Winter Kayaking

What a wonderful day on the river. Mary and I arrived in Roscommon on Tuesday morning. There was a little snow but we would have liked to have had more for my kayaking and her skiing. She loves the river but is a bit leery to try it in winter conditions and frankly, I am glad she is. I don’t like to have to worry about anyone but myself on that fast cold river! Summer is different but winter can be dangerous.

The next few days were dreary and we watched the weather report. There was suppose to be snow on the way later in the week and we figured we could wait a bit. She needed snow for the skiing and I wanted snow for the beauty it would give the river. I was honestly hoping for a blizzard, like when my brother and I went down a couple years ago but would be happy with anything.

One day we went for a hike along the river. There is a beautiful trail that follows it and it gave me a chance to look it over a bit. It was rough walking as the ruts were frozen and the problem was I was continuously breaking through the crust, making for tough going.

I was following Mary as it is best to go at her speed and day dreaming. I was watching the trail so I could select the best footing for myself and I realized I was looking at bear tracks. What the heck was a bear doing out in the winter? Ain’t they suppose to be hibernating now, I was a thinking? Well by golly they look like bear tracks to me!! I pointed them out to Mary and she had just noticed them herself! They were a few days old and I started a looking around and farther down the trail, about 20 ft is all, there were a set of older ones. They were crossing the trail and were a bit smaller.

I told my buddy Dave about it and he acted like I didn’t know the difference between a bear track and a dog track. What do you thing?? Wayner???

There is a Resort down the road from us and I decided to talk to him about the conditions on the river. The name of it is PaddleBrave http://www.paddlebrave.com/webapp Tom the owner said that he had had a party of three one man canoes go down a few days before and one of them had flipped. By the time they got to Canoe Harbor they had had enough and called for him to pick them up. Canoe harbor is about 16 miles from his place and he said they were out of dry cloths. I asked if they were newbies but he said they were members of a club and seemed to know what they were doing. Great  Oh well, they might have been stupid too.

I looked over the river wherever I could and it was fairly high and moving pretty good. There was no ice to speak of floating downstream and that was good news to me. When my brother and I made our trip a few years ago there was a lot of ice and that is where our problems started. There was a tree down about half way down the river and the ice had backed up from the tree and blocked our advancement. I had to hike out in the dang blizzard and come back with my 4WD to get Gary and the Kayaks. I posted that story a few years ago.

I was determined to make the run but also figured I had better be prepared for a dunking if it came to that. The Mason Tract is 16 miles with no roads or homes along it. If I put in at Paddlebrave it would add about 5 miles to the trip. That would be 21 miles for you Blondes. There are homes along the upper five miles and I could get a feel for conditions before entering the Mason Tract at Chase Bridge. I decided to do go in there.

We were sure hoping for some snow and Friday night it started. It started right after dark and we were sure happy for it. It was a sticking type snow which was great for Mary and the trails and would make the trip down the river beautiful.

From the time I decided I was going for it I had been going over what I would need to take along. I would be dressed in a snowmobile suit with warm gloves and boots but I was gonna take extra everything, in dry bags. Boots, suit, gloves, sox etc! I made a list and checked it twice, you can be on that!

I went to the hardware and bought some fire starter and threw in a bottle of charcoal starter to boot. Extra touque and sweatshirt! I wanted to take a camera and decided on my old two meg camera. If I dunked, I did not want the good one to take a dip. I had to buy a couple cigarette lighters and packed them all in the dry bag. Man I was ready! At least I hoped I was! Even with all the preparations, if I rolled over it would be miserable trying to get to shore and getting a fire going and changing cloths. I could still be in trouble and knew it. I have been in that ice water and it is not fun. You do not have a lot of time to waste.

I thought about renting one of Tom’s kayaks but decided to use my own, as I was used to it and didn’t need any distractions if I had any problems. Some were sure to come up.

Friday night we went to bed. I was exhausted because we had hiked that day along the river. We had hiked for 2 and a half hours and it was rough going. I was dragging butt but as I lay there I was going over what I was to be doing the next day. My mind was racing and I went over every piece of gear I was taking and could find nothing I had forgotten.

