It's been exactly four weeks since we last cleaned this section of the Pine River. We felt that we left it spotless last month, but obviously lots of people had used it since then and they left their mark. That is, they left the usual stuff: "jello shots", beer cans (both empty and full), water bottles (many containing stronger stuff than water), shirts, shoes (one passing canoeist asked if we had found his flip flops), lighters, toys, fishing tackle, bait boxes, chip bags, granola wrappers, and lots of plastic bags. Our total haul filled 5 giant trash bags, which is actually less than most of our tours on that section of river. So things are improving. The weather was delightful and everyone loved the paddling and the scenery.
We had a fabulous crew, some of whom had never been on that section of the Pine: Mike S and Debby P, Jackie, Carol T, Marv & Marlene, Norm (what an elegant canoeist), Jocelyn (how can someone balance on such tiny log jams?), Tracie, John & me. The first four people all used sit-on-top kayaks that had been supplied by the kind folks at Pine River Paddlesports Center, and John & I paddled one of their rental canoes. It was nice not to have to take our own boats. Also a special thanks to the rangers at the Huron-Manistee National Forest who supplied both watercraft permits as well as parking passes.
Report by Lois; photos by John & Norm
Our group at the start: Jackie, Tracie, John, Lois, Carol, Marlene, Jocelyn, Marv, Norm, Debby, Mike
Our group at the end with the trash (Carol was changing to dry clothes and Tracie had left for another engagement).