Thunder Bay River 7/8-7/10/23
Linnaea Melcarek | Published on 7/12/2023
The Thunder Bay River is somewhat far away for a club trip and had never been explored by TAPC members, as far as I know. But I've been curious about this river for a couple years, so I decided to post it as a trip. No-one signed up to participate, but I decided to do a solo exploration anyway. From what I had read, it's a mostly slow-moving river that would be relatively safe to paddle alone (it's not recommended to paddle alone, of course; but it's something I do frequently and feel very comfortable doing). The trip was posted for two subsequent days, but I paddled three days. I'll detail all the sections paddled in this one trip report.
Day one: 7/8/23. Atlanta Dam upstream
I started at the dam in Atlanta and decided to paddle up the pond and see how far I could get upstream on the river. I ended up going five miles upstream. The current was mild but noticeable. I paddled through one small lake called Lake Fifteen which had a loon pair with one chick. I also saw eagles on this section and every other day of my trip. Upstream of the lake was I felt the prettiest section of river. It was shallow but still do-able. About a mile and a half upstream of the lake, I encountered some "spreads" where the river broke into several smaller channels. I was hoping to make it through these channels to the point where they re-converge into one river, but I couldn't make it that far. It got very small and obstructed after about half a mile. It's possible I may have taken the wrong channel, but it was hard to tell if another would have been better. Even though it was barely passable, there were old and fresh timber cuts through here, so it was obvious someone paddles this--just not very many people! Going back downstream was easier, of course, and it's possible that if you started upstream at Hossier Road or maybe even McCormick Lake, you could paddle all the way down, but I'll have to try that on a future trip!
Upper Thunder Bay River
This is where I had to turn back
Cedar cathedral on the Upper Thunder Bay River
A happy explorer on the upper Thunder Bay River! Who cares if it rained a little?
Day two: 7/9/23. Atlanta Dam to Hall Road
The next day I paddled from the dam in Atlanta to Hall Road, a distance of about 12.5 miles. It started out very slow and easy, with a bit of easy maneuvering around trees in the river. This section was well-maintained. After a couple miles, a large creek called Crooked Creek entered the river. I paddled a half mile up this creek up to a blocking log; it was particularly beautiful up there. After another couple miles, the river changed character and got very shallow with fast riffles. Unfortunately, it was too shallow, and I did a lot of unavoidable scraping on rocks. This section would probably be better done after a heavy rain or earlier in the season. Still, it was a beautiful river on a beautiful day, and I wasn't complaining (but then again, I was alone with no one to complain to anyway). I did some trash cleanup on this section, and found a matching pair of Crocs in my size! Plus a mostly full bottle of sunscreen/bug repellent combo. The bike shuttle back to my car was fairly easy, 9 miles along a highway that had adequate shoulder.
Lunch break on the Thunder Bay River
Crooked Creek
Trash cleaned out of the river. The Crocs will fit me but they'll need to be washed!
Day Two: 7/9/23 evening: Lower South Branch of the Thunder Bay River
I camped at the Thunder Bay River State Forest Campground near Alpena, which is located right on the Lower South Branch of the river. The current was slow, so I decided to paddle as far as I could upstream from the campground with the remaining daylight I had. I made it 3.5 miles upstream to just above Werth Road. If time had allowed, it would have been possible to go substantially farther.
Graffiti underneath Werth Road
Lower South Branch at sunset
Day Three: 7/10/23. Salina Road to Herron Road, including Long Rapids
This section is a little over 13.5 miles. I met some people at the launch who warned me that I shouldn't attempt such a "long" section and that it would take me six hours to finish--this is, IF I paddled and didn't float. However, it took me less than 3.5 hours. I took very few pictures on this day. For one, it was a less attractive section than the others, as the water was dark and muddy. I was also tired and it was hot. The river is very wide at this point and gets even wider further downstream. The "Long Rapids" pose no challenge to a paddler with even a little experience. It's three or four drops of about a foot each, very straightforward, but it does get shallow in spots with rock scraping. I didn't get wet at all going through them, but it may be a different story when the water level is higher. I didn't get any pictures of the rapids, unfortunately, but it wasn't anything too exciting to show. The 9.5-mile bike shuttle was more difficult on this day, because of the heat and because 3.5 miles was on Salina Road, which is unpaved. Overall I had a great trip exploring the Thunder Bay River, and I'd like to go back to explore parts I didn't get to this time!
The lower Thunder Bay River
