seriously? you don't have anything better to do than read this?...okay...

my co-worker, kai, and i originally planned to head up to munising on saturday, camp in the snow overnight, and hike about 10 miles per day along the remote lakeshore cliffs of pictured rocks. due to scheduling conflicts, we couldn't do that, but we were set on going so we decided to drive up on friday night and do the entire hike in a day. then, if we had any extra time, we were going to work on a cure for cancer.

we left ann arbor at about 8:30pm and the drive, which normally takes about 6 hours, took about 7 because we ran into snow storms most of the way. the snow covered forests made for nice scenery, especially the evergreens around grayling, and it always feels like you're in starwars when you drive in the snow at night with snowflakes zooming past like stars, but it also makes sliding off the road into a snowbank a very real possibility. as you get more tired this thought changes from scary to appealing because you're like "well, at least i could just fall asleep then". i mean you'd freeze to death for sure, but when you're that tired you get less picky, be it sleep or death, whatever lets you close your eyes sounds good.

we arrived at our hotel at 3:30am and intended to wake up 4 hours later, at 7:30am, to begin our journey. i tried asking the hotel lady if they just rented the rooms by the hour but only got a strange look. that was right after i asked her if "brokeback mountain" was playing in the local theater. there actually is no local theater, not for many many miles. it was a new hotel with big comfy beds and it was tempting to just forget about the whole hiking thing and just sleep the following day away, but we only had about 9hrs of daylight to work with so even just sleeping in wasn't an option. but just 10 more minutes won't hurt anything.

we awoke the next day at 7:50am, after hitting the snooze a couple of times, found out our hotel would be free due to a billing issue (i love computers and people who can't use them!), grabbed some free breakfast at the hotel, and we were on the trail by 8:30am. we expected the ski to the trailhead to only be 3 miles but after skiing for about 15 minutes we came across a sign saying there were 3 more miles to the trailhead. i double checked to make sure i was on real skis, and not a "nordic trak", and i came to the conclusion that we were moving, the trailhead was just more than 3 miles from the car. still, we got to the trailhead pretty quickly (~45min) and we headed on to chapel falls which was another 1.4 miles.

there were no fresh tracks, and we wouldn't see another person all day, but there were some old footprints in the snow which probably made the going a little easier and aided in navigation when the trail wasn't obvious. there was only about a foot of snow on the ground, there was no wind, and the temp was around 31F, so conditions couldn't have been better. just your typical dream vacation weather.

we finally got to chapel falls and it was more iced up than i was expecting but it was also flowing with a generous amount of water. after viewing the falls from every angle, we headed on to chapel beach, 1.8 miles further. once we got to the beach we were greeted with ice covered cliffs. so i walked out on the snowy rocks right near the shore to get a better look and, in my tractionless ski boots, slipped and fell on my ass because the rocks were completely ice covered under the snow. so, i went back and got my ski poles for some added stability, walked back over, and fell on my ass in the exact same spot. then i was like dude, this shit is slippery, you could slip and slide right into lake superior which is not even an appealing thought in the summer due to the lake's constant coldness. so, then i put on my snowshoes which have crampons and i did not fall again.

winter time brings a whole new dimension to the area with various ice formations occuring all over, offering beauty and intellectual stimulation for those who dare to postulate about how they occurred. after exploring the beach area a bit, we re-evaluated our planned hike and decided that we were going too slow to make it to spray falls, which would have added 4 miles, although i actually ran down the trail towards spray falls for a little bit and got a glimpse of the bottom of the falls from far far away. i have still never really seen that waterfall, though, which takes a 70ft plunge over the cliffs into lake superior. it will not elude me for much longer.

so we headed on to grand portal point with our skis on our backs because the trail was kind of narrow for skiing, and it was along a cliff. you don't want to fall off here. even if you survived the fall, which you wouldn't, unless your body is 90% rubber, you would have to swim for miles in the freezing water to a beach where you could make it back on to land. hiking with skis on our backs was kind of annoying because the trail along the cliffs has lots of overhanging branches that the skis were constantly getting caught on but the views along the cliffs in this area are never boring, always giving you a new view around the next bend.

some storms were developing over lake superior and we got hit by at least one short-lived snow squall. this made for a really pretty view with storm clouds moving over the lake. when we got to mosquito beach it was nearly dark and after checking out the beach we headed back into the woods to return to the car (6 miles away).

we tried skiing again but the snow was really sticky so it was more trouble than it was worth so we hiked the rest of the way to the trailhead on foot. following the trail in the dark woods would have been a real challenge if there weren't old footprints to follow.

we ran out of water during our break at the trailhead so i found the nearest stream (never far away) and filtered us some more. this was the only time i got remotely cold. it was nothing serious, just enough to remind me that i was in the middle of nowhere with no opportunity to hop inside and warm up if the clothing i brought had not provided enough warmth. i put an extra layer on my cold hands and then we cruised the final 4 miles back to the car on our skis. the car was a welcome sight and our next priority soon became getting to the subway in downtown munising for our first real meal of the day, at 7:30pm (you can only survive on protein bars for so long). then we had to drive home.

i can't wait to go back. the feeling of wilderness is much stronger in the winter because in the summer you can hike miles through the woods only to see a cruise boat full of people waving at you from the lake which kind of kills the whole backcountry feel. oh, and for those of you who were counting on us for the cancer cure, sorry, we were tired after the hike.

» mileages
it's about 4 miles in and out on the unplowed road to the chapel trailhead (skiable in about 45 min), 3.2 miles from the trailhead to chapel rock (skiable), 4.7 miles from chapel rock to mosquito beach (not so skiable), and 1.9 miles from mosquito beach back to the trailhead (not so skiable). 17.8 miles total and when you add in the side hikes we did to chapel lake, chapel falls, down mosquito beach, and towards spray falls, we probably did about 20 miles total (11 miles by ski, and the rest by foot).