Paddlepalooza Cancelled

The Paddlepalooza has been cancelled for tomorrow, Saturday June 1st and rescheduled for June 15th.  The rain over the past several days has kept the Auburn Hills gage near and over 2.0 and with more rain predicted the river will be too high for the "unclean masses"! ;)

There will be a group of us heading out for a run from where the Paddlepalooza starts in the park in Auburn Hills (Squirrel & Auburn roads) to Yates park. Plan is to drop boats and be to Yates by 9:30am so we can set up shuttles.

Maybe we'll see you on the river?

Late Breaking News and other Updates!

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New pictures and a video were added to yesterday's blog post (Impromptu1.94 below)

Paddlepalooza is this weekend!  (if the gage stays below 2.0)  If there is going to be water near the 2.0 level I may try to attend, not sure yet.  This is Saturday June 1st.  The level has to be over 1.6 or 1.7 for me to paddle this section.
Here is the link for Paddlepalooza:
http://71.6.170.26/revize/auburnhills/community/downtown/paddlepalooza/docs/Paddlepalooza_2013.pdf

Sunday June 2nd will be a sanctioned MI canoe race with pro/semi-pro paddlers in Mt. Clemens.  

For details see www.clintonrivercanoeclassic.weebly.com

 

Race Info:

The first race starts at 10 a.m. and is for the two-person elite class. The route starts at the gazebo at the Mount Clemens Municipal Building, goes west to the Moravian bridge in Clinton Township, then east to the Bridgeview bridge in Harrison Township, finishing back at the gazebo — a distance of 15.2 miles.The second two-person professional race begins at 10:30 a.m. at the gazebo, travels west to Moravian, east to I-94, ending at the gazebo for a trip of 10.5 miles.

The single-person canoe race, starting at 2 p.m., consists of two loops beginning at the gazebo, traveling west to Moravian, concluding at the gazebo. The route is 14.9 miles.

The kayak race starts at noon. It will run from the gazebo, west to the Shadyside Park pedestrian bridge in Mount Clemens, ending back at the gazebo — a distance of 3.6 miles.

 Some of us may be paddling around the river in this area on Sunday to watch the racers.

 

 

 

Saturday June 22nd the Skiwi Ski & Social Club will sponsor a paddle on the Mighty Clinton River from Yates to Van Dyke (Heritage Park).  Clinton River Canoe & Kayak will be our outfitter and you can paddle a kayak for $35 or two to a canoe for $50 ($25 per person) and this will include a riverside lunch.  (no alcohol will be provided but you can bring your non-Styrofoam cooler) (Styrofoam breaks up and messes up the river if you lose it!)  We will also accommodate private boaters with their own boats for $15 per person to cover shuttle and lunch.
 

For Info, Check the "Current Events" page on the Skiwi Ski Club site:

http://www.skiwiskiclub.com/current_events.html 

 

 

The predictions for the next few days include showers and the river has risen to over and around 4 foot the last 2 days!  Tonight would have been even better than last night if you like high water and have the right gear! Reading is 2.74' at 8pm tonight.  They may have to cancel the Paddlepalooza due to high water, who knows!  The Mt. Clemens race will most likely NOT be cancelled.

As I write this I can hear the rain outside!  :) 

 

 

 

 

Impromptu Paddle 1.94

Got the call from Doug Tuesday night asking if I thought the river would be good on Wednesday after work.  Checked the gage and it was at 4.4!  Decided to load the boat and take it with me to work so I could meet after work.  After a posting to Face Book on the Clinton River MI Paddle Page, we picked up 2 more for sure's and a maybe for the run.  Ended up being Jarrett, Steve, Doug, Dale and I paddling.  We left a couple cars at Yates then ran up to A&L for our launch.  Water was kicking pretty nice with a muddy brown tint.  The level for pretty much the whole run ended up being around 1.94 feet on the Auburn Hills Gage.

Right off the get go we came around the corner after the Doctor's office lot and there was a jam!  Dale got out and made short work of it and we were on our way without a portage.

There were a lot of spots to show Doug some whitewater paddling techniques.  Had him trying eddy turns and peel outs, by the end of the run Doug actually surfed over by the old RR bridge after Yates falls. 

We ran into Thorton or Thorston?  He was paddling a Kevlar carbon fiber kayak/canoe.  I think it was an actual C1 race canoe with a skirt.  According to reliable sources and to quote them "he was flying down the river"!  We ran into Cher and Melissa who we met the week before.  It was decided this would be a weekly paddling event.  LOL!  Just kidding, but we have had a decent season this Spring.  I'm sure we'll see these two on the river from time to time, they seemed to be having a good time!

