Pictured Rocks Trail Michigans Upper Peninsula (My first US Backpacking trip)

[Stephen M]

Hi folks,

This is my first trip report and first time backpacking in the US as I just moved to Michigan from Belgium at the start of February (I am from Ireland).

Firstly I must thank Rog Wilmers for organising the trip and for all his advice via email and BPL before I moved to the US.

As the trail is not a loop we had to figure out how we were going to get back to the car, so we towed a trail bike and left it at the finish point.

We went to the Ranger station to register and on advice from the Ranger on duty we decided to hike from Log Slide to Miner head which was about 31 miles.

The Ranger informed us we would have to pick which sites we wanted to camp at as there was less than 6inches of snow on the ground and thus Winter Camping season (camp anywhere) was over.

As we starting the trail at about 5.30pm on the Friday and needed to be back to car by lunch on Sunday we decided to hike 6 miles on the Friday evening, 15 on the Saturday and 10 on Sunday.

The weather forecast was for 55F day time and 45F night time temperatures but it turned out more like 32F during the day and even colder at night.

As Rog took amazing photos I am going to babble on much more and let the photos tell the story.

I am sure Rog will join in and add his his commentary.

Enjoy :-)

Stephen

[Steven Paris]

Great photos. What did you think of that area, compared to the places you hiked in Ireland?

[Stephen M]

Hi Steven,

The credit for the photos goes to Rog :-)

Compared to Ireland it is a lot different.

Normaly I would hike in Mountain areas in Ireland that do not have trails and are well above the treeline.

Here are some stock photos of some Mountains in Ireland I will be hiking in for 6 days next week.

Cheers,

Stephen

[Tim Zen]

Stephen and RoG. Thanks for posting.

[Stephen M]

Cheers Tim,

Hope to meet up with you on one of the future Michigan trips.

[Mark Ries]

Thanks for posting I was wondering how the trip went. Stephen are you going to make it to the midwest GGG may 11,12&13

[Stephen M]

Hi Mark,

It was a great trip :-)

I have not given it much thought to be honest.
Will have a look at the thread and see how easy it to get to from Eastern Michigan.

I am back in Ireland for 18 days (half work, half holiday) so will need to see if I can get the time off.

Cheers,

Stephen

[rOg w]

deleted

[Stephen M]

Hi Rog,

I indeed had a great, it was a fine intoduction to what Michigan has to offer.

I must say it was nice not to be hiking on big pointy things and able to follow a trail for once, as steep climbs and having to navigate can be a small bit tedious at times :-)

For me it was great to hit the ground running and have my first trip within two month of moving across the pond, your company and knonledge was much appreciated and I cannot wait to get out on more trips with you.

I am off on a 6 day Irish trip today so need to go sort out my kit.

Cheers,

Stephen

BTW, I love the pics

[ed hyatt]

Nice one.

Good to see you're cutting down (sic) on the downy gear ;-)

[Stephen M]

Cheers Ed :-)

That was me doing a photo shoot for Gooses Feet ;-)

[Debra Lambers]

Thanks for posting this Stephen. Welcome to Michigan! Rog as been amazing as far as recommendations and my gear list! When is the best time to hike Pictured Rocks to avoid the flies? :) April, MAy – September – October I would guess? How do you rate the trail – easy, moderate or difficult?

[Stephen M]

Hi Debra,

Thanks for the welcome :-)

I am just heading out the door of my Mums for a 6 day trip in Ireland.
From what Rog told me I think later May to around the end of July is failry bad with them.

Rog will definitley be able to answer, he is a wealth on info.

Cheers,

Stephen

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