Too late, already did
The Porcupine Mountains are a small mountain range in the northwest part of Michigan's U.P. After telling some Yoopers we live near the Smoky Mountains, they informed us that they sometimes refer to the Porkies as the “Little Smokies.” It was a day full of waterfalls and overlooks, much of it in Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park, and much of which required a little hiking.
Bonanza Falls, Silver City, MI
Lake of the Clouds Overlook
Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park
Summit Peak Tower Trail
In the Presque Isle area of the Porkies, a 3-mile loop combines the West River Trail and East River Trail, which run on either side of the Presque Isle River where it empties into Lake Superior. The loop includes a suspension bridge and views of three waterfalls. We didn't have time to hike the whole trail, but we managed to hit the highlights in about 1.2 miles.
Presque Isle Suspension Bridge
Presque Isle River outlet to Lake Superior
Manabezho Falls
Manido Falls
Nawadaha Falls
Copper Peak is the largest ski flying hill in the Western Hemisphere, 26 stories tall! In fact, it's the only ski flying hill in the world outside of Europe. Note: Ski flying is a separate event from regular ski jumping and involves higher ramps and longer hills, which allow for further flying, with some athletes soaring in excess of 200 meters. Dangerous!
America's longest and only ski flying hill!
800-foot hill
Top of the hill, bottom of the ramp
We bought tickets for the Copper Peak “Adventure Ride,” which consists of taking a chair lift to the top of an 800-foot hill, then an elevator ride of 18 stories to the ski jump's main observation deck, and then the opportunity to climb an additional 8 stories to the jump's apex. It's like this excursion was made for me!
26-story ramp
Very, very steep
Continued steepness
Cantilevered structure, suspended in space
It was a lot of fun climbing to the top of the structure, another 260 feet above the top of the 800-foot hill, but I sure as heck wouldn't go hurling myself off the thing like those crazy skiers do. What are they thinking?? It was pretty wobbly up there in the wind, but what a view!
Jana's selfie at the top
Holy smokes!
What a view
Riding down the chair lift
After Copper Peak, we got on the Black River Forest National Scenic Byway and hit four more awesome waterfalls, each requiring its own short hike and many, many stairs: Rainbow Falls (.5 mi), Sandstone Falls (.5 mi), Potawatami Falls (.3 mi), and Great Conglomerate Falls (1.1 mi). A fifth waterfall, Gorge Falls, couldn't be seen due to a closed staircase, but we were well satisfied!
Rainbow Falls
Sandstone Falls
Potawatami Falls
Great Conglomerate Falls
Danger Girl!
Lodging: Royal Motel, Ironwood, MI, for two nights. It doesn't look like much from the outside, but the room was clean and comfortable. Good value.
Another old-school motel
In the evening, we ate Little Caesar's Pizza while running a much needed load of laundry at the local laundromat. Yay for clean clothes! Our efficient laundry/dinner combo left time for one more awesome sight before sunset: 52-foot-tall Hiawatha, the world's largest Native American statue. Sweet!
World's largest Native American statue, Ironwood, MI