We have made maybe 60 or 70 trips down that river and I tried to think of where I might have problems. I could think of three, one at the upper end where there was a small island and if I went to the right side, which was where the main current ran, there was a tree laying almost all the way across the river and if I was swept into it sideways and it was entirely possible, I would be lucky not to roll over. The current was powerful there. I had to remember to take it to the left side! Then there was the dang place where the Beaver had dammed it up last fall. If they had the river blocked I had to be careful and look it over before I made my move there. That could be rough as it is bad in the summer with low water. Many people dumped there without the dam being there. Gotta watch that place. Then down the other side of Canoe Harbor there is a place that my buddy had dumped last spring. There are trees that have fallen in on each side of the river and they funneled the water through a narrow spot that I had to hit squarely or I was gonna be one cold, wet old fart!

The problem is there were so many places that trees could be blocking the river that I did not have any way of anticipating. All I could do is watch the water and pay attention to what it was telling me. I had to make sure I had my touque off my ears so I could hear the water because it can tell you a lot. I had to watch ahead for eddies and signs of rocks. If you see an eddy from a rock you must realize that what you are seeing is downstream from the obstruction. A lot of people don’t realize this and try to miss the eddy but hit the rock. If a person watches the river it will tell you a lot. That is the benefit of going alone I figured, I can pay attention to what the hell I am doing. Gotta do that.

I finally got to sleep and as usual, got up early. It was still dark so I started the coffee and packed a lunch. Mary knew I wanted to hit the river early so she crawled out of bed and got ready to take me to the Paddlebrave. I was to take my kayak and gear with me and then when I got to Smith Bridge, where I would be picked up, I would call Tom with my Cell and he would come and get me.

Man was it a beautiful morning. The pines were covered with snow and everything looked so clean and fresh. I was excited to be getting on the river at last.

Mary dropped me off at the camp and headed home. Tom came out to give me a hand loading up and getting my big butt into the kayak. That is the time a person is gonna have a problem. Those things are very stable but getting into and out of them is tricky. Once in there is no problem.

I loaded up the gear with the kayak setting on shore in the snow. It is much easier that way and you can get everything in its place before getting in. We carried the kayak to the river and slid it in. He has a breakwall and was able to hold the kayak as I settled my big butt in. Once in, I put the thermos between my legs so I could get at it and after checking everything, pushed off.

The water was moving fast and I was a little tense but after a minute or two I felt myself relaxing and going with the flow. There are a lot of trees hanging over the river but it is easy to avoid them if I looked ahead.

So many people get in trouble by not looking ahead and I was not gonna have that as an excuse if I took a dump!

The first five miles the river has a lot of homes and cottages, as I said and it runs right behind our place. We are not on the river but we are on a ridge above it. It is smooth going there and if I were to flip, I could easily get help. Good place to start!


I left Paddlebrave and soon slid under Steckart Bridge and on to adventure. I was excited and had my camera hung around my neck at the ready, for what I did not know but it sure was a beautiful morning.

I only paddled enough to maintain mydirection and to guide the kayak around the obstructions, of which there were many but I was enjoying the beauty of the river. There are many ducks feeding along the shallows and as I approached them, they would flush with a lot of quacking and splashing. They would fly a couple hundred feet and then land, until I approached again and then off they would go again, in a burst of noise. It was just beautiful. Except for the ducks there was not a sound, other than the occasional sound from my paddle. Most of the cottages are closed for the winter and I was alone with nature.

I was enjoying the scene and just letting my mind wander, there is so much to take in, and I noticed something in a tree, far ahead. At first I did not pay it any mind but it seemed to draw my eyes back. I would look away and then would be looking at it again, with no real thought as to what it was.

Finally I thought, “What the hell? That looks like a dang Eagle!” I stared at it and as I drew nearer I knew dang well it was a Bald Eagle! Now that is a thrill for this old Michigan boy!! I was too far off for my two meg camera but it is what I had so I took a couple shots of it. I was hoping I could get right under is, as some times you can but the dang ducks flushed in front of me and scared the sucker off. Down river it went and I got a poor shot of it but at least I saw it!!

