Marquette County speaks French

The first thing that grabbed my attention was the image.  A little fire on the beach, a beautiful sunset, a kayak paddle...  That's where I need to be, I thought to myself.

Love the tagline for Marquette County - "What's your human nature?  Find it here!"  Kudos for the Pure Michigan logo, social media Pintrest, Twitter and Facebook...and even a QR code for your smart phone.  These folks are ON IT!

One little mistake though.  A singular lens.  The plural, two or more lenses.  After checking with my favorite English major and a dictionary, there is no single "lense".  She suggested (tongue in cheek) that perhaps it's a French spelling.  Because she is of French-Canadian descent and grew up in the upper peninsula she can get away with this suggestion.

Perfect portage by Midwest Living

Spotted this promotional photo in Midwest Living, and just had to share.

Paddles anyone?  How about those PFDs?  And that is the widest, best maintained portage trail ever!

Let's give them the benefit of the doubt - this is the long, beautiful path from a parking area to the water.  Without a doubt this is the first of many trips back and forth to the car for the rest of the gear!

Maya Angelou quote; a rainy day paddle

Quote originally printed in the April issue of Midwest Living

If we apply this Maya Angelou quote to those who canoe and kayak...

You can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles a rainy day on a paddling trip.

Despite the idyllic images in our head of that beautiful trout stream, the secluded lake with the sunlight dancing on the water, or the morning mist lifting to reveal the perfect nature scene...it's gonna rain.

Maybe not on your first trip, maybe not on the first day, and if you're lucky maybe without lighting!  Researching the forecasted weather conditions will certainly help you be prepared.  Knowing what to expect with high and low temperatures and the possibility of rain will affect how you dress for your paddling trip and what you pack.

What are the odds of winning on a typical lottery scratch off ticket?  Less than 1% is pretty common.  Yet it's in our nature to start spending the winnings in our head the moment we have that ticket in hand.  If the forecast calls for a 20% chance of rain, that's more likely to happen that winning the lottery - so start thinking about that experience.  (Not as exciting as the lottery winnings, right?)

This paddling crew always brings rain gear.  Our "Frog Togs" are tightly rolled into the carrying sack and smashed into the bottom of a dry bag, buried under our disaster hats, lunch, bug spray, binoculars, etc.  They're not terribly fashionable - in fact when in full rain gear we look like giant Smurfs - but after twenty minutes of rain your sense of fashion is balanced by your sense of comfort!

Aside from your gear, it's attitude that will truly set the tone for your rainy paddle.  Get your mind wrapped around the idea that you may get rained on, and remember to be especially polite to your paddling partners when you're a little uncomfortable.  You can play the "it could be worse" game out loud or in your head.  It could be raining harder.  It could be a tornado.  It could be raining and you tipped your canoe or kayak.  The ultimate worse case scenario?  It could be this very same weather and you're stuck at work!

Paddling a canoe in Safe Haven - try again folks!

Last night I caught the trailer for the new Nicholas Sparks movie #SafeHaven.  It seems to follow the Sparks theme of new romance, water, agonizing decisions and so on.

Buried in the movie trailer was a snippet of the two main characters canoeing.  Kudos for including a paddlesport!  However shouldn't someone on the writing staff or movie crew known (or researched) that when two people are paddling a canoe, both people face forward!?

One could argue that the flatwater environment means very little work for the front seat paddler, especially when every stroke is backwards.  Perhaps there are few obstacles in this flatwater environment - no sunken logs, no tree stumps, etc.  However, it makes for better movie making if the two love interests can look deeply into each others eyes...maybe next time they'll get a rowboat.

You can watch the trailer here... the canoeing sequence begins around 1:21.

Humpback whale with a canoe in Hawaii

Just a little reassurance that this will *never* happen on one of Michigan's rivers or lakes....

 

The type of canoe shown in the video is definitely intended for open waters, and the video is a tad repetitive.  This encounter with wildlife could have gone much worse!

 

Video captures humpback whale 'bump' canoe

Little Muskegon River

This river was absolutely stunning.  I doubt our first run could have been more perfect.  Green heron, great blue heron, bald eagle, osprey, hawks, sandhill cranes...we saw it all.  Not another human on the river either, but of course we were paddling on a weekday in late August.

By the way, as the bald eagle left his perch, a downy little feather fell onto the water.  Still have it - even though according to Bart it's illegal to have any feathers from a bald eagle.  I doubt the DNR is coming after me.  But if the DNR is reading this,

The Paw Paw River

The Paw Paw River has a decent current for a lower peninsula river.  The banks are generally low and a bit muddy, and the water is easily clouded after rain.  This section of the Paw Paw River is not paddled by many people and is relatively remote.

In the beginning...and a statement of intentions

In the Beginning
I can't recall when we starting canoeing together.  It feels like forever, but I'm sure there was a first time.  Our camping trips soon became camping with canoeing trips on the side.  Then decisions for campgrounds were based on the proximity to canoe & kayak outfitters.  Soon the obsession set in.

We were planning on scraping together a little cash and finding a backyard special - someone's old aluminum monster that we could pick up for a song.  One Christmas, our families presented us with a gift certificate towards the purchase of a canoe through Wolf's Marine in Benton Harbor, Michigan.  After much research, we ordered an Old Town Allagash canoe - 16 feet 4 inches long.

While awaiting the delivery of our new toy, we scoured the pages of "Paddling Michigan Rivers" by Jerry Dennis and Craig Date. We cannot recommend their book highly enough. The book has become our guide for river trips, and with each trip we scribble our own notes and updates to the maps and river conditions.

Our Intentions
This blog is to serve as our own memory book of trips and river conditions, and we hope it will help others enjoy excursions throughout Michigan and the Midwest.

It is our hope that you have a safe, memorable experience without causing distress to the environment or other folks enjoying the river.