Kayaking in Michigan's UP - A Trip Repor t

“First, a little Fox River trivia - Ernest Hemingway's short story, "Big Two Hearted River" was actually based on his experiences along the Fox River.


I bought two waterproof and disposable cameras for Cow Patty and me. Here are the pics .

Saturday, Aug 28
Weather - Overcast and sprinkles. High in the low 50s

Headed north to meet up w/ Cow Patty. The weather during much of the drive left a lot to be desired, but as I got nearer to our meeting place, things improved greatly. Crossed the Mackinac Bridge (longest suspension bridge in the western hemisphere and third longest in the world) around 3pm that day and made arrangements w/ Tom at Northland Outfitters to meet us at our take-out point, Merwin Creek SFCG, at 6pm. We got there around 5 and spent time arranging and re-arranging our gear. And, just as soon as we finished, Tom arrived. We transferred my kayaks to his van and headed out. He dropped us at the Seney Municipal CG. That night, we walked the mile and a half into Seney for dinner at Andy's Seney Bar. During the walk, we witnessed both ends of an amazing rainbow. Also, behind us as we walked, was a fantastic sunset of deep red and orange (Red skies at night... yeah, right, lol). So, after filling up on greasy chicken and burgers (and a beer) we walked back to camp in a light rain. Got back just after 10pm and hit the sack almost immediately.

Sunday, Aug 29
Weather - Overcast and rain. High in the mid 50s.

We got up and got the kayaks packed for the trip. We were on the Fox River by 9am to begin our 4 day journey down the Fox and Manistique Rivers. The first thing I notice is how much narrower this river is compared to the rivers I've canoed and kayaked downstate. The first 15 miles of the river are as narrow as 2-3 feet (in the "spreads) and probably no wider than 20-30 feet. And, the tag alders that grow along the bank of the upper section make the river seem even narrower.

After the first mile, we paddled under the M-28 bridge in Seney Twp and within a short distance, entered a stretch of marshlands known as the "spreads" where the quick-flowing river braids into small channels through tall marsh grasses. You come to numerous forks and w/out knowing what's ahead, are forced to make quick decisions about your course. All you know is that, within a few miles, it all leads to the same place. It's so narrow in here that we found it easier to collapse our paddles and use only half a paddle. After paddling these couple miles, Cow Patty and I decided the "spreads" would be more appropriately named the "narrows". Crazy stuff!

After leaving the "narrows", we paddled a section w/ tons of logjams and windfalls. Prolly 30-40 significant piles of trees and limbs to navigate and at least 4 carry-overs. We were on the river for 8 1/2 hours but prolly only covered 16 miles. The logjams really slow ya down. But, the challenge was enormous fun!

The prior day, when Tom dropped us at the CG, he said if we were feeling ambitious the next day, we should paddle all the way to his place and camp there. I guess we were feeling ambitious cause, tho we had planned to camp a few miles before the East Branch of the Fox, we paddled past that and past where the Manisitque comes in and ended up at Northland Outfitters. The folks there are so extremely nice and I highly recommend stopping in if you ever drive through Germfask, MI. Cow Patty made us cheese tortelinni and cobbler for dinner. YUM. After struggling w/ firewood that wasn't very dry, we finally got a fire started around 10pm. There was a full moon and lots of stars that night.

At 11pm, we heard a helicopter fly overhead, which is pretty unusual for where we were, and we later learned that a man had been walking the river around the "spreads" for some fishing and had become disoriented and lost. When he was a few hours late for his pick-up, help was called. He was found at 3am, wandering 10 Curve Rd. He had been lost for 12+ hours in chilly water on a rainy, chilly day/night. He had floated downstream for many miles, stopping only to dump the water from his waders.

Monday, Aug 30
Weather - Overcast and rain. High in the mid 50s.

When we woke up and started packing, there was some sun shining and we were pretty excited. Once we put the kayaks in the water, the clouds came. We paddled about 20 minutes to the M77 bridge in Germfask and walked into town for hot coffee at the Jolly Inn. When we returned, it was obvious the rain was coming so we opted for getting the rain coats out of the dry hatch. Sure enough, w/in about 15 minutes, the rain started. Most of the day's paddle was through the Seney Nat'l Wildlife Refuge . Tho it rained most of the morning and early afternoon, the refuge was still beautiful. Saw some Kingfishers and Sandpipers along w/ numerous other birds and mammals (beavers and muskrat).