Other noteworthy events was watching Steve do a little swim across from Rock Island!  He did good though, his hat never got wet!  We also had a tense moment after Rochester heading into the "Scary Corridor" where Doug almost went under a tree, well he actually did but managed to keep upright!  Also along there on your way down towards Paint Creek where the old chemical tanks used to be, there was a dead tree with many branches hanging out from river right that got your attention.  I ran the falls, successfully!  I thought it was not so bad because the flow through the pillows after the drop seemed like it was primarily downstream, but then I paddled back up into it and could really feel it pulling me in, had to back paddle out!

Some quick pics posted here, maybe I'll update this sometime after getting a few more pictures and add the video of the falls run, stay tuned!

Woody Debris just after the Doctor's Office

 

Adjusted Woody Debris!

Looking back upstream at the 'Scary Corridor'  This is after Rochester about 1/4 mile, after you make the right/left turn with all the broken cement on the banks, down where St. James Paper Co. used to be on river left, before you get to Paint Creek, where there is an iron seawall on river right.

 

Steve's Swim

Dale

 

Doug running through Rochester Rapid!

 

Into the Vortex of Death (this is upstream looking into the corner, a Left Hand 90 degree turn)

Steve, Jarrett & Doug

Cher

Melissa

 

Running the dam at Yates.  DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS!

Do as I say, not as I do! 

When we run this we have safety people with ropes and boats ready and our gear is made for this kind of a run, but any low head dam is dangerous even with the "right" equipment!

 

Axe Men

Quite a long day on the MCR yesterday.  The plan was to do some work on a tree that came down at the Vortex of Death.  We had just got the VofD area open a week or so ago and although there were some high winds, I wondered how that big tree on river right could have come down.  Well it had some help, someone took an axe to the tree!  The tree was eventually going to come down, but it didn't need help and it would have been there for a long time.  A second tree a little further down river was also chopped.  More on this later.

We launched from Avon & Livernois to some low flow, only 1.3 on the Auburn gage.  The run was pretty technical with sand and gravel beds all around channeling the water into obstructions that are not usually a problem in higher flow days.  We adjusted a few spots along the way but kept a few in tact on the A&L to Rochester section since that is considered the "advanced" area.  You have to keep an eye on things going down this river, you never know what will be around the bend and it changes all the time.

Between the low water and flow making for slow go and a few stops to take care of some annoying little snags, the day was very long.  Most of our time was spent at the VofD.  Kudo's to Dale who got right out in the water up to his chest and made the cuts and to Jarret for dragging the logs up on the bank.  We spent a good hour or more there working on the corner, then pulled over on river left, sort of in the middle of the log jam since we weren't really on the bank.  As we sat there enjoying a beverage, 3 guys came along and we were highly suspect that they had something to do with the chopping incedent, but we couldn't really be sure and we kind of discounted that thought.  However they did start throwing some of the logs back into the river so Jarret asked if they had a good reason for doing that and they stopped, for the time being.  Don't know what it is with people when they see logs on the side of the river and decide they have to throw them into the river?

We saw a few people paddling on the river but not as many as we would have expected.  A couple came by as we started working on the  VofD and a pair of paddlers went by when we took a break at Marker 14 above Ryan, but I think it was after Camp Island, so near the end.  Jarret had taken out at Yates, Dale and I launched soon after the 2 paddlers went by, thought we might catch them before Ryan but did not.  We were surprised to learn later they made it to Heritage before we were able to get packed up and visit with Jerry at the yard.

I was sore and I know Dale had to be after all the work he did on the river.  People who go down the river only occasionally probably don't notice any of the work we do, they just get to enjoy their paddle trips!  The river is certainly groomed and on the verge of being "manicured".  We have heard of some grumbles from fishermen who can't pull their lines for a few minutes while we "free and clear" channels on the river.  We are only there for a short time while doing most of the woody debris management, note to fishermen, pull your lines for a few!  We do our best to be quick and move on and also avoid their lines when passing by.  We can all enjoy the river if we work together.

Before shot of a good example of a small snag that along with the gravel bar can be a bad spot for novices and real annoying for the rest.

After shot showing the opening.

 

Arrow shows where the tree was chopped to make it topple. 

Result of the chopping.  It didn't take as much as you would have thought to make this crack and come down!  We'll probably never figure out who did this.

 

This is what the VofD looked like before we cut it out.

After the adjustments.

 

 

 

Work in process on the corner.

 

Manicuring

 

Grooming

 

This snag could spear you as you get hung up on the gravel!

Adjusted!