As I drifted downstream, towards Chase Bridge and the start of the Mason Tract, I saw it three more times. One time it flew from behind me and soared over my head at about 20 ft but I was not ready for it.

One thing I did see that surprised me was a Great Blue Heron and a few Kingfishers. I was always under the impression that they flew south in the winter but there they were, on the banks of the South Branch of the Ausable River in the winter.

Man this is getting long. More tomorrow!!





Here we go again. Gotta get my head back into to. :D

As I pass under the Chase Bridge, which is the beginning of the Mason Tract, I feel a little tension coming back. I know that if I get in trouble down here it could mean a miserable time, at least until I could get to shore, build a fire and change cloths. The problem is if I went over I would have to have the sense to grab the kayak and drag it to shore with its contents. The contents were pretty important to me :D Then build a fire and change. Dang I had just better stay on top of the water!!

As you can see by the pictures the Mason Tract is pretty wild! On the upper part there are places that it is pretty hard to even get on shore! It is thick! Building a fire would be easy, as I had lighters and fire starter but it would be an adventure, for sure. One I was not wanting!

The river is a river of a thousand bends. Maybe not a thousand but sure a lot of them. It is rare when you can see more than a hundred feet down stream but that is what makes it so interesting and beautiful. There are cedar trees crowding the shores and many have fallen into the river, which makes it such great trout habitat. The Department of Natural Recourses maintain the river and even drop trees and position them with helicopters to slow the river and maintain cover for the trout. It makes for a great float.

There is one cabin on the upper part of the river. Some author owned it and it is right on a bend with a small island in front of it. You can pass on either side, with the main current passing between the island and cabin. This is the natural way for a paddler to go. The problem is there is a tree down and laying ¾ of the way across the river, jutting from the bank, toward the island. It can not be seen until you are committed to go to the right. I had seen it during the summer so was forewarned but I was worried that the left side was blocked by a beaver or just floating logs. I did not want to go to the right if I could help it. I could go that way if I stayed tight to the island but it was very rocky and shallow there. I wanted to go left.

As I approached the cabin area I started back paddling to slow myself down. I wanted to look it over before I committed. A kayak is great that way because with little effort, even in a stiff current, you can stop the kayak and set still with a little back paddling. I saw that the left was blocked by a log but it was mostly under water. I said to hell with it and started stroking. I aimed directly for the submerged log and hit it squarely. It went down, as I hoped it would and I shot right over it. I was clear and headed down stream. I looked back to the other route and saw that there was barely room for a kayak to slide through if I had gone that way. I bet that is where the canoe had went over a few days before. If they hit that tree sideways and it would have been hard not to and the paddler had leaned to the left, he would roll right over!

I paddled and drifted for quite a ways, maybe six or seven miles and passed the Castle. Well there used to be what was called the Durant Castle there. Nothing but foundations now and a bit dock for paddlers. The water gets a bit deeper beyond the Castle but the paddling was smooth and quiet. I usually see mink in that area but saw none on Saturday. Actually I saw little in the way of wildlife in the Mason Tract that day and that was not the norm. I have seen lots of beaver, otter, eagles and deer there. That is where we had seen the bear tracks too. I don’t know what I did not see any unless it was because I was concentrating on the river.

There are places that there is swampy areas on both sides, usually where a small creeks enters. You have to know that the creeks are there to even spot them as they are over grown. Other areas are in deep cuts with high hills on one side or the other. I like the cuts because there is little wind there and all you can hear are birds and the babbling of the river as it runs under the fallen trees. It is so peaceful!

