A Good Fall Run

We had a good day for a nice Fall run on Sunday, October 27th with one of the larger groups to go down the MCR in a while.  The crew consisted of myself, Dale, Ed, John B., Doug, Curt, Lori, Linda, Pete, Steve, Phil, Jerry, Rene, and Jarrett.  The river level was showing 1.5 on the Auburn Gage but it seemed lower than that.  It was a bit technical in a few spots where you had to watch it to avoid scraping some gravel.  There were no portages between Avon & Livernois to Ryan, but there is still a limbo log tree across the river just after the 2nd Street stretch when you turn towards the picnic area and on to Rock Island.  Well, we sort of did portage at Rock Island because the current was all going into a log pile on river right but the shore on river left was too shallow to paddle through.  Since we were stopped for a break there I sort of forgot we dragged around that.

The colors were looking good and a lot of trees are losing leaves now, or making like trees and leaf.  ;)  It was a long trip though, we put on around 1:30pm and didn't get off the river until after 5:30 or 6pm.  We did take a long stop at Rock Island and then again a Yates.  Somewhere between those two spots Doug tried to avoid flipping and dislocated his shoulder!  He got into Dale's boat for a ride down to Yates where his wife was waiting for him and we took his boat down and home with us after.  Other than a quick call to hear he had gone to ER and they put his shoulder back in place we have not heard how he is doing but will check on that today.

The rest of us continued down to Ryan road.  We put Jarrett's kayak inside Rene & Jerry's canoe then Jarrett paddled Doug's boat down.  The weather was cool but nice for most of the trip with the better sun and temp's later into the trip. 

Other than Doug's mishap it was a good day on the river!

The put in at Avon & Livernois

Jarrett

Phil

the group

natural colors (no "pop art" on camera)

I like "pop art"

Dale

Rene & Jerry at Area 13

A future problem at the high banks where the house used to be

Rochester Landing

Ed with John B in the background

some red

Phil

Rene & Jerry

A mushroom at Rock Island

Dequindre & Avon by Yates

Just trees

boat shuttle service

Rene & Jerry

Phil

Phil

Lori

 Doug in the red/white boat, quite possibly just after his injury (?)

Kayak Locker and other updates

There was a "Ribbon Cutting" for a new kayak locker at the new launch under Rochester Road.  I missed the actual ceremony and have not had a chance to get over there and check it out in person, but from an earlier trip down this year I know you can pretty much drive right down to the river for launching and loading.  The rack will make it a nice place where you can lock your boat with a cable while you run shuttle.

A big thanks to the City of Rochester for doing this and the Clinton River Watershed Council for getting it going and making it happen.  There was a public meeting a month or so ago in Utica at the library where the CRWC hosted an open discussion of the Clinton River in regard to access and safety.  A lot of good suggestions were made.  People are concerned with safety on the river and there were suggestions to put signs at the popular put-in spots.  The signs would remind people to wear their Personal Flotation Devices (PFD's) / Life Jackets and to alert them that by law you must have one in possession.  (wear it though please, hard to put it on when you are swimming down the river or into a log jam!) 

Whether you are on the MCR or any other river, please also respect the river and surrounding land.  Please don't leave any trash and try to pick some up and take it out when you are out there.  Many sections of the land on the river banks is in the flood plain and probably public but a lot of it is private too.  Occasionally there comes a need to go ashore, maybe for a portage or to rest your legs, please respect all the land as if it were your own.  I have not heard of any problems in this area but recently in Texas a man was shot and killed on a sandbar by a landowner who was tired of people accessing his land via the river.  My opinion is the landowner had no right to use deadly force to evict someone from his land and I would hope it never comes to this in MI, but be aware that not everyone appreciates trespassers! 

Enough of that, get out and enjoy the river.  This week the weather won't be so great, but with the rainy weather it really makes the colors look better against wet dark tree trunks!  Colors in the area should start peaking this week and the levels are staying decent. 

Here are a few pictuers from the past week.

Ribbon Cutting Ceremony

This was adjusted!

This probably was not adjusted!

Fall Paddling - A great time to be on the river

Fall is a great season for paddling!  With the colors changing daily and hardly any annoying insects you can have a great paddle trip.  This weekend on Saturday October 12th the Clinton River Watershed Council is sponsoring a "Historic Paddle on the Clinton River" along with our favorite outfitter Clinton River Canoe & Kayak.  The paddle will be from Budd Park in Clinton Township to MacArthur Park in Mt. Clemens, a really nice easy stretch with some nice looking homes along the river banks.  The trip will be from 9:30am to 1pm, afterward they will go to Bath City Bistro. 

As posted on a special invite email(but I'm sure if you can get registered you they will honor the deal):

Registration includes a kayak or canoe, cider, donuts, and beautiful fall colors!

