Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park
Turns out we're going to go here again, because even though I planned out what trails I wanted to hike ahead of time ... the road was closed. And not closed, like, closed off. Closed as in covered with snow and not plowed all winter, so there was no way we were going to be able to drive the nine miles on it to the trailheads. Opens in spring!
We hiked on the Deeryard Trail, which was lovely. It took us by a river, right up to Lake Superior with a sort of small waterfall into the lake, by trivia signs about the park, and by a cabin that would be a great place to camp. We were hiking in the woods, and not really in the mountains, though we could see the Porcupine Mountains right next to us.
Right outside Porcupine Mountain Park is also the shore of Lake Superior, and it was beautiful and wild and so churned up that it was exactly the color of chocolate milk.
I love being on any Great Lakes shore, and this especially was wild in winter.
That night we walked out of the back of our little hotel to see the most beautiful sunset on the Lake Superior beach. I felt like we were the only people in the world. The driftwood, the shapes the ice made in the ice and snow along the sand, the wild waves - all of it was beautiful. This alone was worth the nine hour drive! I ran on the same beach the next morning, and it was equally as beautiful at sunrise.
Copper Harbor is at the very top of the Upper Peninsula, and I've always wanted to go here, too!
We went on Hunter's Point hike along the lake to Hunter's Point Park. We first walked through snow, which we broke through most every step, which led to the beach. The beach's rocks, when you looked at them as a group, were all the same. As you looked at them individually, they were different, but it was so interesting to see! We spent a lot of time throwing rocks, picking up rocks, throwing ice, and Max even smashed ice and it turned into this:
It wasn't only beautiful, but it was also fun to think about being on the very top of Michigan.
Eben Ice Caves
This was the most magical part of the trip. I don't like looking at pictures of places before I go there. When I research where I want to go, I often just squint past the pictures, because I want to be surprised.
I came here on the advice of our friend Jess. The description I read said that there are often 50 cars parked on the road as parking lot overflow. We were the only people there, so we weren't exactly sure where to go, but we could see footsteps from other people in the snow.
First, we walked across a snowy field, and of course we broke through a lot, with lots of snow going in our boots. It led into the woods, and we followed a path made by other people.
The boys kept commenting that it looked just like the woods where Calvin & Hobbes live, with giant ravines and sledding hills. It really did.
After a beautiful walk on pretty trails, the boys kept asking me, "What do the caves look like? What are we looking for? Will we know them when we see them?" I kept answering that they were supposed to be really pretty, but I just didn't know.
The path diverged - one went low, and one went high. I said I'd take the low and they could take the high and we'd see where they met up.
About one minute later the boys yelled to me, "HERE THEY ARE!!!"
My path came at the caves from another direction, and as I walked up ... it was magical. There they were, right in the middle of regular woods. Giant ice caves.
We walked all around them, they climbed on top of them, and we marveled at them.
"If there was ever a place you'd see a fairy godmother, it'd be here," Ty said. "Imagine not knowing these were here and just finding them."
We slipped and slid all around them, took some pictures, and headed back. This was everyone's highlight of the trip.
Munising
On Lake Superior in Munising, since Grand Island is right there, the lake was frozen. We saw men going out to ice fish. They told me they were trying to get whitefish. I stepped a little onto the frozen lake, just to do it. We spent the night here at the lovely Holiday Inn Express with a walkout patio to the water on the way to ...
Sault Ste Marie
The Soo Locks are an amazing engineering marvel that we will ... see later, since the gates were locked! We did go to Rotary Park to watch the freighters come in. When it went by, it was so giant that it sucked all the water toward it and the boys suddenly had tons of beach. Then the water all rushed back up on shore and got their shoes wet. It was that fast!
We went for a hike in Brimley Park that led to frozen Lake Superior once again. The boys went out much farther on the ice than I would, based on body weight!
Mackinac Bridge
There's a stone skipping competition that's been on tv, and it's held at Michilimackinac State Park under the bridge on the Lower Peninsula side! This has always been a favorite place of my mom, and we always stop when we travel between peninsulas. We stopped for a pastie and I ate mine under the bridge. We all skipped stones like champs.
I love the Upper Peninsula and look forward to seeing how different these places are in the summer, when Kris can go with us, too. In the past we've been to Pictured Rocks, Tahquamenon Falls, Marquette, Black Rocks, and a lot of other places I really love, too. It's a wonderful part of our state! Maybe you'd even call it ... Superior.
