Michigan's Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park [Paperback]

Jim Dufresne (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1993

The Porkies, the beloved mountains of the Midwest, are the scenic and rugged heart of the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. This 60,000-acre park features entire rivers, 25 miles of undeveloped Lake Superior shoreline, dozens of waterfalls, wildlife from bald eagles to black bears, and the most extensive virgin forest between the Adirondacks and teh Rocky Mountains. The Porkies also offer some of the best hiking in the Midwest. Day hikers and backpackers have more than 90 miles of trails to explore, plus 16 wilderness cabins that can be rented in advance and 50 walk-in campsites. Hikes range from a stroll to nearby waterfalls to a six-day trek that covers 40 miles. In the only guidebook devoted to the Porkies trail system, Jim DuFresne provides backpackers, hikers, campers, cross-country skiers, and snowshoers with all the information they need to plan a perfect trip. Trail descriptions include mileage, where to camp at night, difficulty, and highlights along the way, corresponding to more than 20 detailed maps. Other chapeters cover history, the park's fauna and flora, fishing opportunities, and visitng the park in winter. The only trail guide to Michigan's largest state park, Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park includes: A complete guide to the 90-mile network of foot trails, along with access, difficulty, hiking time, and trail descriptions. More than 20 maps, backpacking itineraries, and separate chapters on the park's waterfalls and fishing. Descriptions of all 16 rental cabinds, campgrounds, backcountry shelters, and walk-in sites. Complete information on cross-country skiing, down hill skiing, snowshoeing, and winter cabin rentals.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

############################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################### --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Thunder Bay Pr (May 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1882376099
• ISBN-13: 978-1882376094
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,893,961 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I have a has deep rooted passion for two things; sunsets and shoreline, no doubt the result of living my entire life in the two states that have more coastline than any other; Alaska and Michigan.

After graduating from Michigan State University with a journalism degree, I was soon headed to Juneau, Alaska as the outdoors and sports editor of the Juneau Empire. In 1980, I became the first Alaskan sportswriter to win a national award from Associated Press. More significant than the award or even receiving a letter of congratulations from Governor Jay Hammond, I discovered my passion for the mountains and wilderness travel while living in Alaska's capital city.

Soon after that I spent a winter in New Zealand to backpack and write my first book, "Tramping in New Zealand". Six editions and 30 years later "Tramping in New Zealand" is the world's bestselling guidebook to backpacking in that country. That longevity is true with several of my books. "Isle Royale National Park: Foot Trails & Water Routes" that I wrote soon after returning to Michigan has been in publication in various editions for more than 25 years.

Today I live in Clarkston, Michigan where I'm never more than an hour's drive from the shoreline of the Great Lakes. I am main contributor to www.MichiganTrailMaps.com, a resource web site devoted to trail users and the promotion of trails in my home state. I still head back to Alaska frequently to update my Lonely Planet guidebooks, only now I don't have to stay for the winter. In Michigan, I can usually be found out on the trail throughout the year, whether it is hiking, mountain biking, backpacking, snowshoeing or cross-country skiing.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A SOLID INTRO TO & OVERVIEW OF THE PORKIES..., December 9, 2004

By 

NotATameLion (Michigan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Porcupine Mountains: Wilderness State Park, A Backcountry Guide for Hikers, Backpackers, Campers, and Winter Visitors (Paperback)

Jim DuFresne is a poet of the outdoors. It is disconncerting to find writing of this quality, this vitality, in what is essentially a travel book. The section in this book on his encounter with a black bear is just one example.

Is this the definitive guide to what are affectionately called "the Porkies?"

Not really, but this is a very useful tool in planning a trip there.

This book and a good hiking guide--like the Falcon guide to Hiking Michigan--along with some decent topo maps should do the trick. The hiking info is critical, because unless you're just gonna go take a gander at the Lake in the Clouds, you'll be doing some serious hiking in the Porcupine Mountains.

This book is great background for some of the things you will see there, but the Falcon guide and the maps really help you plan.

