Mary and Keith Take on the Porcupine Mountains: A history and drive there

Back in July of this year, I started thinking about going backpacking alone (well, with Battle), in the Porcupine Mountains in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

The Porkies, as known by locals, was formed from volcanic lava over 2 million years ago, making it one of the oldest mountains in the world.  It covers over 31,000 acres of land and has the largest old-growth hardwood forest west of the Adirondacks.  There are over 60 miles of trails and around 90 different waterfalls to splash in.  

In my quick research of the Porkies, I found out they have a flower named after me, the small blue-eyed Mary.  How cool is that?

Image from Gardenia.net

Enough history, now onto the trip.  

Right after I started planning the trip, my uncle Mike was fully healed from his cancer and joined his dad, stepdad, and his favorite nephew-in-law, my husband, in Heaven.  Uncle Mike had 8 kids and he always seemed to have been able to find some sort of activity with them all, even through adulthood.   I will always remember how he dated his kids when they were younger and before it was fashionable and thought that was something I wanted to do with my kids.  So I did.

One of the activities he did was backpacking with Keith.  Last year, Keith and a few friends and I went backpacking together, so I thought I ask if he'd like to join me.

I'm so happy that he said yes.

We talked so much about everything and nothing on the long 5 and half-hour drive up to Germfask where we slept for the night to help break up the drive a bit.  Not once did he lean back to close his eyes to snooze.  It was impressive.  

On our way to the Porkies, we took a detour to what is known as the Rock Cut.  Back in the 1890s, some Detroit investors thought they could make a fortune moving iron ore by train to an ore dock by Champion, MI.  When the railroad was completed, the ore stopped producing iron and those investors who put up around 2 million of their own dollars sold it for $100,000.  Oops.  At least their failed attempt allowed me to break into my new truck.

The Ruck Cut is about 20 miles off of a good paved road and follows the picturesque Peshekee River.  I imagine that if it would have been winter or spring, we would not have been able to drive there without a four-wheeler or snowmobile.

But guys, it was so worth it!  

Stole this one from Keith.

As a side note, I learned that as much as I trust Keith with many things, he is NOT to be trusted with two-track trails and google maps.  Why in the world google has two-tracks listed that go through some serious "should I be here without a winch" roads with names, is beyond me.

It was an absolute riot!  I felt pretty badass driving YeeHaw through those places and honestly, if I would have been able to winch myself out, I would have continued on.  After all, we were just a few hundred feet from another road, right, Keith? 

We were able to backtrack enough to get back to the main road and continue onto the main destination: the Porkies.

Stay tuned for that story.