Points North: Some Things Never Change

By Daniel Wanschura

Points North is a biweekly podcast about the land, water and inhabitants of the Great Lakes.

This episode was shared here with permission from Interlochen Public Radio.

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It was a cold, three-mile hike to my cabin. I walked steadily through the snow with one pack on my back, one in front. I will not pretend that I did not huff and puff.

I was on a solo trip in the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park. And I was searching for something – a piece of Porkies history captured in log books dating back to the 1950s.

There are 23 rustic cabins and yurts in the park, and for the past 70 years, visitors have drawn or written in these log books, pouring their hearts out, making jokes, telling stories, boring future readers with the weather.

Now hundreds of these journals sit at park headquarters waiting to be mined. Today on Points North, I am the miner.

Credits:
Host/Producer: Dan Wanschura
Editor: Morgan Springer
Additional Editing: Peter Payette, Michael Livingston
Music: Blue Dot Sessions
Voice Actors: Laura Mittelstaedt, Adrian Schunk, Emily Culler, Austin Rowlader, Christy L’Esperance, Peter Pavlowich, Gretchen Carr, Stephanie Pierce, Michael Livingston, Davis Boos, Izzy Ross, Bill Church, Rich Brauer, and Brian Michael Raetz

Transcript:
DAN WANSCHURA, BYLINE: This is Points North. A podcast about the land, water, and inhabitants of the Great Lakes. I’m Dan Wanschura.

(sounds of walking on snow)

WANSCHURA: I’m hiking up a trail in Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park in Michigan. It’s the middle of February, and it is cold. Like single digits cold. I’m here because I’m searching for something. I think it’ll be a window into the park’s history – and maybe something more too.

WANSCHURA: I’ve got one pack on my back, and then another smaller backpack on front. So, feel like a pack mule right now. Loaded up!

WANSCHURA: I’m spending a few nights in a rustic cabin, by myself, about three miles away from the parking lot. I booked it months ago. Was pretty excited about it. I imagined myself immersed in nature and separated from busy life – kinda like Henry David Thoreau, or Aldo Leopold. You know, doing some deep thinking and primitive living. But the reality is, I tend to over romanticize things.

WANSCHURA: Alright, I’m probably a little over half-way. … And as you can hear, I’m huffing and puffing a little bit. … A little out of breath, but overall excited. The anticipation is building. I have not seen another soul out on the trail. So yeah, pretty secluded – pretty out there.

(sounds of walking on snow)

WANSCHURA: The first time I visited the Porcupine Mountains, or Porkies as they’re called, I slept curled up in the trunk of my Toyota Camry. It was cramped. But I got to see the sunrise over Lake of the Clouds in the fall. So worth it!

WANSCHURA: Ok ladies and gentlemen. Crosscut Cabin is in sight. It’s a little two-person log cabin. And it is going to be home for the next three nights. … Anyway, this looks cozy.

WANSCHURA: Crosscut is in a clearing overlooking a creek. There’s no running water. Or electricity. Just a simple wood stove for heat.

(sounds of cabin door opening)

WANSCHURA: I wonder what sort of critters I’m gonna share this cabin with for the next three nights. Alright, here we go. It smells nice and smoky in here. I like it.

WANSCHURA: It’s more spacious than a car trunk but it’s still tiny. The whole cabin is maybe, I dunno, 8 x 10ft. There’s an axe for chopping wood, a saw, a few pots to cook with, a couple stools, a bunk bed.

There’s something else too. That bit of history – the reason I’m here in the first place. It’s hidden in the cupboard. A black hardcover book. I open it. Some of the pages are falling out. Inside, are hand-written journal entries from all sorts of cabin visitors before me. This particular journal covers a few years. Here’s an excerpt from one:

LAURA MITTELSTAEDT: February 13-15, 2022
The Porkies never fail to share with me what I need and didn’t realize my soul was longing for. … The simplicity of wake, coffee, water, wood, walk, explore, dream, return, water, wood, food, read, ponder, sleep, dream. Repeat. My soul is filled and happy. 
S.D. Oshkosh, WI

WANSCHURA: Every one of the 23 rustic cabins and yurts in the Porkies has a logbook in it. When one fills up, park staff replace it with a new one. Now they have a library of journals dating back to the 1950s. People write about everything from the weather, the animals they saw, their hopes and dreams – and their desire for a little romance.

