A few months ago we converted a Econoline van into a vamper. Despite putting on 3,000 miles during our initial trip to Joshua Tree National Park, we were planning our next adventure before we got home from our first. Our second vamper vacation would be to the upper Peninsula of Michigan. Here we’d plan to see the Porcupine Mountains, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore and Kitch-iti-kipi or “Big Spring.” Here’s how the trip went.
Porcupine Mountains Wilderness
On day one of our adventure, we woke early at the Presque Isle campground in the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness. We spent the previous afternoon driving here and arrived in the dark. Well, almost dark. In northern Michigan in the summer, the sun does not set until almost 11:00PM! We were excited to do a bit of exploring before making our way further east to Manistique on Lake Michigan.
The Porkies, as they are known, cover 60,000 acres. Most of that is heavily wooded and accessed by backcountry adventurers. We allotted just a few hours in the park and decided to spend our time hiking the West River Trail in the Presque Isle Scenic Area. The boys love exploring the lake shore so we started our hike with a walk over the suspension bridge for sweeping views of Lake Superior. From there, we headed south along West River Trail. The packed dirt and boardwalk trail took us to overlooks of Manabezho Falls (spirit or god falls in Ojibwa), Manido Falls and Nawadaha Falls.
Lake Superior 
Manabezho Falls 
Nawadaha Falls 
Manido Falls 
One of the Porkies’ most popular destinations is Lake of the Clouds. We skipped stopping there for this trip as I’d been during a backcountry experience in the Porkies. Instead, we opted to make our way west to Canyon Falls before landing at our base for the weekend; Manistique, MI.
Canyon Falls
Just outside of L’Anse, Michigan is a wayside rest area where we ate our picnic lunch. It’s also where you can access the trailhead for Canyon Falls. The hike was easy and flat and took just 10 minutes to reach the falls area. It was a beautiful pitstop and a great way to stretch our legs as we had three more hours to drive to reach our campsite on Lake Michigan.
Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore
We spent our second night in the Upper Peninsula Michigan at Woodstar Beach Campground. We would make this location our base as we explored the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore and Kitch-iti-kipi.
To explore Picture Rocks National Lakeshore, we decided to do a longer hike to see Chapel Falls, Chapel Rock and Chapel Beach. The hike is about 8 miles round trip but also includes hike along the cliffs above the shores of Lake Superior. We started early. The parking lot at the Chapel Rock trailhead will fill by 9am. When we arrived at 7:45am there were already about a dozen cars in the lot. Fair warning, the rough gravel road leading to the trailhead can be treacherous.
The first part of our hike was about 3.3 miles and took us through heavily wooded areas and passed Chapel Falls. The effort was well worth it when we arrived at Chapel Rock and Chapel Beach. Being from Minnesota, we are used to seeing a rocky Lake Superior shoreline. Not here. On this side of the lake the shore is covered in fine sand that’s intermixed with colorful rocks and pebbles. We hung on the sandy beach for about an hour before walking along the ridgeline and then made our way back to the parking area.
We emerged from the trail just after noon. From there we drove to Munising where we had pasties for lunch. Pasties are a local favorite. They were originally designed to feed miners in the area but have since become a regional delight. We stopped by Muldoons Pasties and opted for a traditional beef, potato, onion, carrot and rutabaga pasty. Pasties are sort of like a pot pie and were quite tasty. After lunch, we wondered around Munising a bit looking for souvenirs and enjoying coffee.
Kitch-iti-kipi
Our final stop in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan was to “The Big Spring” or Kitch-iti-kipi at Palms Book State Park. In the summer, waits to take the 15 minute ride on the observation raft can be upwards of 2 hours. When we arrived late in the afternoon, the wait was approximately 45-60 minutes. We passed the time with ice cream cones from the gift shop.
Kitch-iti-kipi is two hundred feet across and forty feet deep. It’s Michigan’s largest freshwater spring. Visitors propel the wire tethered raft across the length of the spring for fascinating looks at life below the crystal clear water.
From the open bottom, middle of the raft you get views of lime encrusted branches and trees as well as dozens of trout. Look close and you’ll notice the water gushing from the fissures below. More than 10,000 gallons a minute bubble up from the limestone at a constant temperature of 45 degrees Fahrenheit.
The raft ride at Kitch-iti-kipi was my favorite part of our time in the Upper Peninsula but there is so much to explore here. We saw just a sample of what the area has to offer. Click these links for more on hiking Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore and Tahquamenon Falls or backcountry camping in the Porkies.
Happy Adventuring, Rochelle