Porkies Shakedown Hike - 5 August to 11 August, 2023
Prologue: I had originally hoped ( planned ) on hiking the sections of the Pacific Crest Trail that I missed last year, but life had other plans. When my boss told me I could take a week off in early August to go hiking, I jumped at the chance. I had wanted to hike the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, but I found the website ( www,recreation.gov ) too awkward and cumbersome to use. Instead, I decided to revisit The Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park. The Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park ( aka " The Porkies " ) is located in the far northwestern corner of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The Porkies has the distinction of having the largest stand of Uncut Maple / Hemlock forest between the Rocky Mountains and the Adirondack Mountains of New York state. The Ojibway people called these sharp, steep ridges "Crouched Porcupines". I will admit, compared to the Sierra Nevada mountains, the porkies barely qualify as foothills and the waterfalls