I then came around a bend and there was a dang fallen tree all the way across the river. Luckily for me there was room for me to glide under it if I ducked down a bit. That is where paddlers get in trouble if they are not careful. When you duck you have to duck forward or straight back because if you lean to eather side, you could easily roll over. This dang tree trunk left me room to get under but there were lots of branches hanging down to the water. The branches were covered with lots of snow too. I had to find a hole and aim for it. I saw an opening in the limbs and lined up on it and ducked forward, as the bow started through. Slick that snail snot I slid through but a load of snow fell off the dang brush and down my neck! Geeesh! I came clear of the limbs and saw that there was a sharp bend immediately beyond the tree. I gave a couple heavy strokes on the right and slid around the bend.

I figured it was time for some coffee and reached for the thermos. I picked it up and unscrewed the top. I poured a cupful and head a rattling. I looked down in the jug and saw the liner was broken. Cripes! I was looking forward to a hot cup of coffee and now I had to look out for broken glass! Well it still tasted good but was not hot any more. I drank most of the thermos of coffee but was careful not to drink the bottom inch or so.

I came across another tree that completely crossed the river but I could see that it was bobbing slowly with the current so just headed for it and hit it square. That is the trick. Hit is square because if it is floating you can just shove it down with the kayak and go right over. That was the case here. I just paddled right over it.

I went another few miles and was approaching the spot where the dang beaver had blocked the river last fall. I was hoping that someone had killed it and torn out the dam by now. I had been just enjoying the scenery and had come upon the area before I had expected to. Dumbass me! I came around the bend and there was the big pile of old trees that have been there for years, coming across the river from the left. I expect the river is maybe a hundred feet across at this point and the pile of old trees come to within 25 ft of the right bank. It is easy in the summer to just hit this opening and slide past the pile but this is the spot the beaver chose to build the dam. Not exactly at the opening but downstream about 20 ft or so. It still tied into the jumble of dead trees but not right at the opening. To get a good look at the dam I had to commit to going through and only had second or two to decide what to do, before I would hit the dam. I could try to shoot over it, as it was rather low but there was a lot of snags below it that could roll me over. I didn’t want that.

In the summer we sometimes have our shore lunch on this brush pile as there is usually a breeze there and the bugs are kept at bay. Behind the pile of trees and it is a rather big pile, there is a calm area, the trees act like a dam and if I can get there I have a little breathing room. I slid through the gap and headed for the dam. I looked quickly to the left and the calm area but there were a bunch of small limbs and such blocking the way. To heck with I thought and started a stroking for the limbs. I did not want to be forced against the dang beaver dam and I sure did not want to risk going over it either. I figured I would force myself as far as possible into the limbs and such and at least be out of the current.

I shot right through it and into the relative calm area. I looked ahead of me to the shore and saw a kayak sized opening against the shore and paddled through it, back into the main river. Man that was as smooth as I could hope for and it was unplanned. I just got lucky and used what was offered. I looked back at the area I had just come through and it didn’t look as bad as it did from the top. I took this picture but it is rather poor as I was moving and shooting over my shoulder at the time. It is funny but I look at the dang picture and it looks as calm as a mill pond but coming down through that crap was sorta puckery like :D

The rest of the trip was just great until I got to Canoe Harbor, where the canoeist got out a couple days before. Just below was the place my buddy Jim had rolled over last spring in high water. There were trees coming out from each bank and there was a small gap in the middle to go through. These trees had been there for many years and were just skeletons of trees actually. The river is narrow there and fast but it is fun to shoot through.

I came around the bend and looked ahead, now very far ahead actually and saw in front of me the spot. I was moving rather fast and I saw that there was a dang dead tree blocking across the opening and I was committed now. Crap thunk I! I heard someone say, “Hey that is a bad spot” No kidding but I had no choice now and paddled as hard as I could at it. It was laying low but I was a bit tense. Wet ass here I come! And only a mile from Smith Bridge where I was to stop.

I just hit that dang log as hard as I could and shot right over it and into the slick water on the other side. I was so dang happy to have made it. I did not what lay ahead in the next mile or so but there were houses down there where I could get help if I needed it. As it turned out the way was clear and the rest of the trip was uneventful.

I just had a ball on the river last Saturday and am happy to have been able to share it with you. I would have liked to have had company but being alone did not take any of the thrill away.

I stayed dry!! :D