Mighty Clinton River (MCR) !!: Happy New Year 2014!

Another great New Year's Day MCR event! Some of us hiked out early to Rock Island and got a 'main' fire going, then we lit another fire about 5 or so feet away to make a nice warm area to stand around the fire. One fire is just not enough for more than 10 people. For paddlers we had Dale, Jerry & Renee, Steve, Phil, Jarrett, Tom, Scott and Mike. Hikers included Rick, Ed, Richey, Lori, Curt, Mona, John, Jim, Jack and his dog Leroy. Greg and Chris were out for a run in the snow and also stopped by.

For treats we had shrimp, steak bites, lemon chicken, ham & turkey roll ups, cookies, hummas & chips, roll up sandwiches and a few other things. Also had a few growlers with us and at times we had to keep the beer defrosted!

The river was running around 1.5, which is a little below normal for this time of year but the entire route from Avon & Livernois to Yates was portage free, other than the dam! The snow was falling just about the entire time we were out, total accumulation was around 4 inches in that area, but many spots around SE MI/Detroit were getting 6 to 8 inches!

No one swam and everyone enjoyed the treats so it was a great day on the Mighty Clinton River! The last of us left around 5pm as it was getting dark out. On the way home Yates cider mill was lit up and looked really cool. Comments were made that it would probably be a while before the next trip on the river after it warms up a bit!

So, maybe the next update to the blog will be for skiing or hiking around the Mighty Clinton River!