We had a team of real river cleaning professionals scouring the Pine River between Peterson and Low Bridge for almost six hours. The weather was warm, but not too hot, super sunny and with water temps such that we didn't mind jumping in to retrieve trash when the situation warranted. We were assisted by rangers from the Huron-Manistee National Forest (providing watercraft and parking permits) and Mark & Val Miltner and their super crew from Pine River Paddlesports Center (for free shuttle service and a loaner canoe for our tandem team of intrepid leaders, Lois & John).
We first began scouring the Pine River in 2005, and then began planning club cleanup trips there the following year. We can easily see the results of our labors: we have made a real difference in that now we have to hunt quite a bit to find stuff. This week, we came away with a dozen large bags. Everyone had a great time and we know that Mother Nature is smiling down upon us. Beaches are cleaner than ever and the other river users seem to be more respectful of this gem of northern Michigan. We are blessed.
The cast:
Jocelyn – not afraid to get into deep water with her frog spear (aiming for cans, not frogs)
Tracie – willing to head towards a beach on instructions to get “that orange piece of paper” and then finding a mother-lode of other debris on the sand
Karen – head over heels in river junk, and finder of an arrow that either missed a deer or else it was all that remained from the deer.
Marlene – keeper of all full cans of beer and particularly excited over the lemon-lime variety, not to mention her "find of the day": a fly-swatter
Mike – always ready to be the sweep paddler, making sure he found anything (and anybody) that the rest of us left behind. He did find a directional arrow that told him which way was downstream.
Norm – so proud of his "trailer harem", his fishing net, and the UNC tee shirt we found for him to proudly hang off the back of his car all the way home
Gail – winner of the “smelliest boat of the day” award; you know you've been picking up yucky stuff when the plastic smells
Marv – his greatest find of the day was his own grabber stick
Barb – ready and willing to do the scorekeeping for Karen’s dives, and SO disappointed that she didn’t find the mate for her favorite blue shoe (and finally feeling really confident paddling through Pinball Rapids)
Roseanne – truly dazzling with her trash-picking pirouettes into low hanging bushes; she has rightly earned her "Queen of Trash" title
John – superb climber on log jams, as well as excellent stern paddler, always following where I wanted to go. And he has eagle eyes for little stuff!
Lois – the person in the bow (and writer of this trip report)
Other interesting finds were a couple of sweatshirts, a glass milk bottle, at least 8 black flip-flops (none that matched the others), a frisbee, imported beer and quite a few liquor bottles (both full and empty), and a little kid's Keen sandal
I want to thank the entire crew for all their assistance; we could not do this alone. There are still three Pine River cleanups on the 2011 calendar, with open slots for anyone else who wants to have a great time and help keep this gorgeous stream the pride of our state.