We had a terrific group of eight working on the river today: John & me, Susan & Gerald Wilgus, Tracie Lord, Linda Pelkey, Gail Hastings and Carol Smith, on her first Pine Cleanup. She was very proud to retrieve her first bit of trash using the grabber stick - see photo below. Carol got the chance to practice her ferrying skills and appreciated the instruction provided by Tracie and Gerry. We found the usual stuff - three large bags by the end. There was one unopened bottle of Oberon beer, plus a variety of cans, bottles, plastic bags and tee shirts. And far too many remnants of Styrofoam coolers - I think they should be against the law!
Special mention to the wonderful people at Pine River Paddlesports Center: they provided a free shuttle plus a tandem canoe for us to use today. Special thanks too, to the rangers at the Huron Manistee National Forest, who have supplied us with watercraft permits and parking passes. Also, Lake Ann Camp was doing a raft trip, and the kids and counselors were terrific helping us out at the end. They stabilized us as we got out of our boats, but more importantly, they hauled the boats back up to the parking lot! A great bunch of teenagers!
We were so busy paddling that we didn't have time to get any on-water pictures, and never did get a shot of the Lake Ann girl who had her flip flops duct-taped to her feet (they are very specific about having the right footwear). One family that was fishing at the landing of Coolwater Campground was quite impressed with our expertise of turning our boats around to go after trash; they had never seen anyone who could do what we were all doing!
A great day on the river; we were done by 2:30 and no-one was exhausted. And though it was rather cool for July, it didn't rain and the sun was out by lunchtime.
Reported by Lois; photos by John
Jolly crew at the start of the day - yes it was chilly.
Carol poses with the first piece of trash she collected on a river cleanup.
The crew with the trash we collected - the river was pretty clean.