Mighty Clinton River (MCR) !!: 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.