area to this beautiful high vista of the Lake of the Clouds which is a pristine lake nestled between two forested ridges. With all the fall colors it was gorgeous!
Next we drove to Summit Peak Observation Tower. This was about a 45 minute drive from Lake of the Clouds. From the trailhead it is only a half mile to the summit, but it is a lot of up! Plus, there is a large set up steps to go up.
Then up the observation tower steps which stands at an elevation of 1,958 feet (the park's highest point). The panoramic views of the surrounding forest and Lake Superior is amazing!
Final stop was Presque Isle River Waterfalls. This 1. 5 mile hike has cascading waterfalls that are lovely, lots of board walks for easy walking, but also lots of up and down steps.
Plus a short loop takes you out to Lake Superior beach. We were fortunate to see a group of otters cavorting in the creek. Pretty fun!
We spent a good four hours in the park. The park is 60,000 acres and the largest state park in Michigan. Our cabin is on the eastern end of the park and Presque Isle is on the most western point of the park. And the roads dead end there. So we had a significant distance to drive back. I think it took a good hour and a half to get back to the main road.
We decided to eat our lunch out since it was so late and we were out and about. Then we would eat our picnic sandwiches at home later in the evening. Most of the restaurants in the area are restaurants / bars and didn't open until 3 pm so we waited on the lake shore. Jim had to put his feet in the water and he re-discovered how really cold Lake Superior is!
We decided on Porkies Outpost for lunch. I had a blonde ale beer and pizza. The pizza was fantastic— Clay thought the spice on there was anise, but we later determined it was fennel. It made a wonderful flavor for the pizza.
We got back to the cabin around 5 pm. Jim walked up the beach looking for firewood. Clay, Jean and I relaxed looking at the water with a glass of wine. We don’t have a large beach in front of us so there isn’t a lot of room to walk but there were quite a few folks that came by. We saw one woman literally sink into the sand up to her knees. It wasn’t easy to get out. After I went to the cabin, Clay and Jean saw another person fall in front of the cabin and hurt their arm. It seems like it is pretty treacherous….Jim in the mean time is walking the beach looking for firewood. He and Clay started a fire that ended up being really nice. We sat around it and just looked at the flames. We also got to watch the sunset it the west over the lake. It was pretty magical.