Hello it's been while! Been having technical difficulties and lack of time to work on them or update the blog for quite a while now. Anyways, according to the calendar, it's Spring! The water levels on the MCR have been good lately and I finally got on the river last weekend, level was 2.05 on the Auburn Hills "feet" gage. A group of 8 went from Avon & Livernois to Ryan last Sunday. We figured Yates might be busy with fishermen so we went the extra half hour to Ryan for our takeout.
The group included Richie G., Lori & Curt, Dale, Jarrett, John B., Rob C. and myself. Several downed trees were encountered but thanks to Dale none of us had to get out of our boats! I believe 5 were cut along the way. The big one after 2nd Street is gone now but it floated down into another log and could be a problem in the future.
The day was actually quite nice and I wore a short sleeved dry top with neoprene shorts, never got cold. I paddled my little play boat, my Dagger Agent. It worked out pretty good and my body held up quite well considering some of the issues my shoulder, knee and hip have been giving me! My shoulder had an injury skiing at Whistler maybe 10 years ago when I landed with it behind and under my body, could not lift my arm for a few days! I was younger and did not seek medical attention, it is making itself known, the Doc says there is a deposit irritating my shoulder - meds prescribed. My knee is my "good" knee and there seems to be some slop in there with a ligament flipping over a bone or something! Cortisone was injected and it already feels better! (my bad knee has a trimmed meniscus and no ACL!) I fell on the ice in January, twice, and there is a hairline crack in a bone on my back/hip/pelvis, somewhere down there, saw it in the x-ray! For that I was prescribed a nasal spray derived from salmon! Go figure! We'll see how all this works out, if only I could find the Fountain of Youth!
Anyways, back to paddling! Curt snagged a snapping turtle! He is just like that Turtle Man down South we see on TV! John B. tried to run over a log that was just cut and floating downstream, it broke loose with him on top and he rode it down a bit! We didn't stop too much on this trip, no fires and not even a stop at Rock Island.
The Maitland river in Goderich Ontario was running very high this past weekend. Some of our paddlers were talking about heading over but I was not up to the challenge - it was running over 5 feet, probably closer to 6! We usually used to run it at the 2 to 4 foot range and had lots of fun. Over 4 feet and it can be a survival run! I'll have to follow up with Jim McH. and his buddy to find out if they went.
No plans to paddle Easter weekend, but you never know! Check the Clinton River MI Paddle Page on Face Book for updates on river trips that are planned. We're trying to get this going where Face Book will be used to post upcoming river trips and then pictures and brief descriptions, then post more detailed river trips and pictures here on the blog. Also, you may have noticed a few new tabs on the blog for equipment, river routes, etc., plans are to expand those and make them good references for some of the FAQ's on that stuff.
That's all for now, just wanted to get this posted along with some pictures. Enjoy!
Beaver Chew!
Lori's Cheez-It catastrophe!
Dale cleaning up the beaver chew!
Dale setting out for the day
Jam Before
Jam After
Another Before Shot
Another After Shot (me in the Dagger Agent)
An old picture from the Maitland River in Goderich Ontario
Curt n Lori's Shuttle Bug! (with Daisy in the foreground)
John B. Riding the Log!
Curt with the snapper, John B. and Rob C.
Jarrett in the tunnel! This is in the Yates to Ryan section on a little inlet you paddle back up
Typical work on the MCR and the man who does it! King of the Clinton: Dale G!
