We woke up this morning and there was still no sign of Scott so we decided someone should go track him down – but first, breakfast. We cooked some breakfast sausage and grilled bagels before getting our things in order and cleaning the cabin. Once all of these tasks were done, Aaron and I set out for the parking lot where I was going to try to get a hold of Scott and Aaron was going to depart on his long drive to Texas. Matt finished the cleaning in the yurt and continued on to the Union River Cabin where we are staying tonight.
The snowshoe back to the parking lot was just a few miles and went pretty quickly because we took the snowmobile trail, which was the shortest route back. The snowmobile trail wasn’t exactly scenic, but most of the snowmobilers were polite to us. Upon our arrival at the cars, Aaron packed up and I got some phone numbers from him so that I could head to town and call a few friends and see if they knew where Scott had gotten off to. Aaron and I parted ways around noon, I hope his drive goes smoothly. When I reached the bar/diner in Silver City I explained my situation and they were kind enough to let me use their phone. It only took me a few minutes to get a hold of Scott and find out that he had hit a deer on his way back to Houghton from Minnesota the day before he was supposed to meet us in the Porkies. Since it was Scott that really wanted to take this trip, I decided it would only be right for me to drive the hour back to Houghton and pick him up so that he could enjoy the last day of our adventure. The drive was pretty uneventful, but I picked up Scott and we made it back to the Porkies before dark.
Scott and I snowshoed in to the Union River Cabin as the sunset and night fell on the Porcupine Mountains. It was any easy hike but I could really feel the 17 miles I had trudged in the last two days. I know, that doesn’t sound like a lot, but I’m a little out of shape and every step in snowshoes is like four steps without snowshoes. When we arrived at the cabin Matt was very excited to see us, claiming that he had done nothing but snuggle the dog and read for the last 5 hours. We later found out he had also attempted to make a box of raspberry sugar-free jell-o that the previous occupants of the cabin had left behind, but that didn’t turn out very well. For dinner we made more steak (that’s right, 3 nights in a row!) as well as tortellini with alfredo, bacon, and chicken. While we were waiting for dinner to cook we played a game of cribbage and chatted over some snacks because we were all starving. After eating our fill of delicious food we played 2 more games of cribbage then called it a night. Scott and Matt read for a bit, but I was far too tired and full so I just went to sleep. Rainy was a bed-hog and the cabin was a little too warm for my sleeping bag, but all in all I slept pretty well.
We woke up fairly late and made bacon and eggs which we ate, along with last night’s leftovers, for breakfast. After breakfast we tidied up, packed up, and hit the trail for a 7+ mile hike (the longest way) back to the cars. Today my legs were feeling pretty heavy at first, but I soon fell into my rhythm and before I knew it we were more than half way back to the parking lot. At about 4 miles into our hike we stopped in at the Log Camp Loop warming hut to have a quick snack of cheese, crackers, and sardines. We spent about 40 minutes sitting around the warming hut, which was already warm because a group of skiers we passed earlier in the day had spent some time there and gotten the wood stove fired up, before gearing back up and hiking the last 3 miles to the car.
When we reached the car I was a little sad to see our trip end, a phenomenon I’m not used to when it comes to winter excursions. Normally I’m excited to get back home and take a hot shower and put on clean, dry clothes, but the cabins/yurts in the Porkies were just so comfortable that it made me a little sad to leave and go back to a place where I have to DO things.
You can see Aaron’s post about the trip on his blog HERE.