Traverse Area Paddle Club

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Trip Reports

June 30 Pine River cleanup, Dobson to Peterson

Linda Pelkey | Published on 6/30/2020

Trip report by Linda Pelkey

If I were to write a short story about cleaning the Pine River (from Dobson to Peterson) ,these would be the dauntless characters.
Lois: Sequana the river goddess spearing cans in waist-deep water with her trident (she borrowed it from Poseidon the river god).
John H. The agile river spider climbing onto log jams to retrieve river debris.
Matt C. : The river newbie who found a can of hard coffee.
Nikolaj, Kathleen, Ron and Marlene: Kayak maintenance team. They all repaired Nikolaj’s kayak with a knife and gorilla tape while on lunch break.
Linda P. : river nurse ready to get a waterproof bandaid if needed for kayaking injuries. There were none noted today.
Gail: The cool and calm one who found a cooler lid.
Ron: the light hearted and playful river cleaner who found half of a paddle.
Jackie A. : River mother who is always willing to help others in stressful situations.
Tracie L. : Reminiscent army veteran: Good loot found was a tennis ball that made her think of her father. It was her first find of the day!
Also we can’t leave out Mark Miltner: River business man. Couldn’t attend due to “log clearing business” to make the river safe for all.
One more character : a raccoon who also likes High School Bridge lunch stop. The evidence was the tracks on the river bank.
Afterwards, all of us dauntless characters, in the river cleaning story, gathered for ice cream in Buckley. The ice cream stand placed chairs six feet apart and was outside. The weather was perfect for river cleaning- 90 & sunny.
Hopefully we can meet again to write more stories about rivers.

Note from editor: I think it was Tracie and Jackie who found a pair of brand new Nike running shoes - the perfect size for Tracie's son. Looked like they had been in the river for maybe one day. Apparently the guy who lost them had good intentions: we always tell paddlers to wear shoes that will stay on their feet in the water. He had the shoes; he just didn't WEAR them!

Photos by John and Linda
The crew