We had planned to camp just downstream from Mead Creek SFCG and Marsh Creek, but again, felt ambitious and kept on paddling. After 8+ hours on the water, we finally found a campsite on a small sand spit. The 'Mid was nearly impossible to set up in the soft sand so lots of long sticks were used to secure it. We had a yummy and filling dinner of black bean cous-cous on tortillas and honey butter biscuits for dessert. We were in bed just after dark. I had a rodent scratching at the foot of my sleeping bag which woke me up as soon as I started to drift off. Then, a couple hours later, I was awoken to the sound of a very loud and seemingly large smacking in the water. After the third time, I woke up Cow Patty to see if she could tell what it was. And, after hearing it herself, she guessed it was a beaver, tho I think she only said that to shut me up. lol. Whatever it was, it was making a large noise and since I couldn't idenitfy it, it freaked me out a little.

Tuesday, Aug 31
Weather - Mostly Sunny (finally) and in the high 60s to low 70s

We packed up our sand-covered gear and headed out for a paddle under the sun! Lunched 3 hours downstream at a bridge, then continued on. We were only on our third day (of four), but the extra hours we paddled the last two days made us realize we were prolly going to run out of river before the day's end. And, sure enough, we started to smell campfire smoke which indicated we were approaching Merwin Creek SFCG, our take-out point. We decided to camp there for the night, so along the way, we started collecting firewood from the windfalls along the river. When we got to camp and started to unload the kayaks and get things put away, we were fighting tons of skeeters and decided to head to town (Manistique) for a room and a shower. The other deciding factor was that my Big Agnes had sprung a leak on Saturday night :-( and since I had been unable to find the leak, I was not getting any comfortable nights of sleep.

Dinner was fast-food and dessert was ice cream (yum)at the local Dairy Kream. Watched an Elton John concert on PBS before drifting off into sleep.

One of the nicest things about paddling this river was the lack of people. While on the water those three days, we saw two people: One man at his summer cabin offering us a warm fire and beverages (tempting...) and a woman and her daughter taking a walk at the bridge where we had lunch. Other than that, there was not another soul on the water or along the shore. Very nice!

The backcountry trip report ends here but I'm gonna share the rest of our trip for those who care to keep reading...

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Wednesday, Sep 1
Weather - More clouds, more rain and prolly high 50s to low 60s again

After breakfast, we headed to Kitch-iti-kipi , Michigan's largest natural spring. It's over two hundred feet across and forty feet deep. "Over 16,000 gallons a minute gush from fissures in the underlying limestone. The flow continues throughout the year at a constant temperature of 45F." The spring has a self-operated observation raft that allows you to cross the spring. The clear water allows you to see right to the bottom. It's an extremely impressive attraction. The fissures were bubbling like crazy and the trout were huge. Unfortunately, because the raft was covered and it was overcast, the pics we took didn't come out :-(.

After the spring, we took a little walk out for a nice view of the Manistique Lighthouse. Then, headed north to Blaney Park to tour the Blaney Lodge, a B&B in an old Logging Camp from the late 1800s. Then, we drove to the Seney Nat'l Wildlife Refuge through which we had paddled only two days earlier. We took the 7 mile Marshland Wildlife Drive and saw tons of Trumpeter Swans, several Great Blue Herons, etc. The visitor center there rocks and we spent a good hour playing in the children's hands-on area and talking to the rangers. Finally, we headed north towards Lake Superior (I couldn't leave the UP w/out seeing the great lake at least once) and a town called Grand Marais. Very very small town w/ only a couple stores and a couple motels. They also happen to have a brewery where we enjoyed beers, dinner, a jukebox and the locals.

Thurdsay, Sept 2
Weather - Partly cloudy, low 80s.

I got up early and headed to the shore for the sunrise. Unfortunately there were so many clouds, the sunrise was less than impressive but still worth it. After breakfast at the North Shore, we drove into Pictured Rocks Nat'l Lakeshore and walked the Grand Sable Falls and Sable Dunes trails.

Headed back to the Seney Municipal CG, where we started our paddling trip, since this was the spot where we were to meet Sass, Birch and Ewker for the next leg of the journey...

