John Walton led Fred Swartz, Lois Goldstein, John Heiam, and our guest from Texas, Leigh Baker, on an exploratory trip of Bear Creek. The put-in at a conservation club site off of Coates Hwy, west of Brethren, is not signed. This access, which is open to the public, boasts a nice parking lot, a porta-potty, and a paved path to the sand beach put-in.
Once on the creek, it is very similar to the Betsie River between County Line and Fred's Landing, except both sides of the river are public land, and there is no sign of human use. Not one bit of trash either! We encountered two log jams that required the use of a saw, but only one was tricky. Here John Walton is trying to get out to a place where he could saw the log. I tried wading into position, but the water was too deep and fast. Eventually Fred sawed it sitting in his canoe.
This was the other one we had to clear.
We had a great lunch spot on a raised sand bar about an hour from the start.
Shortly after lunch, the river started to braid. It was fairly easy to decide which fork to take each time, but if the water level dropped 6" or more, you might have to get out and walk in a few places. The river bottom is entirely sand, and there is no shortage of spots to swim. There were plenty of places where you had to beat your way through the bushes.
The river empties out into the Manistee River, and you have to turn left and paddle upstream for about 400 yards to reach a paved boat access on river right (your left as you paddle upstream). This trip is just under 8 river miles, and took us about three hours of paddling. Our trip took us four hours, but part of that time was spent sawing, and having lunch. You will not find a more remote spot in the Lower Peninsula.
This was the take out on the Manistee River.
Submitted by John Heiam Photos by John and Fred