The Porcupine Mountains, or Porkies, are a group of small mountains spanning the northwestern Upper Peninsula of Michigan in Ontonagon and Gogebic counties, near the shore of Lake Superior. The Porcupine Mountains were named by the native Ojibwa people, supposedly because their silhouette had the shape of a crouching porcupine. They are home to the most extensive stand of

old growth An old-growth forestalso termed primary forest, virgin forest, late seral forest, primeval forest, or first-growth forestis a forest that has attained great age without significant disturbance, and thereby exhibits unique ecological featur ...

northern hardwood forest in North America west of the Adirondack Mountains, spanning at least . The area is popular among tourists, especially Lake of the Clouds in the heart of the mountains, and is part of Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park. The Porcupine Mountains were the site of

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...

mining in the 19th century. One of these mines is the Nonesuch Mine, which operated sporadically from 1867 to 1912. Because of its copper mining history, the state park is a cooperating unit of

Keweenaw National Historical Park Keweenaw National Historical Park is a unit of the U.S. National Park Service. Established in 1992, the park celebrates the life and history of the Keweenaw Peninsula in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. As of 2009, it is a pa ...

Geology

The most striking geological feature of the Porcupine Mountains is the long basalt and conglomerate escarpment parallel to the Lake Superior shore and overlooking Lake of the Clouds, a continuation of the same copper-bearing bedrock found farther northeast on the Keweenaw Peninsula. A second ridge farther inland, on the other side of Lake of the Clouds, includes Summit Peak, the highest point in the mountains at 1,958 feet (595 m). Rivers, waterfalls, swamps, and lakes lie between the rocky outcroppings. There are a number of waterfalls on the

Presque Isle River The Presque Isle River runs through the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and empties into Lake Superior.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed May 1, 2012 Along its course, it flows ...

in the extreme western side of the park.

Meteorology

The mountains are subject to heavy lake-effect snow from Lake Superior. The relatively high elevation of the mountains and their proximity to the lake provide perfect conditions for lake-effect snow, but no official records are maintained anywhere in the mountains. The closest National Weather Service station is in the coastal community of Ontonagon, where the annual average is about . Totals of well over annually are likely in the higher elevations. It is not uncommon to have seasons in this region.

Flora and fauna

The Porkies are the location of a large stand of

old growth forest An old-growth forestalso termed primary forest, virgin forest, late seral forest, primeval forest, or first-growth forestis a forest that has attained great age without significant disturbance, and thereby exhibits unique ecological feature ...

. In these virgin forests,

sugar maple ''Acer saccharum'', the sugar maple, is a species of flowering plant in the soapberry and lychee family Sapindaceae. It is native to the hardwood forests of eastern Canada and eastern United States. Sugar maple is best known for being the prim ...

American basswood ''Tilia americana'' is a species of tree in the family Malvaceae, native to eastern North America, from southeast Manitoba east to New Brunswick, southwest to northeast Oklahoma, southeast to South Carolina, and west along the Niobrara River to ...

eastern hemlock ''Tsuga canadensis'', also known as eastern hemlock, eastern hemlock-spruce, or Canadian hemlock, and in the French-speaking regions of Canada as ''pruche du Canada'', is a coniferous tree native to eastern North America. It is the state tree of ...

, and

yellow birch ''Betula alleghaniensis'', the yellow birch, golden birch, or swamp birch, is a large tree and an important lumber species of birch native to northeastern North America. Its vernacular names refer to the golden color of the tree's bark. In the pa ...

are the most abundant tree species. Area fauna includes moose, gray wolves,

white-tailed deer The white-tailed deer (''Odocoileus virginianus''), also known as the whitetail or Virginia deer, is a medium-sized deer native to North America, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru and Bolivia. It has also been introduced t ...

coyotes The coyote (''Canis latrans'') is a species of canine native to North America. It is smaller than its close relative, the wolf, and slightly smaller than the closely related eastern wolf and red wolf. It fills much of the same ecological nich ...

, gray and red foxes, cougar, river

otters Otters are carnivorous mammals in the subfamily Lutrinae. The 13 extant otter species are all semiaquatic, aquatic, or marine, with diets based on fish and invertebrates. Lutrinae is a branch of the Mustelidae family, which also includes weas ...

, beaver, fisher, marten, mink, bobcats, lynx, black bears, and porcupines. Endangered, threatened and special concern species found in the Porkies include small blue-eyed mary, ram's head ladyslipper, Hooker's fairy-bells, slender cliff brake, male fern, gray wolf, wood turtle, peregrine falcon, merlin, and bald eagle.

State park

Porcupine Mountains State Park was established in 1945 to protect the area's large stand of old-growth forest, much of it of the "maple-hemlock" type. In 1972, Michigan passed the Wilderness and Natural Areas Act. This act gave the park the new designation of the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park. Facilities provided by the park include an extensive network of backcountry trails for hiking and wilderness backpacking, rustic trailside cabins, modern campgrounds, swimming and boating areas, and various interpretive programs led by park rangers. The

North Country Trail The North Country National Scenic Trail, generally known as the North Country Trail or simply the NCT, is a footpath stretching over from Middlebury in central Vermont to Lake Sakakawea State Park in central North Dakota in the United States; ...

passes through the park, making up a portion of the of hiking trails. The Porcupine Mountains Ski Area, managed by the Gogebic Community College Ski Area Management Program, operates within the park in winter.

References

External links

Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park
Michigan Department of Natural Resources
Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park Map
Michigan Department of Natural Resources
Ski the Porkies website
{{authority control Mountain ranges of Michigan Escarpments of the United States State parks of Michigan Keweenaw National Historical Park National Natural Landmarks in Michigan Protected areas of Gogebic County, Michigan Protected areas of Ontonagon County, Michigan Protected areas established in 1944 1944 establishments in Michigan Landforms of Gogebic County, Michigan Landforms of Ontonagon County, Michigan IUCN Category V Old-growth forests