I feel like this whole day has been a rush of emotions and a battle to get home alive! Normally I enjoy hiking. Almost always I get excited about seeing new sights. And more times than not I love being in the great outdoors. But not today. Nope. Today, as I was running through the woods, waving my arms frantically and screaming distasteful (but G rated) remarks about the hoards of insects that were repetitively trying to attack me, I wanted to be anywhere but outdoors!
They were relentless. They were persistent. They were in numbers greater than I could have ever imagined. They were the mosquitoes that almost completely ruined my experience of the Porcupine Mountains... or maybe they were the experience? Hmmmm?
After leaving the beautiful Bond Falls, we drove north to the Porcupine Mountains State Park, a gigantic state park along the banks of Lake Superior and surrounded by the Ottawa National Forest. When reading reviews and talking with people, I was told how beautiful the park was and how it was well worth the trip north. People did mention there would be mosquitoes, and to take bug spray, but Iowa has mosquitoes, and I feel like I know how to deal with them. Plus, it is much cooler in the north, and it's early in the season, so we would be getting in before the majority of the bugs arrived... right? Oh, I was so wrong!!
After leaving the Visitors Center we drove up to Lake of the Clouds.
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| Union Bay on Lake Superior |
To get to the overlook involved a short hike through the woods, and by the sign, that hike was only about 300 feet.
Traveling with a 8-week-old baby, I wasn't interested in slathering our family in DEET, so I grabbed my essential oil bug repellent (mostly a lemongrass/citronella blend) and applied it to all of us and then put a few extra bottles of oil in my pocket so we could reapply for the trip back through the woods. I figured the overlook had to be slightly breezy, and as long as there was some wind, hopefully it would keep the skeeters off us as we enjoyed the view. It was also lunch time, so we thought we could eat there if the bugs weren't too bad.
Honestly, it wasn't bad, and as long as we kept up the pace and didn't stop in the woods, the insect numbers were tolerable and mostly avoidable. And once at the overlook, the breeze was light but effective enough to keep them from getting too close. So, Derrick went back through the woods to retrieve our lunch (since we forgot to grab it the first time) and we enjoyed eating our PB&J, apples and granola on the rocks of the overlook. It was decent and the view was refreshing.
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| Ethan volunteered to take this photo of me. |
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| Lake of the Clouds |
After we ate, we returned to our van and decided where to go next. There were a few trails along the way that were short enough for the kids, and one was a 1-mile loop that promised some history about the park and mining, so that peeked interest, but I was worried about the mosquito population in the event that this trail took us into the woods.
As we drove, I told Derrick "If this hike is in the woods I say we skip it." He nodded and said we could check things out when we got to the parking lot.
As we pulled in, we could see the trail head for the Union Mine Trail. To me, it looked like the whole trail was in the woods. Derrick and Tom (my friend's husband) got out to look around. "It's really not bad, the bugs aren't bad right now." Derrick informed me and then asked if I was going to go. "I'll stay in the van with Eli." I said, thinking that I wasn't going to risk the hike into the woods, but then I realized that I was going to be the only one not going, so I quickly changed my mind and decided to go along with the group and not miss out on the adventure. That was a mistake, as I would later find out.
I applied my essential oil bug repellent, covered Eli in the baby wrap, and headed of with everyone along the trail. It really wasn't too bad at first.
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| Haha, his journal entry talks of the mosquitoes. Not fun back them I'm sure either! |
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| The mine water wheel would have been in that rectangular notch in the river bed. |
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| The stone foundations mark the location the the mine stamp mill which operated in 1865. |
We came to the road... the trail crossed and continued. Derrick and the kids, still a good distance ahead of me, crossed and continued along the trail. I followed, but soon regretted my decision. At the areas where the elevation was low my feet sloshed and slid in the mud and the air was thick with hungry insects. I, applying more and more essential oils, hoping to ward off the attacks, was focused on keeping the air moving around me and Eli so that hopefully he wouldn't get bit through the wrap. My arms flailed around me, like a flightless bird trying desperately to fly, and I moved as quickly as I could, trying to catch up with Derrick, who now had picked up Elliot and was literally RUNNING through the woods.
