Backpacking to the Mirror Lake Cabins & Seeing the Lake of the Clouds | Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park

For Forth of July weekend, we wanted to head up to the Upper Peninsula this year. For the first few days, we spent our days lounging around Ruth Lake (which you can read about our experience here) and a secret that we have been working on that will be announced next week! But for the weekend, we headed up to the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park and stayed in a backpacking lodge for the night.

Between being tired from the drive and the humidity, I was just not feeling our hike. It felt like I was packing bricks instead of a 24lb toddler! Not to mention the mosquitos… Our hike was only 2.5 miles to the cabin and I was crying in the first half mile. Our original plan was to drop off our gear and keep hiking up to the Lake of the Clouds loop, but we decided to take it easy once we got to the cabin.

Day 1

We headed straight for the cabin and decided that we would take our chances at being able to see the Summit Peak Tower on our way out and we would allow for extra time to drive up to Lake of the Clouds. In the mean time, we had learned that our cabin came with a canoe! We weren’t ready to settle for the afternoon, but we also weren’t ready to stop exploring. A gentle paddle on the water would be a perfect way to occupy us until dinner.

For our canoe trip, I switch over to my GoPro. A photography group I’m in recently started posting their underwater GoPro images, tips and edit tricks, and how much they love to take it on their camping/hiking trips since it is much more portable. So I have recently been practicing my photography skills with it too!

The lake wasn’t too large and we had hoped to see more wildlife - but we saw some beavers! Evelyn and I mostly ate snacks, I mean helped with the paddle! If you watch the video from our trip (at the top of this post), Evelyn does actually love paddling and we need to get one her size and weight.

When we got back to the cabin, I put my camera away to relax and enjoy our evening. I started the fire while Evelyn and Charlie hiked passed cabin 8, where there is a nice fresh water stream. They filled up the communal jug so we could boil water for dinner and boil fresh drinking water for the morning. After I started the fire, I set up the hammock to read while I waited for them to return.

We had a sweet and sour grilled chicken MRE for dinner, though there was cooking gear in our cabin. Charlie sat out by the fire for a while after dinner, but Evelyn and I headed inside to get cozy. I lit a candle that was graciously left behind and dove right into the cabin journal! Some packers even left playing cards for everyone to use. If you are staying at the cabins in the Porcupine Mountains, I highly recommend bringing lighting or candles. The journal also mentioned to hang your gear because sometimes rodents find their way into the cabin and to paddle out on the lake before going for a swim or filling up a jug (they call it Leech Beach).

Day 2

Let’s do an early morning walk through of the cabin! This was the Mirror Lake 2-bunk cabin. When you walked in the door, the right-hand side had the wood stove, wood storage, pails for cleaning, and some misc. cooking utensils. On the left-hand side sits the table and benches.

Walking through an archway, you then come into the main living area with the double bunk, some chairs, and a bench with cabinets. I was very impressed by the quality of furniture in these cabins! Although the bed was incredibly stiff and I had better beds at band camp, we had a wonderful stay.

Thankfully, day 2 was much better despite being all up hill on the way back to the car, or maybe it was since we were hiking first thing in the morning so the hike was a little cooler. Whatever it was, I was much happier and the hike was easier and that’s all that mattered! The mosquitos were still awful.

If you hike the Summit Peak trail, much of it is wooden boardwalk and steps. Once you get past the overlook, then the trail becomes dirt.

When we made it back to the car, we all wiped down, packed up our stuff again, and headed to see Lake of the Clouds. If you are ever near Porcupine Mountains, you have to drive up to see Lake of the Clouds! It’s a breathtaking view and it is absolutely stunning during the fall. There are cabins situated around the Lake of the Clouds trail too, if you are looking for a closer, off-grid, location to stay!