19 July 2020

Lake of the Clouds

From our base in Houghton, we drove west to Porcupine Mountain State Park which turned out to be one of the trip’s best days so far.  The mountains, also known as the Porkies, have a great mix of short to multi-day trails from moderate to strenuous difficulty.  We started our visit on the east side of the park at its hallmark attraction, Lake on the Clouds.  The trail to the overlook is short and easy walk from the parking lot and the payback is immediate.  From there you can connect to several other trails including Mirror Lake.  Next we drove the South Boundary Road which takes you to the west side of the park and past several trail heads.  We opted to hike the Summit Trail, another popular spot.  Our favorite hike of the day was the Presque Isle River Falls Trail which runs up and down the east and west sides of the Presque Isle River with views of several rolling waterfalls including Manabezho and Nawadaha Falls.  The trail connects to the Lake Superior Trail which runs most of the park’s length along the shoreline.  It was muddy from rain the night before so we only walked a small part of it before heading back to Houghton for the night.

Presque Isle Falls Trail