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| With out these boards, the ground goes "squish" = breeding grounds for skeeters |
I knew he soon was going to be out of sight, so I called out "Are we getting close? This is awful!" as I half giggled and half wanted to cry, trying my hardest to move through the forest. At one point, in a cluster of tight trees, I completely lost the trail and noticed I was heading off in the wrong direction. The ground under my feet was spongy and soft and I quickly searched for the trail as the numbers of mosquitoes increased with my every step. I longed for the parking lot.
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| This is the mine remains... a hole in the ground surrounded by a fence. |
The hike was terrible (it was actually a beautiful forest with streams and winding paths), and I wished I could tell my friend not to cross the road and to walk back to the parking lot, as I feared she too was experiencing the terrible battle I was. Oh, how I wished I would have just stayed in the van.
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| The trail crossed a small bridge that went over the Little Union Gorge |
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| It was probably a nice waterfall... in the winter... when there are ZERO skeeters! |
Finally, after what seemed like forever, we came to the end of the trail and hustled to the van for protection. My friend was there with her sons (they had not crossed the road and headed back to the parking lot on accident as they didn't see the trail on the other side), but her husband, knowing we had her daughter with us, decided we might be lost and returned to the woods to find us.
I felt terrible, picturing him running through the woods at full speed, wondering where we were and wishing he wasn't looking for us!
Soon he emerged from the woods. We all decided we were happy the experience was over, and although we didn't know if we were interested in more hiking in the woods, we would go to the next area on the map and see what it was like. Elliot, as we drove away, exclaimed "That was NOT cool!" I couldn't agree more.
We had two more stops along the scenic loop, so we hoped for a strong breeze and a short hike for the observation tower, when we arrived the kids were very unsure if they wanted to get out. It was a short hike to the tower, so we semi-ran through the trees and went quickly to the top of the tower. It had a nice breeze and no mosquitoes, so we were all relieved.
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| Little Johnny enjoyed rides to rest his legs... both of these guys are trough troopers! |
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| This little guy was waiting for us at the bottom. |
After killing a million mosquitoes in our van along the way, we finally arrived at the parking lot for the hike to what promised to be three waterfalls. We parked, and then noticed the abundance of not only mosquitoes, but a large number of flies as well. Even better.
Not wanting to get out, we watched as other hikers emerged from the trail (in the trees), flailing their arms, batting and slapping, with looks of frustration on their faces. Derrick and I couldn't help but giggle in sympathy. Next to us, a younger couple loaded their children and stroller into their van. One of their children stood outside, karate kicking the mosquitoes and files, waging war for the greater good!
After watching the people in the parking lot, it didn't take us long to decide we were NOT going to go on that hike, and when I asked the kids what their thoughts were, their replay was NO WAY!
On the map I noticed an area where you could access Lake Superior. It said to park in the lot where we were sitting and walk over, but I knew that wasn't going to happen, so we thought we would check out the campground to see if we could get closer. Sure enough we found an empty spot right next to the stairs leading down to the lake. As we parked we noticed the campers next to us. The man was wearing a hat with a full face bug net! SERIOUSLY?? Now that's roughing it!
Eli was getting hungry, so I took the first shift watching for the campground ranger, and the rest of the crew happily ran down to the lake. They had fun, skipping rocks, moving rocks and logs, running around and whatever else they were doing away from the mosquitoes.
After sometime, Derrick came back up and let me switch him places. He stayed back with Eli and I headed down to the lake shore to grab a few photos and see what the kids were up to.
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| The rocks were pretty impressive. So flat and large. |
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| Everett kept lugging this huge log around. |
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| The stairs back up to the campgrounds. (I'm sure Ethan counted them.) |
The kids were having fun but were ready to go shortly after I arrived. The insects were starting to become pests and we were all ready to start heading back, eager to call it a day and grab some food on the way home. Plus, after Derrick had counted over 20 flies on his door alone, and even more on the rest of the van, he didn't want anything to do with outside. I agreed and we headed back to the condo.
Thanks for the experience Porcupine Mountains... we've had enough!
