Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore | EP.05 | BTS
Welcome back for episode 5 of A Long Time Coming! This week we’re in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to explore Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore!
Back in 2012 when Owen and I were on the road during our post-college trip that we touched on in episode 3, we also had the pleasure of spending a little time in the Upper Peninsula (aka the UP) of Michigan. Back then we hardly grazed the surface of what this area had to offer and were excited to return to get to know it more intimately. We have a lot of dear friends from Michigan and knew from them that the UP was something not to be missed on this trip!
Owen at the start of the our Pictured Rocks hike
When we moved into the area, we had a few days before starting our trip into the park, thus meaning we had to find a place to camp. Thankfully, there was some public forrest land just outside of Munising which made for easy access to town to run errands in preparation for our hike.
That being said, we were about as big as you could possibly be and fit down these small roads that wove into the forest. As seen above, we had to cut our way through some sections of the road. Being that we’d never been through that area, I don’t know if it was from lack of use or was just the result of yearly growth… but either way, we did a lot of trail maintenance out of necessity up in the UP!
In fact, there was one branch in particular that got hung up on our roof, but eventually broke free. We didn’t think much of it, but we sustained some damage that I will get to a little later in this blog post!
MAK taking in the view while overlooking Lake Superior
Now, shall we dive into this hike?!
On the morning of our hike we arrived at the Sand Point Parking lot where we met a shuttle that took us to the far end of Pictured Rocks where we’d be starting our hike. We did it this way as the park recommends it, and it was nice to arrive back at our truck and leave rather than trying to coordinate the end of our hike with a shuttle. Here is the link to the Pictured Rocks shuttle service:
Lake Superior’s water is a dead ringer for the tropical waters of the Florida Keys!
Much like Voyageurs National Park in the pervious episode, all backcountry camping requires permits. So before arriving in the area we had to sit down and plan our trip to be sure that we were reserving our camp sites for each night that we were on trail. From what I understand it is far easier to get backcountry camping than to get spots in the regular campgrounds in the park. We had a brief conversation with someone staying in a campground as we passed through that he reserved his site over 6 months in advance. We didn’t reserve nearly that far out and didn’t have much of a problem getting the sites we wanted.
We LOVED the backcountry camping sites as most of ours were right on the water. As soon as we arrived at camp each night we’d set up our tent and go straight out to the water. The entire hike in the park felt like a perfect 50/50 mix of challenging hiking and a beach vacation! A combination that we didn’t know existed, but will look for more of in the future!
MAK making dinner after the first day on trail
As much as we LOVED this entire hike/trail/paddle, I do feel like I should dive into something I bring up in the episode a little more. This trail often crosses through “civilization”. I know for some, ourselves included, prefer to be far away from civilization when they do long and challenging hikes. That illusion of being “far away” is often broken on this trail when you cross a major road, hike through a campground where people had to make reservations 6 months in advance, and weave through parking lots with people arriving at the beach for the day. I won’t sugar coat it and say, that part sucked.
However, what you get in return, we feel far surpassed the tradeoffs. The brief interactions with civilization on trail were actually kind of nice because we were able to dump trash and fill up on clean water that we didn’t have to filter ourselves! Again, to each their own on this. I just wanted to be sure I mentioned it.
Now, let’s talk about the paddle! I will start off by saying this is not how people usually explore this park. We originally planned to hike the entire 42 miles, but as soon as we saw the water we knew we couldn’t leave our packrafts behind.
Lake Superior is often said to be one of the most dangerous lakes in the world as its conditions can change quickly and with little warning. We knew that if we brought our packrafts that we would only use them if conditions were perfect. Up until the day we left we were keeping an eye on the weather, and then checked each day before we got in the water.
That being said, if you aren’t comfortable paddling, being on the water, reading weather charts, and/or swimming we do not recommend paddling in Pictured Rocks on your own. There are plenty of excellent guided paddle tours out of Munising that you should opt for instead. Paddling alone is dangerous and should not be taken lightly.
We only intended to get in once to paddle the cliff line that Pictured Rocks is famous for. However the second day on trail we had immaculate conditions and the trail followed the shoreline right to camp. When we stopped to eat we checked the weather and deemed it safe. So we decided to do a little four mile test paddle. With the wind at our backs we were at camp in no time at all!
The view of the shoreline from our second camp on trail
We spent as much time in the water after hiking as we could. Looking at this water, you almost expect it to be salty. But when you get in, its as fresh as it gets!
We called this waterfall “a glitch in the matrix”
On our third day on trail, we started to gain elevation, a sign that we were nearing the cliff band for our paddle. Above is Spray Falls, one of many waterfalls in the park. As you can see the water just dumps out of the forest, over the cliff and into the lake above. There was something about it that just felt to weird and wonderful. So we dubbed it “a glitch in the matrix”!
Above is a collection of fungi that we saw along the trail. Something that was so captivating about this park is that on one said is tropical looking water, then just mere feet into the forest, was the most diverse dense forest. The contrast of the two is something that I find myself still pondering to this day.
Owen on trail
When it came time to hit the water for our “big paddle” we felt ready having spent the previous day on the lake. We put in at Chapel Rock after again checking the weather. All looked clear as could be and set off.
Owen taking in the cliffs moments after starting our paddle
If I didn’t sufficiently describe how much fun we had during this paddle, minus Owen’s momentary panic over the schedule, allow me to do so now.
We took a break from paddling to jump off this rock to swim in the water
This is one of the coolest things we’ve ever had the pleasure of doing. Not to give anything away, but this was our favorite thing we did all summer. It was such a lovely and unique combination of land and water that we’ve never experienced before. We have aspirations to return one day in the winter to see this place when it gets covered in snow and ice! Could you imagine?!
MAK paddling towards Lover’s Leap formation
Owen looking back at Lover’s Leap
We reluctantly transferred back to land after Lover’s Leap so we could hike to our last camp spot, which also happened to be our furthest inland. It was the only spot we even had issues with mosquitos!
MAK breaking down her boat after a successful paddle
On day four we casually finished our hike under cloudy skies. Both of us were sad to be done with this hike as we could have stuck around for a whole lot more!
Remember at the beginning of this post I mentioned that we sustained some damage while leaving camp one day? Well, when we reached the parking lot where the truck was parked after the hike, we could hear a high pitch alarm coming from our truck. To make matters even more interesting, it was an alarm we’d never heard before! Before we’d even taken our packs off, we turned to each other realizing in the same moment what must have happened. We pulled our ladder out and I climbed onto the roof to confirm that the branch had broken our solar panel’s connection point off where it plugs into the roof. The alarm we were hearing? That was our Redarc Manager 30 sounding the alarm that our power was critically low and that if it dropped much further it would shut down our system to protect the batteries. Very handy in a time like this! In less than 5 minutes Owen had it fixed my stealing the connector off of our briefcase solar panel. He is such a clever guy!
A portrait to commemorate our time in Pictured Rocks right before finishing the hike
Thank you all so much for being here! Join us next week for the 6th and final episode of the series! Same time, same place!
Love, MAK
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