ADRIAN SCHUNK: [July] 1964
Any cute, handsome, gentlemen who are eligible write to:

Judy – 17
Marquette, Mich
5’ 3”, brown hair, brown eyes

OR

EMILY CULLER: Pat – 17
Marquette, Michigan
5’ 0”, brown hair, green eyes

P.S. Write only if [you’re] handsome, charming, built, and at least two years older.

WANSCHURA: (The real addresses were listed, but I didn’t include them.)

I want to read as many of these entries as I can. Because a lot has changed over the past seventy years. But is that reflected in these journals? Will I see the passage of time in these entries or will something timeless be captured in this special place? I want to find out. But first, I gotta get a fire started before I freeze to death.

WANSCHURA: Ok, check one, two. Alright– rolling. 

KATIE URBAN: Alright.

WANSCHURA: The next day, I hike to the park headquarters to meet Katie Urban, who runs the outreach programs. This is where all the journals are kept once they’re full. Katie leads me to this tall cabinet filled with hundreds of them.

URBAN: So we kinda keep ’em all stashed back here. 

WANSCHURA: Ok.

URBAN: In this cupboard here. 

WANSCHURA: Oh wow. 

URBAN: And you’re welcome to dig through as many as you’d like. I’ll get you set up in a space that makes sense.

WANSCHURA: I take a stack of journals, head to a back room and start reading.

On September 14, 1993 a newlywed couple ditched their honeymoon cruise in the Caribbean and came here instead.

AUSTIN ROWLADER: My wife and I are sitting…enjoying each other’s company over a meal before the hike to Greenstone Falls. Wow – my wife and I – pretty interesting. Though we did not read all entries – we appear to be the first honeymoon couple in this cabin / book. We wish you all well, and happy hiking.
Tom and Kimberly

CHRISTY L’ESPERANCE: August 11 + 12, 2019
We went out on the canoe the first night and looked at the stars from on the lake. It was breathtaking, and we recommend it, even if it is just for the silent water and chirping bats. 
Gabrielle + Peter

(sounds of walking on snow)

WANSCHURA: Alright, I am hiking on my way back to the cabin and I decided to go for a little detour and check out the East Vista.

WANSCHURA: The Porkies are one of those rare places in the Midwest where you actually feel like you’re in the mountains. They overlook Lake Superior. Over half the forest is old growth. Big hemlock trees. Virgin hardwoods.

WANSCHURA: Ok. Wow, here we are. Wow, the snow is deep out here. Wooh. Ok, so…a great view of the Porcupine Mountains and you can see Lake Superior.

WANSCHURA: Even though it’s cold and gray, it’s still beautiful. It’s not hard to see why so many people see this place as an escape.

PETER PAVLOWICH: July 3, 1976 It’s now approaching dusk … and the cabin is captured by a mellow mood. I’ve been looking back through the pages of this log and have found that most of the people who stay here are pretty hip and tuned into the natural settings. I guess that’s one thing we all share – a love and concern for nature.
Imagine this world without a…lake, or grass, or mountains, or rocks. Imagine a world of skyscrapers and cement and you will understand our concern.
S.H.

GRETCHEN CARR: July 2, 1963
Our last night – and like everyone else – we hate to think it will soon mean a rush back to traffic – phones – the rush of everyday living. 
[A family from] Waukesha, Wisconsin

WANSCHURA: But kinda like Newton’s Third Law of Motion, for every experience, there’s also an equal and opposite experience logged.

STEPHANIE PIERCE: July 29, 2022
It’s my 29th birthday and I am here with my love. Fabulous weather, though the bugs are tough. … Looking forward to slow living here for a few days.
July 30 – Update – Well, we’re engaged! I got to say yes overlooking Lake of the Clouds. This cabin is forever sacred now!
Anna and Drew

MICHAEL LIVINGSTON: September 5, 2023 This cabin was never really on my list to stay at. Despite its petite size, I have not been disappointed. It is perfect for a single guy who up until three months ago, had been planning a backpacking trip [through] the middle part of the park with his girlfriend. It would have been only a few weeks after our three year anniversary. I have read in this journal of people on their pre-honeymoon, or getting engaged, or just celebrating anniversaries. I have not come here for that. After she left, I canceled the backcountry sites I had reserved and decided a cabin would be better since I was now going solo. … So here I am, in the middle of the woods by myself about to get dumped on with one-two inches of rain tonight.
But I’ve had time to think, reflect, to rehash those “what if” scenarios. All that deep emo stuff, you know. … Don’t worry, I’ll be alright, I’ve weathered this shit before. I just thought that she was going to be my last girlfriend, then I screwed it up. Sometimes the most amazing and beautiful things in the world are also the most fragile, you have to be careful with them. You have to work at it and show your feelings. Let them know you care. Never assume anything, and never take anything for granted…
R.P.F. – La Crosse, Wisconsin

(sounds of preparing dinner in cabin)

WANSCHURA: It’s time for dinner. I start a fire in the stove, pour some water in a pot, and put it on the stove to boil.

