With more than 59,000 acres, Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park is Michigan’s largest state park. Having “wilderness” in the park’s title is appropriate because about 75% of the park has been officially designated as a primitive area. Containing 35,000 acres of old growth forest, this land of the big trees is the largest contiguous track of forest east of the Mississippi River. The Porkies, as the area is affectionately referred to, contains the largest stand of virgin hemlock forest in the Midwest.
In this video we are going to share with you some of the scenic areas that this park was formed to protect, talk to you about camping options in the park, and share our favorite sites and activities from visiting the park numerous times. If you enjoy our video, please like it and subscribe to our channel. All the photography is by us and all the music is by my daughter Aspen. We hope by sharing our wild wanderings that we inspire others to get out and enjoy the natural world. Now let me tell you more about the Porkies.
The park is a wilderness lover’s paradise with more than 90 miles of hiking trails that follow numerous cascading rivers, pass many waterfalls, and parallel 25 miles of Lake Superior shoreline. This park preserves the second longest Great Lakes shoreline in Michigan’s state park system. It is also one of only four Michigan state parks that exceeds 10,000 acres in size. Because most of the park is designated as a Wilderness, Natural Area or Natural National Landmark only foot traffic is permitted in most of the park making this one of the best places to backpack in the Midwest.