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: