Elevation: 1,678 - 1,978 ft
Elevation Gain: 300 ft.
Summit Peak is 20 miles in from Silver City. It is a short hike of only 0.5 miles. Don’t bypass this trail for that reason oh seasoned hikers. The view is well worth swallowing your pride and strolling with the tourists.
It starts out in the trees and ascends quickly uphill before transitioning to a series of boardwalks and stairs. There is an intermediate viewing platform, which is very nice, but the view from the final wooden tower will knock your socks off.
I was schizophrenically alternating between jumping up and down like a child on Christmas day and pausing reverently to gaze if not drool over Mother Nature’s bounty. In the distance you could see the deep blue of Lake Superior. Out on the horizon was an ore carrier. We were able to see several of those up close on our trip later in the week to Sault St. Marie.
The first hike we went on in the Porkies was near the Lake and so the colors there had yet to appear. We learned later that the areas near the lake turn last because it is warmer. Warmer?!! I beg to differ. A tree might have found the shore warmer, but we certainly didn’t.
