The Porcupine Mountain Wilderness is a state park in the upper peninsula of Michigan. My very first overnight backpacking trip was there over Thanksgiving, back in 1999. Seeing the beautiful natural character of the forest in winter convinced me that this place was special. Now, 15 years later, I look at the forest through the eyes of an experienced ecologist, and while I understand it much better, I retain the awe I felt on that initial trip so many years ago.
Another vivid memory from that trip was seeing a man with a female companion, who were pulling a sled into the woods to stay in a cabin. I thought the idea was so romantic, and ever since have wanted to take my honey on a wilderness experience in style and relative comfort. I was very excited to finally have the chance.
In the winter season, staying in a yurt is certainly plush compared to tent camping. This became strikingly apparent to me during my first yurt trip in the Never Summer Wilderness in Colorado, after years of tent camping in the snow, and several times in the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness while an undergraduate at Winona State University. While yurts have no plumbing or electricity, sometimes propane is provided for running a stove and heater, but mostly you rely on a wood stove for heat, and canvas walls around a wooden frame for shelter.
Susan and I drove up from the Chicago area on a Sunday night and stayed at the AmericInn in Silver City, just 3 miles east of the park. The last 30 miles of driving were blizzard-like conditions, a rather regular occurrence in this area. It was dark and cold and windy, so we were relieved when the drive was over and we found ourselves at the hotel bar in time for last call.
A couple inches of fresh snow fell overnight so we were excited to get to the yurt. The road to the park entrance was close to the lake and was very slippery due to ice and blowing snow. It made for an extreme scene. Since we started our trip on a holiday, the visitor's center was closed. We found our reservation packet on the kiosk and headed over to park at the Whitetail Cabin parking lot.
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| At the trailhead to the Union Bay yurts |
There are two yurts along the shore of Lake Superior in the Union Bay area. In the summer, the yurts can be accessed from the nearby campground, but in the winter it is about a one mile hike from the nearest plowed parking area. We pulled our plastic sleds from Ace Hardware loaded down with gear along the nice path through the forest to the yurt on the west end of Union Bay.
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| If you come to a fork in the road, take it - Yogi Berra |
It was very cold outside, the temperature hovering around zero degrees, and the yurt seemed even colder inside once we got there. The previous occupants did not leave us any split wood, but we had brought plenty of newspaper and firestarters. I chopped up a couple logs to get the fire going, and, although it took a bit for the radiant heat from the wood stove to warm up the yurt, the fire was roaring quickly. We made warm drinks and unpacked our gear.
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| Inside the yurt with the wood stove |
Confident that the yurt would provide warmth during the bitter cold weather, we decided to get in a loop on the cross country skis. Almost 90 miles of groomed ski trails exist right out the door of the yurts, and they provide access to the beautiful forest in the surrounding area.
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| Chris and Susan in front of the yurt |
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| Cross country skiing in the hemlock forest |
We returned to the yurt after completing a thoroughly fun and brisk ski along the Deer Yard and Big Hemlock trails. The website said they groom the ski trails daily, but the only evidence of such we observed was a new grooming machine that appeared stuck or abandoned along the ski trail. The few inches of fresh snow from the night before made for fun conditions to plow through on our skis. After a couple hours we were back at the yurt, and enjoyed a toasty night playing games.
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| Playing Spite and Malice and Yahtzee while drinking Labatt Blue |
The yurt was a really a wonderful way to enjoy the winter beauty at an expansive park. The two yurts in this area are a little close together, but with such extreme conditions, we found that somewhat comforting, and it really didn't distract from the solitude, since we were either out in the wilderness (where we saw no one), or closed up in the yurt.
I was concerned about keeping the yurt warm since the folks we saw at the trailhead said that the yurt was colder than the cabin they stayed at, and it was bitterly cold outside, and inside the yurt initially. This led to my overzealous tendency to add more firewood than necessary to maintain a comfortable temperature, and soon we were in our underwear and opening the door to cool down the place!
