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At 7 1/2 miles, the Government Peak Trail is the
fourth longest in the park,
connects directly with five other important trails, and provides access
to
some of the remotest interior areas. On most of the hikes listed above,
we
did a portion of this trail in order to access another trail.
(Accessing
the Escarpment Trail 1/4 mile from the Government Peak trailhead at
M-107
was not even included.) However, on the record hot and humid Memorial
Day
weekend of 1988, Mike, Aimee, and Mike's brother Mark proved that it
was
possible to complete the entire Government Peak Trail as part of a loop
day
hike, though they barely survived to tell the story, or so they say.
We began at the Government Peak trailhead at M-107, but by the time the
three
of us reached the other end of the Government Peak Trail to begin our
loop
back, we had hiked between six and seven miles with several steep
uphills
while completing the Escarpment Trail and
3/4 of the North Mirror Lake Trail
. A normal Memorial Day weekend in the western U.P. means worrying
about
how heavy a jacket will be needed to spend time outdoors. Indeed, our
photos
from this trip show us with jackets tied around our waists "just in
case."
If Mike recalls correctly, the temperature reached 89 degrees that day,
breaking
the old record by eight degrees. Especially on North Mirror Lake and
Government
Peak Trails, flies buzzed around us incessantly despite liberal
spraying
with repellent.
Starting from North Mirror Lake Trail, Government Peak Trail passes
through
a muddy, swampy area -- similar to the conditions on the previous mile
of
North Mirror Lake Trail. This area is near the headwaters of the Little
Carp River and Mirror Lake. About a mile beyond this and about 100 feet
higher, we encountered a swampy pond which was part of the headwaters
of
the Upper Carp River, Lake of the Clouds, and the Big Carp River.
After the swamp, we started a moderately steep, approximately half mile
climb
to Government Peak, the second highest point in the park at 1,850 ft.
This
was about nine miles into the hike, and Mike's brother Mark had enough
of
hiking, and not enough of water, at a point about 50 ft short of the
summit. Mike was carrying the canteen, and Mark demanded, "Brother, if
you don't
give me some water right now I'm going to die of dehydration!" The peak
is marked by a sign on a tree, but to be honest, does not really
provide
much of a vista. We descended past another headwaters of the Upper Carp
River, then followed a thankfully flat stretch to the intersection with
the Lost Lake Trail, 4 1/2 miles from North Mirror Lake Trail, and
about
11 miles into our hike.
We were truly exhausted by the time we reached the most scenic segment
of
the trail, where it roughly paralles the Upper Carp River for about a
mile
and a half. This segment is considerably easier to access from the
other
direction, where it is only two to three miles from M-107. Most of our
hikes
on this trail have taken us through this area from that direction. The
highlight is a series of waterfalls, one of which is labeled as Trap
Falls. Several times we have misidentified our location at a waterfall
as Trap
Falls, only to find the sign for it a minute or two after we hiked
away.
After crossing the Upper Carp River on a wooden bridge, it is barely a
mile
past both ends of the Overlook Trail and past the Escarpment Trail to
the
trailhead at M-107.
One thing to remember: Most of the scenic sections of this trail are
found
in the three mile segment from M-107 to the Lost Lake Trail. If you
feel
compelled to do the rest of the trail, try to pick a day when it's not
hot
and humid.
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The Government Peak Trail passes by this swampy area
which is one of the
headwaters of the Upper Carp River. Hence, this is the "beginning" of
Lake
of the Clouds. We reached this, one of the least accessible parts of
the
park, on a Memorial Day weekend hike in 1988. If you call this a
"lake,"
it would be the highest lake in the park at 1660 ft, over 100 ft higher
than
Mirror Lake.
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Government Peak, the second highest point in the
park, is about 1/2 to 3/4
mile beyond the swamp in the previous photo. If Mike looks beat, it's
because
he just climbed 190 ft to the peak from the swamp, and that climb
followed
nine miles of hiking on the Escarpment, North Mirror Lake, and
Government
Peak Trails. His brother Mark claimed dehydration on the 190 ft ascent
and
was unavailable for photo at that time.
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Maria posing at our lunch stop in the vicinity of
Trap Falls on July 27,
1998. We had hiked up Lost Lake Trail and Mike figured this must be
Trap
Falls so we stopped here to eat. A short time after resuming the hike
northbound,
we encountered the sign for Trap Falls.
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Maria's first "I can do it myself" hiking in the
Porkies took place following
our lunch stop on July 27, 1998. She covered about 1/3 mile before
requesting
Dad to carry her in the backpack again. (Her first real hike on her own
two feet took place the previous fall on the Black
Forest Trail in north central Pennsylvania, where she covered
between 1/2 and 3/4 mile
at the age of 2 1/4!)
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