Date: 2017-07-24
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

We were badass early risers this morning. We made a pact last night to be up by 7. I was eating my pop tart breakfast at 6:45 in my tent. By the way, almost every hiker I've ever read about has included pop tarts in their food consumption. I have never heard anyone say their pop tarts got smashed to bits in their food bag. I'm not complaining, they were still tasty, I'm just wondering if I'm the only dumbass who took them out of the box to save weight. Anyway, our new found early riser ways allowed us to hit the trail by 8:30. Yesterday was easily the muddiest day of hiking we had.  Until today. Today the trail conjured up a greatest hits of long muddy areas and downed trees to negotiate. On fresh legs, with a good night's sleep, we were not deterred. Of interest this morning was the uptick in wildlife sightings, namely a dozen or so grouse flying up suddenly as we nearly stepped on them. Until today we had only seen one deer and about 50 toads, oh and the trout that was nipping at my legs while I was washing up in Mirror Lake the first night. Also of note was an extremely large area of downed trees, perhaps greater than a quarter mile in diameter. In addition to the heavy rain storm last year, the park also had a high wind storm a few weeks later that probably knocked a lot of the trees down that we dealt with day one plus several large ones we had seen since. This area, though, was another level. The wind storm was said to be straight line winds, but to my eye this looked like a small tornado had hit. Virtually every tree seemed to be down, many in impenetrable stacks 8 feet and higher. The effort to reopen the trail using chainsaws must have been monumental. Most of the tough conditions were behind us after about 2 and a half miles when the trail turned away from the lake and started heading uphill towards highway M-107. The climb was what my Colorado lungs were built for. The Porcupine Mountains aren't mountains in the Rocky Mountain sense. The highest point in the park is about 1,850 above sea level. They are mountains, though when you consider how sudden and steeply they rise up from the surrounding land, or in this case, lake. I'm guessing we climbed 800 feet in about 2 miles with several very steep spots. We had originally intended to go a couple of days longer, but upon reaching the highway, decided to try to find a ride 10 miles back to the car. As I suspected, most midwestern people are able to ignore a hitchhiker on the side of the highway and even manage to avoid eye contact. So I left my backpack with Peter, and walked the mile up to the Lake of the Clouds parking lot where I was able to secure a ride with the second couple I approached. They were awesome to give us a ride and were going right past my car anyway, so we weren't inconveniencing them at all. With our early start and good fortune getting a ride we were able to get into Ontonogan and have lunch. I don't think I had actual hiker hunger after only 4 days hiking, but I had no trouble demolishing a large burger and fries. Now I'm in Iron Mountain staying overnight with friends. Laundry, check. Shower, check. American Ninja Warrior, check. Up early tomorrow to begin the drive back to Colorado Springs.