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Traverse Area Paddle Club

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Trip Reports

September 3 - Labor Day solo trip on the Boardman

Published on 9/3/2012

I learned a few things today.

1.  If you post a trip with 16 hours notice, you may not get anyone to join you. But serendipity can be terrific, when you are determined to get out on the water on a hot summer day.

2.  It is REALLY neat to paddle a familiar stretch of river by yourself.

3.  My hubby John is so wonderful; he was willing to do a pre-shuttle for me (before he ate breakfast), so my car was ready to go at the takeout point.

4.  There are hardly any people on the river on Labor Day before noon: 3 fishermen, 2 kayakers.  I also noticed a few cottagers eating breakfast on their back porches.

5.  The blue heron still wants to follow you downstream.

6.  Ducks freak out at the sight of a solo canoeist, and seem to feel the need to make lots of noise as they try to escape the intruder.  For some reason, they rarely think that staying put is one way to solve the problem.

7.  The Boardman is really quiet once you are out of earshot of the deconstruction of Brown Bridge Dam, and the sounds of Garfield and River Roads.

8.  When you're alone, you don't need to spend any effort thinking about those who you are following or those who might be following you.

9.  You can enjoy the scenery and not be on the lookout for trash.  I didn't notice any, but then again, I wasn't looking.

10.  As long as you keep paddling, you can do the trip an hour faster than you can with a group.

11.  I had never before noticed that there are at least a dozen feeder streams between BB Dam and Beitner, all coming in from river left.

12.  If you are lucky (and I was), there will be a couple waiting for you when you land, and they will help you load your boat back on your car.  They were lucky too.  The woman was a novice (she was wearing a dress), and they were about to head down through Beitner Rapids.  She was VERY apprehensive.  I suggested that they do the trip I had just completed.  I said this one would be enjoyable, and not dangerous for her.  They agreed to change their plans (which would have had them portaging two dams also).  A happy day for all of us.

13.  I now understand why one of the regular paddlers on our trips often zooms ahead of the pack.  It's nice to get a shuttle and then be on the river essentially by yourself!