WANSCHURA: So we got some freeze dried creamy macaroni and cheese tonight. I almost went for the alfredo, but man, sometimes that alfredo does a number to my body. So we’ll give macaroni and cheese a shot. 

WANSCHURA: As the water heats up, the sun goes down, and man, it gets dark fast when you don’t have electricity. I was glad for my solar-powered camping light. That’s something five college students from Michigan Technological University didn’t have the luxury of 70 years ago.

DAVIS BOOS: February [13], 1955:
You who come behind us, I hope you can read this if you desire. I realize now what made Abe Lincoln famous, anybody who would study by fire light has really got drive. I have a hard time with studies even under the best of conditions. I can barely see to write, let alone read it over. We are using the lantern sparingly, we didn’t bring gas, or candles even.

WANSCHURA: Alright, time to try some of this mac and cheese deliciousness here. (sounds of eating) Well, not the best I’ve had, but not the worst. Considering the circumstances, I’ll take it. 

WANSCHURA: I cleaned my pot. And zipped up all my trash in the empty mac n cheese package. The last thing I wanted was to be trapped in a cabin with a hungry mouse nosing around. But I didn’t have any visitors. I was lucky. Not everyone who stays in these cabins is.

IZZY ROSS: September 27, 1974
The mouse (who lives behind a roll of screen in the rafters over the wood bin) may be fond of cheese – that’s tolerable – but she also loves Oreo cookies; and she doesn’t keep her mouth shut while she chews – which is especially bothersome at night.
T.J.A.

(sounds of walking on snow)

WANSCHURA: On one of my hikes, I run into another camper.

CHRISTOPHER RICHARDSON:  Christopher Richardson – currently from Chicago, Illinois. Although I was born and raised in Michigan.

WANSCHURA: Some people like to be comfortable when they hike, but Christopher likes to be comfortable when he camps. His pack is stuffed to the gills.

RICHARDSON: With the water bottles and all the food now, it’s close to 80 pounds, which is too heavy, but I only got to go three miles. So, not that bad.

WANSCHURA: Christopher tries to make it up to the Porkies at least once a year. He says he’s hiked every marked trail here.

RICHARDSON:  Now that that’s done, I think I need to stay in all the cabins. And leave an entry in every logbook. 

WANSCHURA: I like it.

WANSCHURA: He’s already stayed in 11 of the 23 rustic cabins and yurts.

RICHARDSON:  I write every time I’m in a cabin. … I might read through the entries from a couple of days before I got there. Just to see what the weather’s been like, or if there have been any, you know, developments like bad trail conditions or something I should be aware of. But for the most part, I just like writing in the journal, in the log book, signing my name and hoping that someone reads it and, you know, gets something out of it. … It’s a nice way of feeling not just connected to the Porkies, which I do just because I love it up here, and it feels like home, but I’m leaving a little piece of me in that journal. And I suppose I always figured someone would come along and do something with them. And here you are.

WANSCHURA: Yeah, here I am. It’s funny, because the guy who’s here to do something with the journals has never journaled much. I’m kinda nervous about what I’m going to write for my own entry. Unlike Christopher, I find the entries about weather and trail conditions to be kinda boring. I want to come up with something more meaningful and lasting. But, again, I’m probably over romanticizing it.

BILL CHURCH: June 9, 1976
The ranger told us it was only two and a half miles from the highway to the cabin. He lied. With two kids, one five years and one ten months, it’s at least seven miles. Barbara, the wife and mother, and Matthew the five year old, are fishing. I’m trying to lull Michael, the baby, to sleep. 
Saw a black bear yesterday as we entered the trail. Sure did a lot of looking over my shoulder on the way down here. I don’t know if the seven foot birch limb I carried the whole trip would have offered any protection or not, but it made me feel a little braver. After all, daddy’s are supposed to be able to fight black bears along with a couple of lions and tigers too…
I think I just set a new Ontonagon County record if not the record for the entire world for fly swatting. More details later.
Matthew is amazing. I couldn’t believe that little guy walked all the way down here with very few rests and a 35 millimeter camera hanging around his neck. Especially since we had just hiked about three miles earlier in the day. Michael had it made. Riding in the carrier on mama’s back and eating leave[s] from low hanging branches…
Time to sign off. Getting ready to leave. Sure don’t love this place.
[A family from] Dearborn Heights, Michigan.
Oh! Almost forgot. The fly swatting record is now for the entire universe.  

