We had a good group of eight people, that paddled from Bowman to Upper Branch on the Pere Marquette River. Participants included John , Lois, Jackie, Ron, Tracie, Leslie, Wayne and Marlene. Marv was the shuttle bunny.
This was the longest trip I had done this season, since my major back surgery in late March. Jackie contributed to my effort by lending me her Pungo, since it has a large roomy comfortable cockpit.
The river was running pretty low, so that made the paddling a little more difficult because we had to find the deep water through some tight sections. At one point Lois managed to get both her bow and her stern stuck on logs. Wayne tied up Mischief and waded out to rescue Lois. He then remained at the troublesome log to help the rest of the group get across it. By the way, Mischief is his 7-month-old black lab, who was on her first club trip.
Mischief started the trip by impressing everyone with her good behavior. However, after about an hour she gave into temptation, and she had to jump in and swim to everyone's boat to see if someone else would give her a lift. Fortunately, a man who had pulled over to eat his lunch stashed it away quickly and captured the dog to return her to Wayne. We all agreed that Mischief will make an excellent club member in the future, and hopefully will be able to tow any tired paddler downstream.
We did see two different bald eagles plus at least one blue heron soaring above the river. Although it was mostly cloudy during the day, the temperature was perfectly comfortable in the mid to upper 70s.
After the paddle Lois and I drove to Ludington State Park to hear one of our favorite musicians, Lee Murdock, perform a great free concert featuring songs about Lake Michigan. A good time was had by all!
Report and photos by John Heiam
Mischief approaches my kayak
Mischief's plea "Please let me join you in the kayak"
Lois controlling her solo canoe in Rainbow Rapids
Marlene
Leslie in her brand new kayak
Ron showing off
Tracie focusing
