Porcupine Mountain Adventure -- Day Two

On the second day of our Porkies adventure we had oatmeal for breakfast and then headed down the Lake Superior Trail.

While waiting to depart on our day hike, I took the following two photos of the Big Carp River looking upstream and toward the mouth.

We headed down the Lake Superior Trail.

 

We stopped at LS Campsite 11 and posed by this small waterfalls, which we named Helkarcia Falls.

The view from our lunch spot.

It was nice to get back to the cabin. Tough hike.

 

 

 

Dinner started with reducing down a sauce, adding chicken.....

 

 

 

Next the veggies.....

Rice.....

 

 

On the hike we picked some fiddleheads and added them to the stir fry.....

 

Cribbage tournament championship game between Helen and Marcia. Marcia won.

We took a short hike to the bridge after cribbage.

Then sunset and moon rise.

Porcupine Mountain State Park three-day hiking trip

 I arrived home yesterday from attending the Cuyuna Rock Club's annual show in Brainerd, MN. For the first time I did not have a booth, but I did do two book signings. Thanks to Sharon Smith for her wonderful hospitality. For an unknown reason, I did not take any photos of the show.

I left Brainerd and met friends, Helen and Marcia, at the Porcupine Mountain State Park. We reserved a cabin at the mouth of the Big Carp River, where it empties into Lake Superior. The map and signs say it is a four-mile hike in, but it was actually a tough 4.5 miles!

A few years ago we formed our hiking group. The name, Helkarcia, was derived from our names: Helen, Karen, and Marcia.

It is a beautiful forest!

Glacial river valley to the right of the trail.

Little Carp River.

Mouth of the Little Carp, where it empties into Lake Superior.

Wildflowers were everywhere!

The map and signs said our cabin was a four-mile hike. It was actually 4.5 miles, according to Marcia's fitness watch.

The Big Carp River is on the right of the photo below. Lake Superior is behind me.

All three of us put our feet in the Big Lake. We were surprised it was not too cold!

A merganser duck entertained us with his fishing skills.

Rugged shoreline.....

Caesar salad....

Helen cooked the steak right over our fire!

We also had garlic mashed potatoes!

Cribbage......

Helen and Marcia getting water ... Marcia had a water filter.

There were rock outcrops of Copper Harbor Conglomerate throughout the area.

Helen made our hiking club's flag.

Sunset....

Two huge deer walked by on the other side of the river. I only got one good photo since it was getting dark.

More Grandson Baseball Photos

I stayed down state longer than originally expected so I could attend a baseball tournament my grandson's travel team was in. They played on a turf field in Wixom. On Saturday, Keenen's team won the first game and then was lost the second. They had to play the same team they lost to on Sunday -- and beat them in extra innings. Unfortunately, they lost in the championship game, but still earned second place.!

Grandson's Baseball Game

One of the main reasons I went downstate last week was to attend my grandson's baseball games. I am Grandma Coach and have been helping Keenen develop his skills since he could walk. It was amazing to see how well he plays.

We were the first to get to the field, so father and son warmed up.

This was actually a scrimmage game to prepare for a tournament the next weekend. Keenen was the starting pitcher.

He also played catcher and shortstop. It was so much fun to watch him play!