Sunday, October 11th, 2020
Today began in the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park. We didn’t have far to go because our campground was near the entrance.
The Porcupine Mountains are also called “The Porkies”. They are a group of small mountains in the Upper Peninsula. The park consists of 60,000 acres and it is one of the few wilderness areas left in the Midwest.
We did stop in the Wilderness Visitor’s Center to view the exhibits of the wildlife in the park. The Summit Peak Scenic Area. It was a little over a mile walk round trip. Along the trail there was a viewing deck and then farther on was the Summit Peak Tower which is the highest point in the park, close to 2,000 feet above sea level.
It was a beautiful view of the trees and Lake Superior in the distance.
Matilda looking up at me in the tower. 
view from the Summit Tower
From the Summit Peak area we drove through the park to the Presque Isle Scenic Area. We hiked the Presque Isle River Waterfall Loop. We crossed over the suspension bridge to follow the trail.
The river was flowing quickly! It was a very sunny day and it was hard to photograph the river without reflections or shadows. It was a beautiful day for a hike!
Potholes formed from the swirling current with pepples and sand causing these formations.
We hiked down to where the river empties into Lake Superior.
On the left you can see where the river flows into the lake! 
Lake Superior in the background.
Matilda did well with all the wooden steps and paths. It was another day of a lot of walking! It’s a good thing that she loves to walk!
Manabezho Falls on the Presque Isle River and has a drop of about 25 feet. It is the largest of the falls that are on this river.
The Lake of the Clouds Overlook was our next stop. We had to wait about 15 minutes for a spot in the parking lot! The park officers were coordinating the parking situation, it was one vehicle out and then one vehicle in! We followed the less traveled trail to begin our climb to the various overlooks. We read later that this overlook is the most popular area in the park and even more popular during the fall! The Lake of the Clouds is located in a valley between two ridges in the Porcupine Mountains. We have many pictures from here and so deciding which photos to share was very difficult. Words can’t describe the beauty of the views here. Make sure you click through the pictures!
When we were back at our campsite, we crossed the street to look at Lake Superior before we travel tomorrow!
Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park is worth a visit. We spent just one day in the park but with all of the trails you could spend a lot of time hiking to the various areas. Matilda was tired and wanted to go to bed and sleep when we got back to the campsite!