June 24 - North Branch of the AuSable - NON-Cleanup
Who came? Norm Fred, John Mesch, Tracie Lord, Marlene and Marv Puska, Judy and Fred Swartz, Angie Willis, Karen Mueller
Where did you go? Lovells Bridge to Kellogg Bridge on N Down River Rd
What kind of boats were there? Everyone in kayaks except for Norm in his solo canoe. This was the maiden voyage for Marlene's new Tsunami 135! She seemed happy with her purchase!
The day started out with Karen arriving late to the put-in because she didn't trust her GPS and took the longer route plus getting stuck behind a “tractor convention” (caravan of about 12 tractors which were difficult to pass)! It turned out not to be a problem however, because she can unload her boat and gear in record time!
The North Branch is very shallow in the first section, however due to rains the night before, it was navigable. Everyone decided that despite some bottom scraping it was an educational experience learning to “read” the river and find the channel with the deepest water. All this while also looking for trash!
Tracie, the novice among us, did really well reading the river and actually led for some of the trip, picking the best course and avoiding the gravel bars. She did great!
This was officially a cleanup trip, however as Norm stated in his description, this river is really clean already so looking for trash is not a chore. In the end we only found about three quarters of a small bag full between all of us. The most interesting/disturbing find were several flower pots which has been filled with Styrofoam peanuts as drainage – not fun to fish out of the river!
At lunch the discussion included childhood dentistry, thumb sucking and baby blankets....interesting...
After lunch, trash was even more elusive than it was in the morning so John decided to get comfortable in his kayak and assumed a reclining position. He looked like he could take a nap while floating along! Norm showed the many fisherman we passed the trash we had collected so far. All were very kind and grateful to us for cleaning the river.
It was a wonderful trip on a really beautiful stretch of river!
Karen Mueller