Fall Trip to Wisconsin and Michigan Part 2

We left Shell Lake and headed to the Upper Peninsula in Michigan with a stop in Ironwood, MI on the way to buy some groceries. That turned out to be a good decision since many places were closed for the season - places to eat were few and far between! We had an Airbnb rental outside of Ontonagon, MI for our 'home base'. The fall colors were at their peak. 

We spent some time hiking and seeing water falls in the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park (The Porkies).

On our first full day there, we began at the Porcupine Mountain Visitor Center followed by our first visit to Lake of the Clouds.

Here are few pictures from that area:

My favorite photographer was having a GREAT day!

We hiked to the Nonesuch Mine ruins. It was a gorgeous day!

The mine

Ruins

When we got back to our Jeep, we had a tailgating picnic. Then we decided to head to Ontonagon (pronounced aan-tuh-naa-gn).

First stop in town was the Ontonagon Harbor Lighthouse. 

We had a very interesting and informative private tour since we were the only ones there. We even learned about the Toledo War! This is a portable fog horn. We were invited to try it out - it was LOUD!

After the fellow talked with us for quite a while, we went upstairs to the first floor of the light keeper's home. Then we climbed some grate-like stairs to the second floor. The furnishings were interesting and I enjoyed seeing the quilts on the beds. (I do not know if they are original to the lighthouse.)

And then I forced myself to climb more grate-like steps up, up, up, to the top. I even walked out on the overlook but not for long! 

I took a lot of deep breaths going down the stairs - oh, I hate seeing the ground so far below the steps. 

The town is small and pretty much shut down for the season. We did find a small gift shop open and a bakery which was quite busy. We then headed back to our rental.

Our second day in the Porkies began early in the morning at Lake of the Clouds. We arrived shortly after sunrise.

Next stop was Summit Peak. Of course, we had a little windshield time

and then a hike which was mostly on boardwalks with LOTS of steps.

We climbed the steps up to the lookout tower at the peak. It was quite windy.

Eventually we hiked back down. Most of the many stairs were groups of 5 or 10 steps.

I liked walking the path more than the boardwalk and there were no steps!

When we reached the Jeep. we headed for Presque Isle on the far western side of the Porkies. It was far enough west that the time changed to Central time before we arrived! (There is a part of the UP that is on Central Time although most is on Eastern Time.) There was beautiful scenery on the way.

We had a short hike to Manabezho Falls.

Just  a little further was Manido Falls where it was difficult to get good pictures.

We had to return the way we came so back up many stairs and a short hike to the Jeep.

We had a very short drive and another short hike to Nawadaha Falls. It was hard to get good pictures here also. 

After a late tailgating lunch, we did a little more sightseeing and headed home.

Stay tuned - there is more to come ...