April Showers

Well we've had a lot of rain this month.  Last weekend we paddled on Friday and Sunday.  Friday April 14th the river was "up", around 2.4 and a good ride.  We went from Avon & Livernois to Yates.  Dale in his canoe and Tom T. in his kayak joined me for a fast run.  We met a guy named Ken who was checking out our boats and we may see him on the river some time.  There were no portages, but only because the water was high enough to run over anything and we were able to pull over some logs at the Vortex of Death.  The Vortex will be needing some woody debris management, thought is to open up the left side where the river used to run and let everything collect in the Vortex.

We were busy on Saturday, not sure if anyone made it out, but we did have another trip on Sunday the 14th.  Dale, Richey, Tom T., John B, Jarret and I made the trip from A&L to Ryan.  We met Jeanee H. at the put in and she may join us on a future trip.  Several spots along the way were woody debris managed, including some around Area 13 and the stretch just before the high banks where the house used to be.  There was some good surfing in Rochester Rapid.  The new landing under Rochester road is nice but could have used some rocks to block upstream to give cover when trying to get in or out of your kayak!   The Falls at Yates were nasty looking, I had my creek boat and perhaps it "could" have made it over without incident, but I was not feeling up to finding out so I portaged around! 

Just around the bend after Avon road we ran into Ruth and chatted with her for a few. An Oakland County Sherriff asked Dale if he had a life jacket with him, he did.  The officer also asked if we could bring a canoe across from the other side that some canoeists decided to leave there as they hiked back around, all wet and cold!  We got the boat back across without incident. 

Further down the river we had a spot that is always a problem being a problem.  River right was managed with the Stihl chainsaw and then Dale also opened up the middle a little by cutting on a log that spanned to river left.  A short distance down from there we came around the corner where there was another canoe in trouble!  This one was up against a log jam and there was a tree jammed into the bow handle and the deck.  Dale had to cut the limb to free it up and it took all of us quite some time to get it free.  Two fishermen told us the owners had started hiking toward the end, but we never did find them.  We have the canoe and will see if we can get it back to them.  We stopped on the bank and made a fire to warm our hands and bodies up a bit.  It was actually getting pretty nice out, considering there was some snow like precipitation coming down earlier on the trip.  The rest of the trip to Ryan was pretty much open, one spot I recall required a little bit of speed to get over a log.

As I am composing this post tonight the TV20 news just showed the river at Heritage Park on Van Dyke, it was going over the canoe landing, all you could see were the rails!  The river is supposed to crest tonight and we have a trip planned for tomorrow, but it will be a cold one since the high will only be 46 degrees tomorrow!

So far it sounds like we will only have a few seasoned paddlers tomorrow, so it should be fun.  The plan is for an A&L to Ryan run.

Here are some pictures from the last couple of trips.

Ken checking out the boats at the put in behind the Dr. Offices at A&L

Bloomer Bridge with some new wood.

Dale pushing through the Vortex of Death, river left route.

Yates Falls at 2.4'!!!  We did not run it!

Tom, myself and Dale at the put in.

The crew on Sunday: John B, me, Richey, Jarret and Dale

An old log from 2005!

Richey at the high bank where the house used to be at the top

Richey

Jarret

Dale

The new launch under Rochester Road.  Nice but could have used some rocks upstream to block the current!  Kind of hard to take out in a kayak for sure.

At Diamond Splitter (you can see it between the kayak and Dale)  We cleared up the bank a little for future stops.

Kak Rapid, there was a tree going horizontal between the left bank and the tree in the river but we took it out.  Might be able to play here some.

Cutting the problem spot, middle channel.

Here we are getting the canoe off the jam.

Warming up by the fire!

 

See you on the river!