Hopping Down the MCR!

Wow, what a day on the Mighty Clinton River! 

I got up early and checked the gage, it was running at 2.23 so I thought the Paddlepalooza was going to get cancelled.  By 7am we were making plans to run the Auburn Hills section and since we had not seen any notice the race was cancelled we figured it might just be running. (note to Paddlepalooza organizers, put out notifications the race is still on when it is questionable!)  We barely made it to the park at Squirrel & Auburn, registered and ran a quick shuttle.  Got back for the start of the race with only minutes to spare.

The race started shotgun style and we were off!  I was able to get into the 3rd place slot from the get go, but with 2 long sea kayak boats in front of me and another on my tail, I soon dropped back into 4th place.  First and Second place had boats in the 15 foot range followed by a 2 person Otter kayak paddled by one guy (Bob) that boat is heavy and wide, I thought I might be able to catch him at some point but only caught glimpses of the leaders as the race wore on.  I was paddling a 13 foot Hurricane Tampico XL (like the current 140) and it was a good choice of boats for this high water run.  The race was really back in the pack among the 12-13 foot boats, I had a guy on my tail pushing me most of the way down the river.

We came around a bend to see a kayak hung up in a log jam on river right and another guy on river left out of his boat, it was the 1st and 2nd place paddlers!  No one was injured or drowning and since this was a race, we slowed down and then passed them by to continue with the race.  Eventually the guy on the bank was back in his boat and caught up with me.  By the time we hit Avon & Livernois, just before the end of the race the guy in 4th place banged into me and pulled himself past me, yes he grabbed my boat and shoved me back!  Not nice, I should have whacked him!  Oh well, it was probably more important to him to be 3rd.

After I took out I went back to the finish line and watched a bunch of the kayaks and the canoes finish up.  The first place tandem canoe team came across the finish line and hit a stump in the water and dumped!  (see pictures below)  We all went over to the Rivercrest banquet hall for hot dogs while the raffles and awards were passed out.  They had some nice raffle prizes, I won a dry bag.  The trophies were nice looking too.

After the race Dale and I followed a worker from Rochester Hills into a sub division to look for a lost boat that was hung up on a log. We made our way into the back of a park (River Woods?) and to the spot the boat was last seen, but it was gone!  Now we know where this place is and it will be a stop spot when we do the Auburn section of the MCR.

That same day there was to be a race further downriver in Utica from Ryan to Van Dyke/Heritage Park so we shuttled Dale's van down to Van Dyke and headed up with the plan to paddle down to Yates and be there by 3pm to meet a group of people and get them launched.  By the time we ran the shuttle it looked like it would be tight to be to Yates by 3pm, so we opted to go directly there and relax and enjoy a few beverages while we waited.  I had hoped they would be there a little early so we could launch and get down to Ryan for the race, but they did not show up until closer to 4pm.  This group had 23 kayaks, a group of friends out paddling for the day to celebrate a 19th birthday.  The group had the parents of the birthday girl and a few other adults and the rest were in the 19 year range or around there.  Many if not all of this group had never paddled before!  We knew there was going to be some excitement on the river but had no idea how much!

By the time the group turned the corner away from Yates Cider Mill, several were already partaking in therapeutic swims in the healing waters of the Mighty Clinton River!  Later, after the run, Dale and I were reviewing the day and decided the problem was many of these paddlers were hugging the banks for a false sense of security and then running into snags and trees on the bank.  Many of these paddlers must have been members of the Sierra Club or similar organizations as they found the need to hug the trees as their kayaks went into them and you know what the result of that is!  Oh, you don't, well if you grab a tree or overhanging branch while in a boat traveling down the river at the speed of the current it will immediately push you down into the water!  This was how every one of the swims on this straight stretch occurred early on. 

