Porkies Trip Early May

[treeplanter]

Latest on the Porcupine Mountains ice storm:

"With 40-50 miles of the park’s roughly 90 miles of hiking trails assessed so far, 17 miles of trails have been reported in “extraordinarily” bad condition or impassible. The park also has about 26 miles of ski/mountain bike trails to be assessed.

“The natural resource impact has been huge as there are hundreds, if not thousands, of trees downed in the park,” said Eric Cadeau, a DNR regional field planner, from the Baraga office. “Additional assessment is needed to confirm the extent of the impact.”

In some places, as many as 100 trees per mile were reported downed along trails, with 25-33 percent of trail markers damaged or destroyed."

Full article here:

https://content.govdelivery.com/account ... I.facebook

[Midwest Ed]

The Winter of 2010/2011 on Isle Royale resulted in a huge deadfall. I recall several reports where the extra climbing and dodging slowed hiking paces to less then 1 mile per hour in some places. It's hard to say at this point how 2011 ISRO compares to today in the Porkies but plan for much slower going.

The good news is that sleeping under that old tree should now be more comforting as the park has been "pre-disastered" (line borrowed from "The World According to Garp").

[conmcb25]

Was that storm fairly localized, at least for ice? I saw pictures of snow farther north in the Keweenaw. Anyone know how far north this ice event went?

[treeplanter]

Maybe somebody who lives in the western UP can comment, but I think this ice storm was pretty much limited to the higher elevations of the Porkies.

[Basbh1]

How was the trip? We are going to do the same route but the opposite way in 2 weeks.

[HikerGal]

The trip was great! When we got to the Porkies Ranger Station the Ranger noted which trails had not been checked, which ones were clear, and which ones were a mess. She noted there was going to be a big effort this week to clear the trails. We ended up parking at the Government Peak Trailhead and hiked the Escarpment Trail to the Big Carp River Trail. We spent 3 nights and although it was an out and back hike, and not at all what we had planned, it was a great trail and a great hike!

The first night we camped west of Lake of the Clouds on the Big Carp River Trail up on the escarpment. The second night we camped on the Big Carp River Trail at the site right before the river crossing. It was great to be able to camp right next to the river and hear it all night.

Campsite BC-3 (?) (off the Big Carp Trail) was actually across the river, which was swift and deep (thigh high) and cold. There is a downed tree (8" diameter) but I would not be comfortable going across it, although some hikers did. We also saw 3 people cross in the river, but not for me in early May.

The third night we camped at the far east end of the Escarpment Trail; an absolutely beautiful site!

Bugs were non-existent and we did indeed see a few ticks. We would have preferred a loop but I have no complaints with the route we went - and it was beautiful! My next hike there I would like to do the Superior Trail. Funny how you just get back and you are already thinking about the next time....

Enjoy your trip!