Who came? Lois, John, Marv, Marlene, Steve, Karen, Henry, Ian, Angie, “Nature” Gail, “Biker” Gail and Maxi.
We launched south of C-38 east of Mancelona, and started out with a cloudy sky, but soon it turned into a beautiful sunny day with often prevailing tailwinds. We did this very stretch last year early in the season (May) with the water level still being high, while today it appeared to be a different river. The first half of this section is often quite narrow naturally, and with the beaver dams and the man-made dams one has to stay alert and maneuver tight turns with looming logs in shallow waters.
The river is beautiful with the many dams and the lush vegetation and the wildflowers growing on top of them. It looks like floral center pieces floating down the river. We all tested our knowledge naming the many varieties of wildflowers, but always had to check with Angie our “botanist” - she tops us all. When she was not nearby to ask, we made up our own names until she set us straight.
We had a nice easy accessible lunch spot at Deward, the site of an old logging camp. The area had enough room for everyone to relax in the shade and it was bug free! The plan after lunch was to find a spot for a swim at 1:15 PM which Lois and I made good use of. But the highlight of today’s trip was Steve’s wish and surprise.
Steve had a rough day on the Mackinac Bridge last week and is still nursing his bruises. He knew of a water slide and was really looking forward to going down on it. We prepared the slide with our sponges and Steve showed us how to do it. Oh, what a blast! Steve was the only male brave enough while many of the gals were eager to join him: Lois, Maxi, “Nature” Gail, Karen and Marlene. It was so exhilarating and refreshing and as Marlene said, it was even more fun as it was on private property.
We only had a forty five minute paddle after our refreshing plunges down the slide to our take out at C-612. Another wonderful day on a beautiful river with great sights and adventures. Thank You All!
Maxi Neugebauer
P.S. There was an unauthorized swim break about 20 minutes into the trip, but the kayak ended up nice and clean and the owner was no worse for the wear!