I tried to grab a boat and turn it upside to float it and promptly flipped!  I missed my first roll, set up and made the second roll but since I am not used to the boat I was in, the roll continued and I flipped right over the other side!  I made my next roll and lost my hat but quickly retrieved it.  I was not sure what to do about all the carnage floating down the river.  I got a few boats over into some eddy's and also a few paddles, then paddled ahead and got out of my boat so I could snag some boats as they floated by.  A few of the kids were able to pull over by me and I helped them to get their boats emptied out, but we had no paddles!  Eventually one guy went down without a paddle but we got a stick to him later and then Phil & Stephanie dropped off a couple paddles. 

When I got down to the spot near the end of Holland Ponds where the river makes a right hand 90 degree turn that is usually a problem spot, most of the group was pulled out on the jam/sandbar.  As I approached this area I tried to get a paddle to the guy with the stick but he was already into the swift water going into the log jam above this sandbar, I yelled for him to lean to his "right" but then had to tell him to lean to "his other right"!  He leaned left and was quickly experiencing the feeling of being liberated from his kayak!

We took a small break on the sandbar.  A girl named Rachel and her friends were already there helping the group (Thanks!) so we got everyone regrouped and launched again back down the river, we needed to get to Ryan road because at this point on the river there is little if any trail on river left.  Not too far past there as we came around Rock Island II, a guy (Eric) was hanging onto the tree in the water on river right.  He had lost his paddle and his glasses and was using a stick, but the stick was not enough of a tool to get him through this corner.  I used my throw rope to give him a tow and get him onto Rock Island II.  I told him his best bet was to try and work his way back up river until he could find the better trail and head back to Yates, but as it turned out without his glasses he could not make much progress.  Rachel and company came by and let him use their cell phone, later Jerry paddled down to him and got him to Ryan.

I paddled along with Eric's wife, she was doing pretty good and got through a few tense spots.  When we came around the corner at the last hard spot where you can see Ryan Road, several people were on the bank.  Eventually we got them all down to Ryan.  Eric's wife decided to continue on to Heritage/Van Dyke because some of the kids had gone on down.  Samantha and a few guys went down too and eventually had to rescue a few other people.  By the end everyone made it out alive.

Dale and I decided (wisely) to pull out at Ryan, we were physically beat!  Jerry dropped us off at Yates where my Jeep was and Dale took Phil's truck down to Heritage then picked up his van and met me back at Coyote Joe's on Ryan.  We sat on the bank and enjoyed a few beverages when Jerry & Eric paddled up.  We shuttled them back to Heritage then Dale and I stopped at Al's Hideout on Van Dyke and Utica, I had never been there before, we had some burgers and then went home.

Now for the bad news.  When we were at Heritage earlier in the day, the police were telling us that a guy had locked his bike to the fence and then went up to Ryan to run the river solo on Thursday night, he never got off the river.  With the high levels this week, he may still be under a log jam.  My heart goes out to the family and I hope everyone understands it is not safe to paddle alone, especially in high water, remember the river was very high on Thursday night.

So things were definitely hopping on the river all day long yesterday, it was another exciting day on the Mighty Clinton River!

Here is the photographic evidence of the day, enjoy!

Rick awaiting the start

And we're off!

Had to brace at the start of the race! 

Lori & Curt coming through a tricky spot on the Paddlepalooza race

Kayaker finishing up the race

The first place tandem canoe team

First place tandem canoe team not paying attention!

First place tandem canoe team doing a little swimming!

The result of their swim!

They made it out ok

Lori & Curt at the finish line!  (they took 2nd place!)

Yeah!  They missed the stump!

The short bus

Clinton River Canoe & Kayak

Secret weapon stealth boat!  Wrapped in Tyvek and Duct Tape, hey it worked!

3rd, 1st and 2nd place kayakers (Richard, Bob and Steve)

2nd, 1st & 3rd place tandem canoe teams

Jenny!

The launch into the abyss! 

Stopped on the sandbar

Dale throwing a rope to Rachel

In good spirits in spite of the day!

Rachel

Eric's wife

Phil and Stephanie on rescue patrol