Photos and words by Craig Hedges 

 Awake at twilight, we shimmied our sleeping bags to the edge of the escarpment and watched sun light up the valley. Scattered Along the western shores of Lake Superior, the Porcupine Mountains have been chilling since their humble glacial beginnings.

 Six friends and I dropped into the wilderness to pay homage to the peak of a Michigan fall. We completed a 23-mile loop starting along the park’s “Escarpment Trail” above the Lake of the Clouds, descending with the Sturgeon River as it tripped over ancient slate rock on its way home to Lake Superior.

 A fiery sunset over Lake Superior was the proper compliment to our sunrise and bookended our prosperous day with sunlight. After a ceremonial final dip of the season in Mama Superior we ate and absorbed every ounce of post-sunset colors as they faded into the milky way.