Porcupine Mountains, Day 4

Today was our biggest hiking day. We set out early enough to tackle an eight-mile day, the destination being Trapper's Falls for lunch. It was a big undertaking, and we weren't at all sure how the kids would do. They all did great, but I was especially proud of Maria. She started out pretty surly this morning and didn't have much good to say about today's adventure, but she must've reached down deep and found some gumption, because she bucked up and made it through the day beautifully - smiling, even! Her main coping tactic was to chant, "BROCCOLI CHEDDAR SOUP! IN A BREAD BOWL!" as she marched down the trail. That's her favorite menu item at Panera, and she decided that her reward for muscling through today should be a huge lunch at the first Panera we see when we head home tomorrow.

The falls were really beautiful - mainly made up of two or three huge slabs of gently sloping rock with shallow water flowing over them. Because of the low rainfall here lately, much of the rock was more exposed than usual, and it made it fun and easy to explore. We lunched, lounged, played, and chased a frog before heading back to the cabins.




















When we got back from our hike, Pete and Cindy's cabin stunk to high heaven. After some investigation we learned that one of the mousetraps in the cabin (each have several, to keep the mouse population under control) contained a sizeable specimen who apparently had been there for a few days. Pew.

We've had no trouble with mice in our cabin, though we've heard some scratching in the walls at night. I think having Buster in the cabin keeps other critters at bay.