 

Jarret

 

Paddlers enjoying the fruit of our efforts

 

 

 

Spring Run at 2.2 foot

Another beautiful Spring day on the Mighty Clinton River with 2.2' on the Auburn Hills gage.  We took Amy and Marianne down for their first run down the A&L section of the river, previous to this Amy had only put in at 2nd Street.  Marianne also brough Oliver the wonder dog along!  We dropped gear at A&L then met at Coyote Joe's on Ryan by 10am, on the river by 10:30am!

The first 11 minutes were without incedent, but right around the 12 minute mark, going through Stewart Rapid, Amy decided to test her boat out and see if it would go over a rock instead of around.  The rock won and Amy swam! :)  She recovered pretty quick and we were on our way.  A quick stop was made just as you enter Area 13 where we looked at Ruin Number 1.  From here we made our way to Rochester Rapid pretty quick and everyone made it through the rapid without incedent.  I got a great surf at the rapid.  Our next stop was at Kak rapid where we showed Ruin Number 2 to Amy, Marianne and Oliver. We didn't stop at Rock Island and continued on to Yates falls without any problems.  I ran the falls at Yates, pretty smooth run over them but a little wobble on the recovery.  We stopped for a long break at the Falls before continuing on.

We were on our way and had a nice paddle through the Yates to Ryan section. Our next stop was at Camp Island which is across from the 13 marker (Area 13B perhaps?).  The girls had parties and such to make so we gave them some advice to keep left near the end when they get into some "stuff".  I hope they didn't have any problems there, it was a little tricky.  (found out they were A-OK!)

John took off, then Dale and I finished up a beverage or two before we made our way to the end.  We stopped at Rob's on the way home and watched the 139th running of the Kentucky Derby, Dale almost won some money with his Win/Place/Show ticket when Normandy Invasion came in 4th.

Another fine day on the Mighty Clinton River!

Jerry Reis of Clinton River Canoe & Kayak giving us a shuttle.  This is a great place to rent canoes and kayaks from!

Opps!  Amy drying off after her swim!

Good Doggie Oliver wearing his PFD (Puppy Flotation Device!)

 Just before Area 13, hard to see but if you look straight up from the green kayak, you can see the old channel that goes through to the river and Area 13

Amy, Marianne, John and Dale just before Area 13

John B in Rochester Rapid

King of the Clinton Dale G! 

Amy in Rochester

Oliver and Marianne in Rochester Rapid

A Gnome Home

Ollie and Marianne

Spring Sprung!

See you next time!

Marianne navigating through the Area 13 corner, the log up on River Right can be a problem for some

Amy through Area 13 corner

Paddling buddies: Marianne and Oliver!

Running the falls at Yates!

Beauty Spring Day!

Today was so nice you didn't need any splash jacket or dry top, unless maybe if you were going to swim!  Jarret and I took Doug down to try out his new kayak!  The gage was running at 2.35, a very nice level and with the temps near 80 we had a great day for Doug to debut his new Jackson Karma kayak.  After a few quick tips we launched around 5pm.  Doug was a little shaky around the first corner but quickly got the feel for his new creek boat.  By the time we were just past the bike path bridge Doug was already trying simple eddy turns. 

There was some lovely wildlife sitting on the bank at the psychedelic tree (sorry no pictures) and people were all over the path walking and biking.  It was a great day to be on the river and we quickly made it to Rochester Rapid where I only was able to get one good surf.  I did get a nice surf at Voodoo rapid and a pretty good boof on Voodoo Rock.  We made a quick stop at Rock Island to stretch our legs and then took off for Yates. 

Doug decided a 'baptismal' was in order at the By Pass as he suddenly initiated a roll, he changed his mind mid-way and opted for a wet exit instead!  Yeah, he swam!  There is a squirrely whirlpool eddy line of water coming off a tree in the water and it heads right into the logs jamming the old passage through the By Pass, Doug must not have heard my warning!  Oh well, now he knows how to wet exit and self rescue.

We portaged the dam at Yates and caught some quick surfing at the old RR bridge then took out and ended our trip.  When we got back to Yates from our shuttle a couple pulled up with 2 kayaks and were launching.  I asked where they were going and they vaguley indicated Ryan.  I asked if they had PFD's (life jackets) which they did and how they were going to get back.  The answer was "run back"!  We introduced ourselves to Emily and Josh, then offered to shuttle their vehicle to Ryan/Coyote Joe's.  Josh liked this idea since he was wearing Croc's and not running shoes.  We took their picture (for insurance claim purposes!) and bid them farewell with a few tips on the route.  I'm sure they had a good trip, hope to see them again some time.

Here are a few pictures from today-

Doug in his new Jackson Karma, Jarret in the background in his Jackson Rock Star.

Jarret and Doug with the whirlpool in the foreground

Another shot from within the turbulent water at the By Pass, looking at river left

Doug before the Yates Falls

Emily and Josh putting in at Yates