Glen Arbor Bikes & Boats Excursion - September 26, 2013
Attendees: Bob Fitch, Tracie Lord, Mike & Barb Rodenberg
It was absolutely a perfect day, bright blue sunny skies and little wind. The weather folks got it right – 50s early and 70s later.
We had planned a biathlon type of day – one activity in the morning and a different one in the afternoon. Leaving our cars and boats at the put in for the afternoon paddle, we biked along the shore of Glen Lake, into Glen Arbor and over to pick up the great bike trail that took us to the Dune Climb. No time to climb but a sunny lunch break in Glen Haven on the way back was wonderful.
From Glen Arbor we took a different route back, biking along M-22 until we turned right on Crystal View Road and pedaled to our cars and more importantly to our boats! The car shuttle took place while Barb protected our boats as 16 sixth graders and three teachers unloaded rental canoes and paddles. It was interesting to watch the students as a teacher gave them some basic paddling instruction. We leapt into our boats and could only hear the kids shouting for the first 10 minutes.
The Crystal River lived up to its name – the water is beautiful and warm!. There are three portages on this stretch of the river - at the dam shortly after the put-in and at the first and then the second Crystal View Road crossing. We only did two of the easy portages because we shot the tubes at the first crossing.
The water level was great for this time of year. We touched the sandy bottom a couple of times and never had to get out of our boats. With the clear water we were able to get a good look at the fish (mainly salmon) in the river. It was very quiet with a remote feeling as we leisurely paddled past a wide variety of trees and plants. As we came close to Glen Arbor, the river was still quiet but beautiful homes began to appear.
This is an easy and relaxing paddle with just over four miles of paddling. The river was remarkably clean and we only picked up two pieces of trash. We really enjoyed ourselves.
Submitted by Barb