Members of this Paddling email list will receive a discounted rate of $35 per kayak/canoe. When registering, use the code CRWCPADDLE

http://www.crwc.org/event-news/paddle-through-history/  is the link and the flyer states there will be a limit of 20 people

I would imagine if you had your own boat and wanted to paddle along with them you could, the river is a free flowing navigable waterway. 

Not sure who all will be going or even if I can make it myself, but it sure sounds like a good outing. 

I posted this to the Clinton River MI Paddle Page too, so if you are hooked up to that please post a note that you are planning to go so other paddlers will know.

Had to break the flyer up into a few pictures, here they are:

(Late breaking news, just found out there is a 3 mile "race" on the Rouge River Saturday at Noon in Wayne MI - http://www.hometownlife.com/article/20130920/NEWS24/309200054/Paddlers-needed-first-Rouge-River-canoe-race   Another option!  We paddled this once a year or two ago and they are doing a lot of work on the Rouge making it another option in Lower MI/SE MI.  The Rouge is not as good of a river as the MCR in my opinion, but worthy of checking out and putting on your list!  There is an older post on this blog about the Rouge and below is a picture from the race promoters)

Some past pictures from the MCR in the Fall

Groesbeck Road

Power Lines in background

Steep banks, river has a deep channel

Hayes Road

Support Your Local Outfitter!

Clinton River Canoe & Kayak (Jerry & Rene Reis) along with the King of the Clinton aka Dale Goolsby have been working hard this past week to open the Mighty Clinton River from Auburn Hills all the way down to Heritage Park/Van Dyke. 

Dale & Jerry took a paddle down from Auburn Hills to Avon & Livernois yesterday with 3 saws and no extra gas.  They cleared some jams just good enough to get through and ran gas out of 2 saws.  Report is there is one big log that you need to drag your boat over and it will require a larger saw than they had with them to remove.  Numerous woody debris sites were adjusted on this trip that was actually a reconnaissance to locate a kayak missing since the Paddlepalooza a few months ago.  The boat was not located so if anyone has heard where it may have ended up, I am sure Jerry would appreciate if it were returned.

Another trip was made today on the Avon & Livernois to Yates section where the problem spot after the stinky pipe but before the walking/biking bridge was adjusted.  This spot has been a mess for the whole Summer.

If you are reading this blog and would like to get an email when updates are made, look for the email sign up on the main page.  You have to sign up then verify via an email confirmation.  Each new post generates an email with the actual post and pictures in it.  This is different from just "following" the blog and actually more convenient. 

Know someone who would like to try out paddling?  Send them to Clinton River Canoe & Kayak, they can set them up.  Check out the link to their web site on the main page. 

Know other paddlers who might like to hear about what is up on the Mighty Clinton River?  Tell them about this blog! 

There is also the 'Clinton River MI Paddle Page' on Facebook that many local paddlers are connected to and post river trips on.  So "like" the page and you'll get the updates.

The Clinton River Watershed Council also has a web site and is on Facebook as well, they are a great resource for information on the entire watershed.

So if you can sign up for some or all of these options, you can support your sport!  Definitely try to Support Your Local Outfitter!  Your support could be just passing the word or contacting them to ask if they need some help clearing jams.  Some of our paddling buddies carry an empty garbage bag and put (other people's) trash into when they can get to it. 

Just remember, the river is not in pristine condition on it's own, it is largely due to the efforts of Jerry and Dale along with a few others of us who regularly pitch in and help.

After the stinky pipe: Before

After the stinky pipe: After

Metal debris pulled from the river on way to scrap yard!

 

Jerry working on cutting through

Jerry cutting in the Auburn Hills to A&L section

Now open

Adjustment in process

Coming through

Open for now

 

 

End of Summer

Summer is almost over and it has been a pretty good season for paddling.  We had a lot more rain than usual and the river has held some decent levels.  Over the Labor Day weekend Dale, Rob, Gary, Mario and I ran from Yates to Heritage park.  The level was around 1.1 so on the low end but we made it down with only a few places where we scraped.  The leaves are starting to "get ready" to turn and very soon there will be a lot of color as we move into Fall.  Along the way Dale was doing some trimming and ran his face into a stick!

There will be a meeting regarding the Clinton River and Lake St. Clair Water Trails  to discuss opportunities and challenges for establishing as premier paddling destinations.  The meeting will be on Wednesday September 18th. at the City of Utica Library (7530 Auburn Road)  See the picture below of the meeting notice.  There will be a public open house from 5-7pm. 

Keep an eye on the water levels and maybe we'll see you on the river!

Meeting Notice

First river marker on the MCR used by rescue workers if you call in with a problem when on the river

Dale's lip!

Found one of CRCK's life jackets and returned it

Dale

Rob & Dale

Gary

Peace

Memorial Bend

Under Utica Road