RICH BRAUER: May 19, 1957 
10pm – We are very sorry we made the trip as Ethel is pregnant and is starting her pains – they are coming every 7 ½ minutes and I’m worried.
[May 20]
3:40[pm] Baby boy 7 lbs (approx) born this afternoon. Hiked out for Dr. … Couldn’t find him. Think I’ll take up doctoring for a living.
M.J.
A.B.
Peshtigo, Wisconsin

(sounds of chopping wood)

WANSCHURA: There’s a beautiful simplicity to chopping wood for your very existence. It’s more meaningful than walking over to adjust a thermostat. There’s an intentionality to it. That’s something you can often find in these pages.

BRIAN MICHAEL RAETZ: December 11, 2024
I thought mostly about a single question: If I was at the end of my life, what would I wish I would have done differently? … 
Solitude is one of the oldest and most cross-cultural spiritual disciplines. Cross Cut Cabin, hunkered down with a cozy fire (despite the incoming 2ft of snow!) is a chapel in which to practice!
David
Madison, Wisconsin

(sounds from inside cabin)

WANSCHURA: It’s my final night at Crosscut Cabin. I leave early tomorrow morning. And I’m thinking about all the people who wrote in the journals – their different ages, different backgrounds, different beliefs, living in very different times from each other.

But they’re all tied together by this place – the Porkies.

After reading hundreds of entries in varying degrees of chicken scratch and fancy looping cursive – what strikes me is that the world has changed a lot since the 1950s. But at the same time, nothing’s changed. We all come here to get away. Some love it. Others don’t. That’s what these journals show – the story of the human experience, I guess.

I’m still stressing about what to write in my cabin’s journal. I’ve put it off until the last minute. I think back to something Christopher Richardson, the other camper, said.

RICHARDSON: But I’m leaving a little piece of me in that journal. 

WANSCHURA: What piece of me am I gonna leave?

WANSCHURA: So, Christopher, do you ever look back at your entries and say, “Wow, that was pretty boring?” 

RICHARDSON: Hahahaha!  

WANSCHURA: And the reason I ask is because I’m going to write in the logbook tonight, and I’m having some pre-journaling jitters, I guess. Like, “What do I write about?” I dunno, do you have any tips for somebody who’s never written in one of these Porcupine Mountain log books?

RICHARDSON:  It’s funny you should ask. I used to teach writing … and my advice to my writing students was always, just start. 
Even if it’s– even if you have to write over and over again, “I don’t know what to write. I don’t know what to write. I don’t know what to write.” Cause eventually, your mind will rebel at the boredom, and you will start writing something else… Start with, “I don’t really know what I’m going to write in here, but I’m going to give it a shot.” 

WANSCHURA: I don’t really know what I’m going to write in here, but I’m going to give it a shot. That’s kind of ironic because for the past two days, I’ve been pouring over the park’s archives of these journals for a podcast episode I’m working on. Even though this has been a “work” trip, my stay in this simple cabin has been refreshing and super satisfying… something about tending a fire when it’s 10 below outside. My first night here I got to see a full moon light up the forest, and cast long pine tree shadows on the snow. That was cool. Then this morning, I woke up to a world covered in a new layer of fresh snow. I felt like I was walking through Narnia. I even took my camera out to get some shots – haven’t done that in a while. Leaving tomorrow will be bittersweet. It’s very rare I get this much dedicated quiet time, and for that I’m grateful. But the tradeoff is worth it, knowing I’ve got a loving wife and two beautiful little boys waiting for me to come home. May you find rest for your soul here.
Dan W. (Traverse City, Michigan)

WANSCHURA: It’s a little cliche, I know. True – but cliche. I told ya, I tend to over romanticize things. See, some things never change.

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Catch more news at Great Lakes Now:

Points North: Bear Trouble

Points North: Back to the Boundary Waters

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Featured image: For the past 70 years, visitors to the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park rustic cabins and yurts have written in log books, pouring their hearts out, making jokes, telling stories, and capturing the human experience. (Photo Credit: Dan Wanschura/Points North)