Anyone planning a trip to the Porkies in the winter should know that the roads going into the park are closed to automobile traffic and are converted to snowmobile trails. We didn't know that before we went and it kind of messed up our plans.

Here are some websites we found useful for this trip(compiled 3/18/2008)

Porcupine Mountains State Park
http://www.expl oringthenorth.com/porkiesum/hike.html
http://www.exploringthenorth.com/porkiesum/intro.html
http://www.michigandnr.com/Publications/PDFS/RecreationCamping/PMWSPUnitmapforweb.pdf
http://www.coppercountry.com/article_39.php

Black River Gorge Scenic Area - Ottawa NF
http://www.fs.fed.us/r9/ottawa/recreation/area/index.htm
http://www.byways.org/explore/byways/10780/travel.html
http://www.northcountrytrail.org/explore/guide/d1.htm
http://www.gowaterfalling.com/waterfalls/blackriver.shtml
http://www.lakegogebic.com/waterfalls.htm
http://www.superiortrails.com/black-river-mi.html More

Friend Phil Middleton and myself paddled 1,905 miles from the headwaters of the Nameakagen River in northern Wisconsin to "Moon Walk" landing in downtown New Orleans. The trip took a total of 66 days to complete.

I sailed as crew on Tallship Bounty for six months of their 2010 season. I got on board in Bath, Maine and ended the trip in Boothbay Harbor Maine, after spending the summer sailing through all five great lakes to Duluth Minnesota.

Put in at public boat launch at Hwy 12 in Sauk City, took out at public launch at Hwy 23 near Spring Green a total of 22 miles. Camped two nights on the sand bars. We took it pretty easy. Caught only one fish, i think its hard river to fish. This is a very popular stretch of river so there were lots of tubers, rafters, nuers, yakers, and drunkards but it is still a great way to spend the weeke nd and I highly recommend it.

The lower wisconsin river is shallow but the current is slow to moderate with many islands and large sand bars that are all public property and open camping. The DNR prohibits camping on a few islands and are posted with signage. I change my assessment of the current to this: i was unable to stand in one place in chest deep water....take that as you will. Notable features along this reach are a geologic feature called Ferry's Bluff, which can accessed and climbed from the water, and the only legal public nude beach in Wisconsin.

This reach of river is part of the Lower Wisconsin State Riverway which extends from the Praire du Sac dam to the Mississippi. This basically means the state controls development along the river to keep it as scenic as possible and they also prohibit glass containers of any kind. We had a DNR warden stop and ask us if we had glass so they must be pretty serious about it. There are many access points in the LWSR so its super easy to plan the ideal distance for your trip. Check out the LWSR website below for photos, maps, access points, etc.

Info and Maps on the Lower Wisconsin State Riverway, USGS streamflow gauge and other info:
http://lwr.state.wi.us/index.asp
http://lwr.state.wi.us/section.asp?linkid=233&locid=50
http://www.huntfishcampwisconsin.com/Canoeing.html
http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?05404000 at Wisconsin Dells, WI
http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?05407000 at Muscoda, WI More

Day climb of Mt. St. Helens from the winter trailhead. Due to an abnormally high snow season the snow level at the trailhead was still two feet.

Ice axe was necessary high on the mountain and came in handy for glissading back down. I brought crampons but didn't need them due to the softness of the snow.

Had the summit to myself for 30 minutes!