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

 

Quick Update & St. Clair River

Well Dale G. has been out on the river consistently this Summer and Clinton River Canoe & Kayak are doing a great job keeping the main routes open.  We had a great early Summer but now the levels are back around what you'd expect.  I personally have not been on the river in around a month!  I did hit the Au Sable from Mio to Commins Flats, nice 2.5 hour paddle a couple weeks back.

Closer to home Dale reports the St. Clair river trip he took had no woody debris obstructions and he never hit bottom!  Dale and Rob participated in the annual Big Float Down from Port Huron to Marysville last weekend.  They had a great day for it!

Fall is coming soon and I'm sure we'll get some rain/water levels, hope to be on the river soon!

Here is a picture of Dale on the Float Down:

1.84 Technical

More of that weird weather around, was raining hard in Detroit with lots of thunder, but it didn't hit the Northern river basin so the gage was only at 1.84 which made the run tight and technical on some of the corners!  We put in around 6:15pm from Avon & Livernois.  There were a couple of guys paddling Sit On Top's ahead of us, we never caught them.  I put in behind the Doctor's office and Rob walked down to the bike path bridge.  We agreed Rob made the better choice even with the longer boat carry.  I had to get out at the stinky pipe portage, so Rob got ahead of me and didn't have to get in/out! 

From there we had a few tight fast corners around the psychedelic tree and soon we were at Rochester Rapid.  "Bulldozer" was running nice and I got in some great surfing!  Voodoo rapid was also a good surf at this level.  Just past 2nd Street and the eddy seawall as you make the right/left corners we had to limbo under that tree again.  We'll have to deal with that eventually.  Our next stop was Rock Island to portage the new tree that is down.  We cut to the left early and carried our boats through the dry channel that makes it an island where we had planned to have a beverage break but the mosquitoes were so bad we launched as quickly as we could to evade them! 

When we got to Stony Creek there is a new tree across the river from Left to Right onto the beach across from where the creek comes out.  At this point I told Rob I thought the next possible portage was at the Vortex of Death, but I forgot about the other limbo log at the By-Pass just around the next corner!  I tried to get low under it and leaned back but caught the front of my PFD as I pressed under and got off kilter, flipped and had to roll!  After that the next trouble spot is indeed just before the V of D with a tree from Left to Right but only hanging down, so you can pick a line towards the right and if you stay straight you can pull through some branches to get through. (stay right of the broken limb)

We came upon a couple of deer standing just before the signs to portage the dam.  After portaging around the dam we were done pretty quick.  Loaded up Rob's truck and headed back to A&L for my Jeep when we came upon 3 guys who were picking up from their run from there down to Coyote's.  They said there is a tree down between Yates and Ryan, closer to Ryan, like just before.  I think I know the area and that will need a little work soon too.

Here are the pictures from today's run.

View looking back upstream at Stewart's rapid

2nd Street Seawall

Eddy Seawall

Limbo Log just past 2nd St/Eddy Seawall

Looking back at the limbo log, the tree on river right (left side of pic) could be a problem at high water if you try to roll under the log like Jarrett and I did last week.

Stony Creek Beach tree down

Stony Creek Beach looking at tree downstream

Rob's boat at Stony Creek Beach

Panoramic view of the tree at Stony Creek Beach

Stony Creek Beach viewed from the river

Deer Fly!  I put him there and then all the other flies backed off!

Rob at the Portage Signs

The Falls at Yates with a tree across the normal spot we run it.  Not safe at all!!

Kayaking 101 - RHFD

Clinton River Canoe & Kayak Rental's put on a "Kayaking 101" demo class at Bald Mt. Recreation Area this past Saturday.  I helped out with the 10am class.  I'll have to post some of the curriculum another time, but they went over: safety, boat selection, paddle techniques, etc.  The class lasted 2 hours with paddle time on the water included.  We had 8 or so people show up and everyone did quite well!  Samantha of CRC&KR tried out a whitewater boat and was given some instruction in rolling.  Later that day while at the lake, she actually was able to roll her boat!

After the rolling class I had to head over to Addison Oaks for a wedding reception.  My friends Pam & Mike had gotten married down in Key West FL a few weeks back and then had a campout party type of weekend, it was great!  Addison Oaks is a nice campground.  Since I had been there all afternoon, I decided to crash in a friends trailer since all I would be doing is going home and then getting up to head out that way again to kayak on Sunday.

I met Doug, Jarrett and Brian on Sunday morning at 10am in Yates park.  When we pulled in there were a couple of fire trucks and other EMT vehicles there, I was worried something bad had happened.  What was actually going on was a good thing, the Rochester Hills Fire Department was doing some 'Swift Water Rescue" training.  Found out they do this every year and this year they had a nice flow with the Auburn gage at 2.07 

We did our shuttle and made the run from A&L to Yates in about 2.5 hours with a couple of stops, one for some rolling practice for Doug.  He did pretty good and is close, but Samantha beat him!  There are 2 portages. One just after the stinky pipe, portage on Right.  You can stand in the water and put your boat onto the last log before continuing.  The next portage is at Rock Island, another Maple tree came down in front of the last one we cut a path through a few weeks ago.  You can portage early or if you come upon it late, just portage on river Left. If you go towards it on river Right all the water will want to sweep you under the log so don't go there!  I did not get any pictures of that, battery ran out!

To the beach on Trout Lake in Bald Mt. Rec Area

The reception party pavilion!

Don't be a dummy like the guy on the rock, where your PFD!

Backboard rescue technique

Heave Ho!

More back board rescue

The scene in the Yates parking lot, a good thing this time!

I still say wear your PFD!

Samantha getting geared up

Going through the motions with Sam

Setting up the sweep

Ending the roll with the paddle extended

Kayaking 101 instruction

Getting ready to launch

In water class demo's and discussion

the roll