4:30 PM 7/14: RESCHEDULED to 7/17 due to rain forecast for 7/15.
No watercraft permits are needed above Elm Flats, only your parking access.
This will be an all-day, 15 mile paddle from Briarpatch to Elm Flats (upstream of my favorite section from Dobson to Low). It should take approx 5 hrs paddling, plus 1.5 hrs of stops for lunch, snack & possible portages. This will be a L-O-N-G day, for experienced river paddlers only! I have the final say on those who sign-up.
We will pass by 6 & 8 Mile Bridges, Skookum, Walker Bridge, Silver Creek Campground & Lincoln Bridge on our way to Elm Flats, on this Wild & Scenic River through the Manistee National Forest. If anyone can't make it the entire way, they can wait at an access upstream, and we will come back for them, after we reach our take-out.
Don't forget to bring your PFD, paddle, lunch, snacks, water, bailer or sponge, bow line, and dry bag of extra clothes. There may be mosquitos & ticks, so you may want some bug spray or DEET, too. If you do not have a National Park/Forest pass, it will cost $5 (?) to park at the Elm Flats access.
Meeting & shuttle details:
For those of us in TC, we could meet before 8AM at the Chums Corner Ace Hardware parking lot, and load boats & gear onto my van (seats for 5) & trailer. Otherwise, we will meet at Elm Flats, where we'll re-load our boats & gear for transport upstream by PRPS.
If inclement weather, give me a call before you leave home.
NOTE: As a matter of record, I paddled 20.5 miles from Elms Flat to Low Bridge in 1999 (Roseanne as witness) in only 4 hrs (fastest canoe team), in a big heavy aluminum rental canoe during the Pathfinder Challenge 17 hr adventure race (5th place out of only 5 finishers). This took place on the first Sat in April, and was only 34 degrees when we arrived at the river at 8AM, after mtn biking through the woods for 48 miles, lost in the dark for 2 hrs. I had to paddle hard to get my hands warm, after Roseanne peeled my mtn biking gloves off so I could put on dry gloves. Even then, it took a miserable hr for my frozen fingers to thaw!! So, this will be a luxury in comparison!