1st Annual Sturgeon River Clean Sweep Event - 2010
I have been trying to do this event for a few years and it has been a struggle year after year to get enough people together to do it.
This year, with the help of 7 others, I was able to pull it off and it worked just as I had planned except for one little wrinkle.
It RAINED!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But these folks didn't care. They set out in the rain on the planned schedule and all was well when, in about an hour the sun came out and it was a pretty day.
There were eight of us:
Wolverine Crew:
Ian M - First timer on the Sturgeon
Dan S - 4H Leader from Kingsley - First timer but experienced paddler
Richard P - Dan's Buddy from Cheboygan County - First timer
David F - Leader of the Wolverine crew and experienced paddler
S. White Crew:
Norm F - Leader of the S. White crew
Dawn F - First timer on the Sturgeon
MaryLee O - Very experienced paddler
John M - Old timer on the Sturgeon
We split into 2 groups. One group did the Wolverine to S. White section. The other group went from S. White to Fischer Woods.
We did a leap frog shuttle which was provided by Henley's Canoe Livery. That worked exceedingly well. Ten minutes and we were all on the river.
It was hard work because the river was high and fast due to the rains of the night before.
We got 11 full large bags of trash in total. Maybe 250 to 300 pounds.
After about 90 minutes, the S. White to Fischer Woods group got 2 full bags and a property owner took the 2 bags and showed us around his nice place, inviting us to use it anytime we were on the river. His name is Roger and he was really kind to us. We met his dog Molly who seemed to think I smelled bad, which I did having had my hands in trash for 90 minutes.
We left one bag at N. White and the Big Bear Adventures drivers from Indian River took it and the 5 others we had at Fischer Woods.
We lunched at N. White amid groups of renters launching kayaks and rafts while a guy named Mike talked about all his many adventures on this river and that river and explained in detail the location and many attributes of several motels in the area. It was like having a dinner show with a comedian. Mike took this picture for us while making us laugh.
A snake came out of the grass to greet us as we exited
our boats at Fisher Woods. I couldn't get to the camera fast enough to
get a shot because I was dancing around in the river and screaming like a little
girl. It was a garter snake and completely harmless.
The Wolverine group got 3 really tightly packed bags. They were picked up at Rondo Rd Landing and were taken to The Meadows Bar and Grill where the owners, Todd and Laurie allowed us to place them in the dumpster there. Norm bought everyone a (soft) drink.
It was a super fun day and all of us were so glad we didn't wimp out and call it off because of the bad weather early on.
Our first timers did very well and there are no problems to report.
Maybe the Sturgeon will be cleaner the next time we get there. We sure hope so!
Norm F.