Speakers Cabin Porcupine Mountains

If you want a minimal effort, maximum backwoods fun trip Speaker’s Cabin has you covered.

It’s just under a mile walk to your own private cabin on Lake Superior. You can’t really go wrong with any cabin in the Porkies, but Speakers Cabin, IMO, has the best view, the easiest walk-in, and privacy.

The last time I was here was 6 years ago. For the most part, it’s the same setup. There was a flood of Speaker’s Creek in 2016 which caused erosion along the creek edge. After this, the cabin was moved back 20 feet from the creek to avoid future floods. The great news, the zombie flies I mentioned before have abated significantly. 

This weekend we are here with 2 other friends putting us at the 4 person limit. Speakers is a nice size for 4. Space to cook, a woodstove for heat, a big table, and 4 bunks. Wood for the fire is gathered from around the cabin. Thankfully the last group left us a decent amount of dry wood and we returned the favor for the next group.

Although I've yet to use it, my favorite part is the fire ring overlooking Lake Superior. On a cool night, it would be epic to watch the stars or northern lights around the fire. In the summer, the creek and lake would be great for swimming.

The downside of Speakers is that it’s a bit cut off from the main trail system. It’s possible to hike anywhere in the park from the North Country Trail, the trail running by the cabin, but getting to the heart of the park is a long journey.

On the flip side, Speaker’s Cabin is the closest cabin to the Presque Isle side of the park. Personally, I highly recommend the hike from the cabin to the Presque Isle River and the waterfalls through the Hemlock forest. The trail from the cabin to the falls is lightly traveled through the moody forest. At approximately 5 miles round trip, it's a nice length to pack a picnic and lounge around the falls area.

Links:

• Speakers TH (Google Maps)

• Route to cabin (Gaia GPS)

• Day hike to Presque Isle River (Gaia GPS)

• Permit Pick-up (Google Maps)

• Backcountry Map (MI DNR)

• Porcupine Mts Website (MI DNR)

McKeever Cabin

I’ve been feeling a little stuck in Madison this winter. I’ve been doing a lot of cross country skiing since I (foolishly?) signed up for the 55km Birkie ski race, but I’ve been lacking in backcountry adventures.

Luckily, my uncle suggested we try the McKeever cabin in the UP. It’s only a 1.33 miles snowshoe back to the cabin but it’s a great cure for my backcountry craving. Wide open skies, freshly groomed trails, toasty fires and backcountry bloodies, it’s even better than I expected.

I wasn’t sure what to expect on the ski front, it says groomed on the website but you just never know. Turns out they were excellent! They are groomed approx. once a week. We were lucky enough to have that day fall on our first day there. Not a huge trail system but three nice loops kept me satisfied. The cabin is situated in the middle of them, which means a mid-ski stop for snacks and a bloody mary.

The cabin itself is small, has four bunks and a nice woodburning stove. It’s similar to the ones in the Porcupine Mountains on the other side of the peninsula. The stove is either on full blast or not on so it’s a bit a of a trick getting it just right. The best is there is an old hand water pump that works in the winter. A huge bonus. No melting snow for water. We met a ranger who stopped by to test the water, which they do every month, and she confirmed it was safe to drink unfiltered.

I also go to dust off the pulk I built for a Thanksgiving Hut trip a few years back. It was much easier to pull on the mostly level trail vs up the side of a mountain in Colorado. Shocking.

I credit my uncle for inspiring my love of the outdoors, especially backcountry pursuits. He taught me many skills but also to not to take it too seriously. And never, ever, skimp on food. For this trip we had bloodies, ribs and a smorgasbord of other delights. On past trips we’ve had backcountry surf & turf and tacos. It’s always great to get out there with him (and my cousin!). He’s 68 and still crushing it. Champion.

If you go:

• McKeever Cabin winter TH

• Maps: Caltopo / Gaia

• McKeever Cabin FS info

• McKeever Ski Trail Map

Thanksgiving Hut Adventure

It takes a special friend to forgo family and be willing to travel over Thanksgiving weekend. Luckily I have one of those friends. In short, our phone call goes like this:

Me: “Hey”

Him: “Hey”

Me: “I have a kinda crazy plan for Thanksgiving...”

Him: “I’m in!”

The plan? Rent a backcountry hut, fill it with friends, build a pulk and lug up a turkey + all the fixings for Thanksgiving. Ok, maybe not that crazy, but certainly fun.

He’s not lying, he books tickets from Seattle to Denver shortly after our phone call. After looking through the huts we settle on Jackal Hut, part of the 10th Mountain Hut system. Not too far from the front range and close to Vail where about half of our guests live (this will end up being very fortuitous, but I’ll get to that later).

The hut is only 3 miles from where we park but it climbs 2,400ft. We’re fully loaded and then some. I have snowshoes & skis on my pack and then the pulk which has 2 12lb turkeys, 2 pies, various bottles and bladders of wine and who knows what else. Halfway up, when I’m seriously regretting my offer to haul all this up, I do a mental approximation of the weight in the pulk - 50 lbs at least.

The first half of the way up has patchy snow and mud (makes the pulk pulling almost impossible), thankfully the second half is snow covered and much better (though still insanely steep). We make it up to the hut around 3pm, exhausted, but in good spirits. Time to get this turkey cooking and the bread proofing.