The next day we went on a longer ski adventure, and it was exquisite. Although it was cold, the winter conditions were perfect, and although it was the day after a long holiday weekend, we saw no people nor any sign of recent activity on the ski trails. We enjoyed the fresh layer of powder snow and decided to plow our way up to the East Vista. The park is said to have the most scenic cross country trail systems in the region.
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| Ski trails in the Porkies |
The Porcupine Mountains Wilderness is a state park administered by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. It is located in the upper peninsula of Michigan on the western end near Ironwood. The Lake Superior Ojibwa referred to the area as "Kaug Wudjoo" which means "place of the crouching porcupine." There is a series of high ridges in the park that begin at the East Vista, and the series of basalt and sandstone rock is known as the escarpment.
The Porcupine Mountains Wilderness is 60,000 acres of forest along 23 miles of Lake Superior shoreline with hills and cliffs that rise above 1000 feet from the lake. These are volcanic mountains that are over a billion years old, worn down long before the birth of the Rocky Mountains and the Appalachian Mountains, but are not, as local folklore sometimes asserts, the oldest in the world. About half of the park is old growth forest, and the area below the Lake of the Clouds is considered to be the best tract of virgin northern hardwoods in North America.
It was an awesome sight to see such a winter scene in the forest. Small trees, laden with heavy snow, were completely bent over, and their highest branches were stuck in the snow on the ground. Several spanned the width of the trail and made it feel like we were entering an enchanted land. I was able to free some of the smaller trees by whacking them with my ski pole. It was fun to watch the snow drop and the tree catapult back in the upright position. Only once did I succumb to the temptation to move a branch of an evergreen tree with my ski pole right after passing it along the trail, and laugh as the fluffy snow fell onto Susan as she skied by. Anticipating possible retribution, I vowed not to do such a thing again.
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| Skiing through the forest under trees bent by snow |
When I looked at the availability of cabin and yurt rentals online while booking our trip, almost all the rentals were taken for every winter weekend. However, we didn't see anyone on the trails, except our neighbors staying in the yurt to the east. The trails we took to the East Vista led to cabins as well, and it was right after a holiday weekend, but it didn't appear that anyone had used the trails, or groomed them, recently. That added to our wilderness experience in my opinion. Coming up on the view at the East Vista was fantastic! Clear late afternoon skies made for a great view and I was able to get a photo of us together at the overlook by lugging my tripod in my backpack.
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| View from the East Vista |
We drank some hot chocolate at the overlook and took in the view, but soon it was apparent that the sun was going down and temperatures were dropping. Susan was getting quite cold so we decided we had better make our way back to the yurt. As soon as I started skiing, the colder snow started sticking to the bottom of my skis and I was unable to ski downhill. I became anxious as Susan skied on and I was stuck scraping snow of my skis. Once I was able to continue, I caught up with Susan and she said her fingers and toes were starting to hurt. I was able to warm up her hands in mine and that helped but warming up her feet would have been a much greater undertaking. We thought once our heart rates picked up, we would warm up. As we made our way down the slope, I was quite concerned and wished it was not so late in the day. I scolded myself for not bringing hand warmers and getting an earlier start, and I was worried because I could not judge the severity of Susan's cold feet.
The trail was mostly downhill on the way back and that made for easy and fun skiing, but we were getting tired. The light from the setting sun cast at a low angle sparkled across the tops of the trees. It was a beautiful sight that I was cognizant to remember. Soon we came out at the parking lot at the chalet, crossed the entrance road, and completed the final mile back to the yurt. Thankfully, when we got there it was still warm from our morning fire. We enjoyed the view of Lake Superior on the only clear day we had while in the park.
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| Lake Superior from the yurt |
The temperature dropped below zero by the time we returned and the wind chill was dangerous. We were thankful for the wood supply we had left ourselves from earlier! I think my beard at the end of the ski trip says it all.
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| Frozen beard man |
We had another fun night hanging out in the yurt playing games and staying cozy. The next morning the weather was ominous and we decided it would be best to get on the road back home. The snow was blowing in the wind and after signing the yurt journal we packed up our things and pulled the sleds of gear to our car.
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| Signing the yurt journal and sledding out our gear |
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| Leaving the Porkies |
