help_outline Skip to main content












Traverse Area Paddle Club

Remember: all TAPC outings are listed on our event calendar and are color coded using this scheme:

 

Small Inland Lakes   

Great Lakes   

Easy Rivers 

Intermediate Rivers  

Difficult Rivers 
Clean-up Trips 

Out-of-town Trips 

If you need help using the website you may call the Club Express

Help Desk at

(866) 457-2582

Monday - Friday,

8:30 AM - 7 PM Eastern Time

Trip Reports

August 3 Solo trip on the Boardman from BBL to Beitner

Published on 8/3/2016
I posted this trip only about 15 hours before I wanted to go, and didn't get any takers.  But my sweet hubby met me at the end of the trip to shuttle me back, so it was pretty easy as far as logistics were concerned.  It was a delightful way to spend a hot afternoon, using my solo canoe.  Apparently it rained in Acme while I was out there, but I had sunshine the entire time.  On the way home, the temp in my car dropped from 92 to 71, when a rainstorm hit as I was going through the Arbutus Triangle, but by the time I got home, the sun was shining and it was back up to 85.  So much fun to live Up North.
 
Observations:
We are extremely lucky to have a gorgeous river like the Boardman so close to home.
The toilet facility at Brown Bridge Landing is easily the nicest one you will EVER see; it even has artwork inside!  Thank you, Norm and Tracie
The river needs a bit of a cleanup - I didn't have the right boat today, or the time to pick stuff up.  I did see some shiny cans, and even a busted plastic lawn chair.  A hot day would be perfect, since some of the stuff might require getting out of boats to reach.
Saw lots of wildlife - easy to spot when you're by yourself.
Took one swim break, near the gas line upstream from Shumsky.  There was a tent set up there, perhaps the summer place of a homeless person?
I met only 3 other kayakers and a large family tubing downstream, after the Shumsky access.
It is pretty easy to get through a large group of tubes as a solo paddler.  Not sure what it would have been like with a large group.
The low bridges seemed lower this year; certainly I am not growing!
There are an astonishing number of small feeder streams to the Boardman, all pouring in from river left.  I stopped counting at ten.
A headwind isn't so bad when it's hot out.
Do not try to yank your boat up onto the side of the dock at Beitner - there are some nasty nail-heads protruding from the wood.
Lois