I give this book a solid recommendation--with a suggestion to get a good hiking guide & maps.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The best - - and only - - guide to the Porkies, with room for improvement, September 14, 2006

By 

Arthur Digbee (Indianapolis, IN, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Porcupine Mountains: Wilderness State Park, A Backcountry Guide for Hikers, Backpackers, Campers, and Winter Visitors (Paperback)

The Porcupine Mountains (Porkies) are a beautiful place. Like other "mountainous" places in the Midwest, there's not much elevation here - - about 1000 feet in total - - but there's a lot of up and down, and I find that I work as hard there as on the Teton Crest. The forest is dense and soaring vistas are few, but the North Woods have their own charms. In addition, the crowds are small. I saw one party every two hours on Friday, about one party every hour on Saturday and Sunday. That's a far cry from the wildernesses in most national parks (this is a "state wilderness park")

Having been to the Upper Peninsula before, I expected bugs, and I went in mid-August to miss the worst of them. That worked out fine. I also knew that the UP was a pretty soggy place-it's basically all wetland-but I thought that the Porkies, being "mountains," would be well-drained. That was only half true. Even though it hadn't rained for several days, long stretches were pretty soggy. Bring the right boots, and also bring trekking poles and gaiters if they add to your comfort.

The park headquarters sells a nice topographic map for about ten dollars. It's suitable for framing because it comes all rolled up - - in an ideal world there would be a fold-up version for hiking. That map shows the campsites, as does a free pamphlet that comes with your backcountry permit. The pamphlet (but not the map) also shows which sites have bear poles.

None of these maps show you which sites have water and which ones do not. Did I mention that this is a soggy place? That means that most places do have water - - but three very pretty sites atop the escarpment do not. You can probably guess that fact from the map, as they are . . . well, on top of an escarpment, and there are no streams or springs nearby. Still, putting fresh water symbols on the map would be nice.

Well, that's a long introduction, and I haven't even talked about Dufresne's book yet. You can probably tell that maps are important to me. Dufresne's book has maps - - they are good enough for your planning, but only just. There's one map of the whole park in the front of the book, with some high-use sections bifurcated by the page seam. That map labels the trails and provides topographical information. The chapters on each trail come with a trail map, with more fine-grained topo lines shown only as they cross the trail. This means that you can't tell directly whether you're walking around a mountain or a valley or whatever - - only whether you're going up or down. His maps do show campgrounds but do not show bear poles or water sources. Also, Dufresne's maps show a shelter on the Superior Trail that is now a pile of lumber awaiting removal.

Like his book on Isle Royale, Dufresne organizes this book around trails and not around routes. He puts the long trails first, short trails last. I've never understood the logic of this. When I backpack, I hike routes - - and, more often than not, I have to hike a loop or a lollipop because I only have one car. (Apparently, there are some shuttle services available if you schedule them in advance - - call the park headquarters; Dufresne's book does not mention this possibility.) Planning your own route therefore requires that you flip back and forth between different chapters as you patch together a bit of this trail and a little of that. This is annoying but not a deal-breaker.

The trail descriptions are accurate for the trails that I hiked. He warned me about soggy stretches, and I used his guide to avoid the even soggier North Mirror Lake trail. He didn't tell me about how overgrown the Superior Trail was north of the Big Carp River, but that may just be a late-August thing. He provided enough information for me to plan my visit, and I got what I expected on the trail.

The book also includes other useful information for non-backpackers, including a discussion of the waterfalls, wildlife, backcountry cabins, fishing, and winter skiing. There are also a lot of pictures of his family hiking through the park, which is an acceptable indulgence. The park's hike-in cabins are an interesting idea, and seem to attract dog owners (doubtless because of the black bears in the park). The presence of cabins reminds you that this is a *state* wilderness area, not a federal wilderness in which "man is a visitor who does not remain."

Information about these things, which falls into the category of all-purpose tourism information, makes up about half of Dufresne's book. As far as I know, it's the only guide to the Porkies. For that reason, it's essential, and it does the job. But there is room for an even better guide yet to be written.

If you've gotten this far, GO. Bring this book - - and maybe write a better one.

5.0 out of 5 stars Porcupine Mountains, April 7, 2011

By 

northern michigan hiker - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Porcupine Mountains: Wilderness State Park, A Backcountry Guide for Hikers, Backpackers, Campers, and Winter Visitors (Paperback)

Recently I wanted to find some information on doing some hiking in the Porcupine Mountains of Western Michigan. After using the internet searching on this topic,I came across the book "Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park" by Dufresne. After having looked at a lot of web sites and other information, I found that this book has the best and most useful information on the Porcupine Mountains. I would recommend this book to anyone who is considering going to the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park. In looking for the book, Amazon was one of few places that had the book. Within a couple of days of my order, it was at my front step, typical of other products I get from Amazon.