Michigan Paddler, new to site

[Jesse37hemlock]

Hi everyone!

I'm new to the forum community and decided to sign up here as well as a couple other paddling sites. What motivated me to create a profile is to connect with fellow paddlers from afar as well as local.

I live in Mason County, Michigan, work in the woods, play in the woods, and love the water as well. My wife and I love exploring the backcountry as well as some of the small town attractions and historic areas of interests too. Occasionally we’ll find an excuse to spend a day or two in large town/city, but even then it’s more of an outdoor ‘site-seeing’ adventure in the city.

Our regular paddle spots are the Pere Marquette, Big Sable River, Little Manistee, Manistee, White River, Pine River, various lakes in Mason County, as well as the big lake. We usually paddle multiple times a week and with the occasional overnight trip on a river or lake. Every now and then we’ll take a trip across the state to paddle a new river or lake and explore the land in between.

We’ve got a few years of white water and canoe tripping experiences under our belts and hope to keep the momentum going with those, especially with the west U.P. rivers. (Ontonagon system, Escanaba, Paint, Brule, Michigamme… ) time and paddle companions are the limiting factors, lol!

Paddle companions in our neck of the woods are hard to come by for sure, especially for mid-week, local paddles. We use the Meetup apps and occasionally go on a paddling event with one of local paddling meetup groups, but find the large group sizes suffocating and timing of the trips not conducive to our working schedules (we are in our 30’s).

Looking forward to the conversations, insight, musings, and hopefully paddling with some great company!

 

[Cheeseandbeans]

Welcome Jesse. Sounds like you have some great spots around you. I always loved trips to the UP when I lived in Chicago. Looking forward to your contributions.

Bob

 

[gumpus]

Howdy. I'm in Berrien County, about 2.5 hours south of you. I'd enjoy getting together for a paddle. I sent you a private message.

 

[Keeled Over]

Hello Jesse,

I am also a Michigander, currently living in Western NY. I will be returning as soon as I retire.

Your roster of rivers brings back many memories, particularly the Pere Marquette, Little Manistee and Manistee. Fished for resident's but have a whole book of pic's from years of salmon and steelhead fishing. The Michigamee is a huge favorite - my grandparents had a house on it near Republic and this is where I cut my fishing teeth back in the 60's.

Hugely supportive cast on this board - have been given a bunch of great info.


Welcome aboard!

Keeled Over

 

[Jesse37hemlock]

Nice to meet all of you! Thanks for welcome.

 

[dschult2]

Welcome, I'm from Michigan as well. I have a cottage not to far from you near Baldwin.

 

[duNord]

You mention you've paddled the Ontonagon system, Escanaba, Paint, Brule, and Michigamme. I've paddled the Brule many times and the Middle Branch of the Ontonagon from Watersmeet to Bond Falls. I've also paddled the SB of the Ontonagon from Ewen to Victoria Dam and the Paint from the Forks to Crystal Falls, but those were both so long ago that they hardly count.

I've paddled extensively in northern Wisconsin, but during this hard water season I've been pouring over maps and scouring the interwebs for information on western UP rivers to paddle this spring and early summer. Have you paddled the Middle Branch of the Ontonagon downstream of Bond Falls or the Cisco or West Branches? If so, I'd be interested in your insights.

I'm tentatively thinking of paddling the Michigamme from Van Riper State Park to the Brule and Net/Paint system down to Little Bull Dam this spring. I figure that will keep me busy for a couple weeks, but I'm looking for other ideas as well.

I was originally thinking of doing the Middle Branch and main Ontonagon from Watersmeet to Lake Superior, but I'm concerned that the Middle Branch downstream of Bond Falls may be a suffer-fest of downed trees and portages.

 

[Jesse37hemlock]

I haven’t been on any of those rivers yet, but sure do hope to be soon! That’s a great itinerary.

From Dennis and Date’s book, it seems shallow water may be more of an issue for the Ontonagon stretch below Bond Falls.

What’s your favorite Northern WI rivers?

 

[duNord]

Most of the flow of the MB Ontonagon is diverted from the Bond Falls Reservoir over to the South and West Branch for power generation at Victoria Dam. But during the spring run-off, I've heard that the MB may have enough water to paddle. But since the average gradient from Bond Falls to Agate Falls is 27' per mile and downstream of Agate Falls it's 17' per mile, I think there may be a fine line between having not enough water and having too much. 27' fpm is pretty steep, so if the volume is high, it could get dicey if there are a lot of downed trees.

The Pine River is my favorite northern WI river. There are (at least) four Pine Rivers in Wisconsin. The one I'm talking about is the next watershed south of the Brule. Most of the land is either national forest or state-owned, so there is relatively little development. Numerous potential places to camp, and miles of class I to easy class II rapids to run, and 2 to 3 significant waterfalls for added scenic value. Parts of it are runnable all season, but late April and May are the best times to string together multi-day trips.

 

[Jesse37hemlock]

I’ll have to look into the WI Pine then! That sounds like a gem.

Do you solo or tandem on your multi night trips and what kind of boat and setup do you run with on those northern rivers.

There’s a small group of us in the N.L.P. that do a lot of day trips together with an occasional multi nighter. A mix of solo and tandem on day trips but usually tandem for multi day excursions mainly due to logistics and travel. I’ve been running a16’ O.T. Penobscot for solo and tandem with others running 14-12’s for solo day trips.

 

[duNord]

Do you solo or tandem on your multi night trips

Yes. Due to Covid-19 concerns, all my trips in 2020 were solo trips. I anticipate this may be the case again in 2021. In normal years, if I can find a willing partner, I'll paddle tandem. But since I tend to have more free time than most of my friends, most of my trips end up being solo.

what kind of boat and setup do you run with on those northern rivers

It depends. I'm embarrassed to say how many canoes I have, but the ones I use most often are as follows: Hemlock SRT, Novacraft Super Nova, Bell Yellowstone Solo, and Bell Alaskan. I use the Hemlock SRT for solo day trips or overnight trips in up to class II rapids (unless the river is shallow and rocky). I use the Super Nova for solo overnight trips if the river is shallow and rocky or if the rapids are class II+. I use the Yellowstone Solo for day trips on shallow streams. I use the Bell Alaskan for tandem overnight trips.

I have a trailer and a small street-legal motorcycle, so I can run my own shuttles. This gives me the freedom to do trips without being dependent on others.

 

[duNord]

I’ll have to look into the WI Pine then! That sounds like a gem.

If you're interested, here is a link to a 10-minute video of 3 day trips I did on the Pine in September 2020:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQE4IOIUg3g