Eight adventurous paddlers enjoyed a gorgeous day on the river. Along for the ride were Wayne, Jackie, Ron, Leslie, Lois, Irene, Paul and Marlene.
Lois arrived at the put-in about ½ hour early, and she was surprised not to be the first. With everyone arriving early, we were ready to go before our expected departure time. She exclaimed with pleasure that this had never happened before! Very pleased!!!
This section of the Pine has a great mix of paddling experiences, from minor rapids, rocks, underwater wood obstacles, and beautiful serene passages. Therefore, the river keeps one always guessing about what's coming up next. Always interesting and exciting, especially when one not-so-seasoned paddler (Paul) who decided that the best thing to do was to unquestionably follow the very seasoned paddler (Ron) and not wonder why everyone else went another way. A very big rock and thud answered that question. New rule of thumb - make sure you alert the person ahead of you that you are following them!
Another rule of thumb could be that if you put your wading shoes on top of your car in the garage and expect to be the one taking the car out of the garage and your significant other beats you to it, being nice then you forget your shoes and lose them on the road, one should in the future put the shoes on the windshield to dry.
Side note from Lois: One person in the club once loaded her boat early, but didn't tie it down immediately. The following day, her kayak took out her neighbor's mailbox when it flew off her roof. Moral: secure the boat immediately after you load it, no matter what. Also, the roof is a bad place for anything: we once saw John's prescription sunglasses fly off and then watched another car drive over them.
We pulled out for lunch at Dobson Bridge, where Jackie treated us to delicious homemade chocolate chip cookies. Everyone was very hungry. For some of us, this hunger may have been somewhat caused by our need to recover body reserves that were drained by a paddle trip from C-38 on the upper Manistee two days before.
A better more bucolic beautiful setting could not be found anywhere else.
Carrying on after lunch, we experienced the interesting underwater clay ledges that one can get trapped under. Many warnings imparted here. Some may have nightmares tonight dreaming about capsizing and getting stuck in this area!
Irene's favorite saying from Lois on this Pine River trip was, "When you unexpectedly eddy out, just say you thought you saw a turtle."
A great time was had by all. Good company, interesting conversation. Great instruction by Ron and Lois - Thank you.
One final note there is very good birding at the take out by Peterson Bridge - Bring binoculars.
Thanks Again,
Paul & Irene Marcussen
Photos by Irene and Leslie
We presented Marv - the shuttle bunny extraordinaire - with several gas cards
Pictured are Paul, Marv, Lois, Marlene, Ron and Jackie
Lois asked the TAPC Board to pay for the gas cards for Marv
The put-in at Elm Flats; we thought we'd be going swimming today, but the water was still cold. Dipping up to our knees was enough. Pictured: Lois, Ron, Wayne, Marlene, Paul
Nearing the end
A bevy of colors at our lunch stop
