[[ Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park // Upper Peninsula of Michigan ]]
With a belly full of pancakes and a mind buzzing from caffeine, I stared out the window as we passed lake after lake. The blurred green of dense forests contrasted the stark blue of the speckled lakes and the smell of birch wafted in from windows we had cracked to let out the Wisconsin summer heat.
By the time we [[myself, sister Cameron, and husband Geoff]] arrived at the ranger station to check into the park, the sky was full of dandelion fuzz clustering in the wind and in scattered clumps along the grass. Everything felt fresh, vast, delicate.
We set up camp and caught up between the swings of our hammocks, Coronas in hand in honor of the array of fresh vegetables that were to be chopped and piled in tortillas for dinner in the not too distant future. By the time the sun was setting our picnic table was cluttered with stoves and pots, Geoff was off somewhere being contemplative, and a fire had been started. The first night I fell asleep to the sounds of crashing waves and a light breeze the rustled the tarp infrequent enough to take pleasure in.
The morning brought what seemed like a never ending sunrise. The gradual waker of the group, I cozied into the sleeping bags while watching my sister and husband enjoy the color on the rocks. Every time I'd fall back asleep and say my goodbyes to the sunrise, and every time I'd wake back up and be gratefully surprised by the saturated sky awaiting my gaze.
The sun eventually rose and camp got taken down, our food supplies were divvied up amongst our packs, and we had begun the first of our two day loop along the Big Carp River Trail [[11 miles]] within the park.
The route was an endless tunnel of trees meandering along a babbling river, occasionally stepping down into shallow pools. The leaves were the color of spring, light green not yet deepened by summer. Our boots stomped for 11 or so miles on speckled sunlight and through the cold, clear water of the river. The trail was cobbled with glacially smoothed stones packed into the soft dirt and framed by ferns spilling out from both sides.
By the time we arrived at our campsite we had all convinced ourselves that we were cast aways washed up on a deserted island somewhere far, far away. Driftwood had been piled up as a wall blocking the wind from the fire pit and our strung hammocks looked, for some reason, ragged along so vast a shoreline. It was the most remote I had felt in a while and that was exhilarating. Juxtaposed to my current reality in and out of meetings, collaboration rooms, happy hours, backed up traffic lanes, and continual social interaction, this isolation felt like a sigh of relief...like I had been holding my breath without realizing it, and it finally dawned on me to exhale.
While the more mentally unstable members of our company [[not me]] decided to swim in the frigid waters of Lake Superior, I slept off my post-hike weariness. To mitigate the Great Lakes chill we started a fire before the sun begun it's descent. My sister's backpacking specialty, Ramen Mac N' Cheese, was on the menu and while we sautéed some mushrooms and shallots to jazz up the 30¢ noodles, we chilled a few cans of beer in the same waters that had frosted Cameron and Geoff's bones an hour prior. This night's sunset was gentler. As the clouds gathered we watched lightning rip fissures of light in the gaps between the gray. We made sure to have our rain tarps pulled down tightly before we closed our eyes to sleep.
Luckily, the morning showers were both light and brief and we were able to enjoy mugs of coffee with warm bowls of oatmeal before beginning the 10 mile trek back. The first part of the trail hugged the shoreline as we ambled along rounded cobbles and fallen trees. The trail eventually wound itself back into the forest and rocks beneath our feet gave way to muddied roots and sporadic planks of wood. The next few hours evolved into a game of who-could-keep-their-socks-dry and we learned quickly that each of us had a different approach. While Geoff nimbly executed his thought out routes, Cameron sloshed through the muck with sheer brute force, and I hybridized the two approaches. Turns out my lack of commitment led to damp toes before the end. By the time the mud gave way to dry ground, the intermittent rain dissipated as well and before we knew it the forest opened up to the park road and we had finished the trail. We hoofed it the rest of the way back on the side of the road since the trail stopped short of our car. Turns out, this stretch was the steepest terrain of the trip. As we trudged up the hill we mused amongst ourselves how many of the cars that passed by thought we were lost or dumb hikers that didn't realize there were plenty of good trails to carry our packs on rather than scenic byways.
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Resources for your own UP adventure: Porcupine Mountains State Park Map // http://www.michigandnr.com/publications/pdfs/recreationcamping/porkies_unit.pdf
Ramen Mac N' Cheese Recipe -Top Ramen [[ # of packages of this will depend on how many people you're cooking for ]] - A little Olive Oil or Butter [[ whatever you prefer packing ]] - A package of Cream Cheese - Cheese of your choosing [[ I recommend something sharp like good Cheddar or Harvati, which was the cheese of choice this trip ]] - Fixings of your choosing [[ For this trip it was a thinly sliced shallot and various sliced mushrooms ]] In a pot over your stove, heat the butter or oil. Add shalllots or onion and cook until translucent and fragrant. Add any other chopped/sliced veggies you packed and cook to your desired tenderness. Meanwhile, boil some water and add the Ramen noodles (without the seasoning packet). Cook for a few minutes until done.* Combine the noodles and veggies into the same pot and stir in the cheese chunks and a dollop of the cream cheese. Add as little or as much of these ingredients as you prefer. I, personally, am under the impression that you can never have too much cheese. People have been known to disagree with me on this. Enjoy!
**If you only have one stove available, cook Ramen first and set aside while you cook the veggies, when the veggies are almost done, add in the noodles to reheat them.