Getting the woodburning oven up to a good heat works surprisingly well. I’m nervous that actually cooking the turkey for 3 hours won't be so easy… it turns out to be a little finicky but the turkey comes out looking awesome (no one took a picture, wtf). The bread also comes out nice after rising for a few hours. The rest of the crew chips in and makes green beans, mac and cheese, potatoes, stuffing, cranberries and gravy. After stuffing ourselves and downing a few glasses of my Seattle friend’s home-made wine we all agree that persevering to get all this up here was worth it. Now we have to eat more so I don’t have to carry it down!

Day 2 brings another 3 guests, 6” of snow, skiing and turkey #2. This one has been precooked and smoked and requires much less effort but tastes amazing, especially with all the leftovers from the night before.

Day 3 it’s still snowing. After skiing and lazing around the hut we descend down to the cars (it takes less than ½ the time it took to get up). There is about a foot of snow on the cars and the snow is flying horizontally. The road back to the highway is flat and even with the low visibility I don’t think too much of the snow, until we get to the highway. The plows have been busy… plowing us in behind a 4 foot high wall of snow, ice and grit. I should have known better, but that’s irrelevant now. After using snowshoes and hands to shovel a hole for the car to fit through I back up and get ready to gun it through (again no pictures, sorry!). My friends are ready to push from behind to get me over the hump if need be (it was needed). I make it over and we slowly crawl on the highway back towards I-70. Cars are in the ditch all over the place and the snow keeps getting worse. When we get back in cell range we discover I-70 has been closed. There’s no way I’m turning around and going back over the pass to try to get out (the usual 1.5 hours back to Boulder is estimated at 6 hours).

Thankfully one of our hut crew lives in Minturn (where we are stranded). We head back there and wait until the rest of the group shows up. It’s decided that in exchange for dinner and beers we can all sleep on his floor for the night. Empire Records on Netflix it is, slumber party style!

If you go

• South Hale Trailhead

• Trail Map: Caltopo / Gaia

• 10th Mountain Huts

• Jackal Hut

New Years in the Porkies

Back to the Porcupine Mountains. Crazy how much difference a month can make. Full winter mode now and today it’s a walk in snowshoes back to the Union River Hut. Not quite enough snow for grooming but more is forecast for tonight so fingers crossed for some good skiing.

Day 2 brings in more snow (yay!) and also the rest of our group for a New Years celebration. Groomers were out rolling (but not tracking) the trails so we have some skiing. Let it be known that the woodstove in the Union River Hut is either on full steam ahead or off. Someone from our group got a little overzealous loading the stove with wood before bed and I woke up in a sauna.

New Years Day the sun was out and we had really nice conditions for skiing. Hardly any activity on the trails besides us and plenty of new snow to ski through. We spent most of the day exploring and enjoying the trails. The West Vista lookout is a tough climb but well worth the views (my phone battery died so no pics).

The last night it was just 4 of us in the hut. Matt and I decided to do one last sunset ski up to the East Vista Overlook. After the sunset we started making our decent back down and stopped outside a warming shelter to get our headlamps out. While we were digging in our packs the door of the warming shelter opened a crack and a man called out “I’ve got a nice fire going in here...” (me: skeptical/possibly creeped out) “...also if you want to help me finish this 6 pack of Hopslam….” Matt turns to me, raises his eyebrow and bolts into the hut. I follow. After a good hour of “helping” our new friend and enjoying the cozy cabin we ski out by moonlight to our hut.

If you go:

• Trailhead and Permit Pick-up

• Backcountry Map

• Porcupine Mts DNR Website

Speakers Cabin - Porcupine Mountains State Park

[Read about my 2021 trip to Speakers Cabin here]

The hike into Speakers Cabin is hardly constitutes a hike (it’s about a mile), but the cabin has arguably the best view of Lake Superior of all the cabins in the Porcupine Mts. It also sits on the Lake Superior Trail making for nice day walks in either direction.

About a foot of snow fall near Summit Peak a few days before had us daydreaming about some snowshoeing, but other than the drive from ranger station to the Speakers Trailhead there was no snow at lake level. (We did learn that our little 2WD RAV4 can power through the snow surprisingly well, yay!)

Arriving at the cabin in late afternoon we cranked up the woodburning stove and got it nice and toasty. Then, glancing through the log book, we noticed multiple warnings to NOT get it too hot. Why? If it gets too toasty hundreds of flies resurrect and delight in the warmth… It was already too late, the buzzing had begun. We spent the rest of the weekend trying to find the sweet spot of keeping warm but not so warm that the flies would come back to life.

After the fly drama we settled into a relaxing night looking at the many guidebooks left in the cabin and a few board games we packed in (the luxuries of a one mile hike).

On day two we did the short 2-ish mile hike to the Presque Isle scenic area. It was fairly flat and had a decent amount of water on the trail, likely from the storm that dumped the snow higher up. The hemlock trees lended a spooky ambiance on an overcast day.

Had lunch at the falls, ambled back to the cabin and were treated to a gorgeous sunset before heading back in to a warm (but not too warm) cabin. The next morning we headed back to the car and back home.

If you go:

• Permit Pick-up (Visitor Center

• Speakers TH

• Backcountry Map

• Porcupine Mts DNR Website