Cow Patty and I unloaded all the gear from the car and re-organized her paddling trip gear to get ready for four days on the Fox River Pathway. I had planned to do this hike as well, but found out a short time before the trip that a friend would be home on leave from Iraq and opted to head home to visit him. But, I stuck around til this day so I could still help w/ the shuttle. And, it was a fantastic excuse to stay in the UP for another day and a half.

After the gang showed up, we shuttled the cars and I walked them to the trailhead to see them off. I was pouting the whole time... lol.

I began my drive home around 3pm. I stopped around 5 or 5:30 in St. Ignace, just north of the Mackinac Bridge. Grabbed a room there. Had dinner at a diner and a beer at the Marina Pub overlooking the water.

Headed for home the next morning.


Gear Review:

The Zero-Limits drybags I picked up where great. I like them so much better than the heavy drybags I'm used to using. They're much more flexibile and, therefore, easier to stow. And, the window makes it easy to find gear.

My Perception Carolina 14.5' was wonderful, as usual. Most of the gear for both of us fit easily into the two hatches. It's a perfect length for use in rivers and open waters. Tho, on the first day of paddling, the 14.5' was a bit long for some sections of the "narrows" and for some of the navigating required around the windfalls and logjams. The only other issue I had was the rudder which kept getting caught up in limbs and branches, slowing me down a bit.

Big Agnes Insulated Pad - It worked great for my Alaska trip. But, was useless for this trip. We did end up finding the leak on the last day on the river. It's three tiny holes right on a welded seam. So, instead of patching it, I opted to leave it and send it back to Big Agnes for a replacement. I'm going to get in touch w/ them early next week. I bought the mummy shaped pad and am hoping they'll let me exchange it for the rectangular (same price). I guess I'm just too tall for the mummy one.”

“cool pics, now I need to read the report.”

“Great report! I really enjoyed reading it, and the pics are also nice. Glad you guys got a break in the weather towards the end. Hope the others are safe and having fun.”

“Great report! I'll have to check the picture out later. Sounds like a fantastic time. Thanks for sharing!!”

“I like both the report and the pictures. In late spring I took a local overnight hike, camped by a lake and was kept awake most of the night by the repeated beaver tail smacking. There comes a point where you wish for a gun. j/k. I've enjoyed my river trips...for one thing you can eat better, as it seems you did. Thanks much”

“Great trip report and pictures! It sounds like you had a wonderful time. Thanks for sharing the trip report and the pictures.”

“Wow! Thanks for the report!”

“Fan Tab ! !

Do you think that hole in the pad was a defect that later come to be, or actually got poked by something? Having it happen onthe seam *seems* odd.

Great pics and report, Tarabull!”

“Hey! great trip report..I enjoyed the details and the pictures! Those are humongous fish in that spring, aren't they? Knowing that area as well as I do I've yet to kayak any of the rivers..I just wonder if I could get my kayak over those river windfalls alone??????????”

“And I must be a wuss 'cause I was out this morning in my 14.5, and TURNED AROUND rather than haul it over a few rocks...You go girl...It's no wonder you're in such good shape, a little extra work does a body good...”

“Q - I think it was a defect. There are three tiny holes together and they are all on the same welded seam.

matahari - I think you can... CP and I both portaged our own yaks. As long as the windfalls are pretty low to the water, it's not too difficult.

ST - awww shucks! :-)”

“That's awesome, Tarabull and Cow Patty. You girls rock!”

“Y'all should be home now, right?

How was the hike? The weather? The bugs? Blueberries? Bridge walk?

Sorry I missed it, tho I did have a nice time visiting w/ Scott.”

“How was the hike? Lovely as always!
The weather? HOT!
The bugs? Plentiful!
Blueberries? Bountiful & yummy!Bridge walk? An experience!

Dagnabbit, you're gonna make me write a trip report, aren't ya! Later...separate thread.”

“That's wonderful. I'm so happy to hear the blueberries were there for ya! Sorry the bugs were, too.

No rush on the TR. Just wanted to get a quick overview. Thanks!!”

“sounds like you folks had a great time. i need to get my canoe out. i also need to get up there to michigan and enjoy some of your fine country. the mm group always seems to have something fun planned.”

“trip report, trip report ;)”

“three words...

THANKS COW PATTY!!!!”

“Great!! Trip report,,Tarabull. That sounded like quite the adventure. Needless to say I'm jealous,,,Whadda say Noatak R. in Aug. 05?”

“AK? You're on!”