Traverse Area Paddle Club

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Trip Reports

Oct 3 Upper Platte in afternoon sunshine

Published on 10/3/2010

ALMOST CRIPPLED... NEW BOAT TRAILER
I was surprised when one of the tires on my boat trailer came off of the rim in the Vasa Singletrack parking lot this morning, as I arrived for the Cherry Capital Cycling Club mtn bike ride & pancake breakfast. Afterwards, 2 of the bike guys fixed it in minutes & explained what had happened. Since I had just purchased the trailer this spring, and it had sat all summer, while I was out-of-town, it had lost most of its air pressure, down from 60 lbs to 20, which they said can happen with tubeless tires. And, the lug nuts had not been installed correctly, so were loose. On my way there this morning, with 110 lbs of kayaks on one side, I had made a fairly sharp turn onto Hobbs Hwy, and probably pressured most of the remaining air out of that tire. By the time I pulled into the parking lot, the tire was flat & falling off of the rim. It would have been a major inconvenience, since I was leading the paddle this afternoon & another on Monday, without Mark & Roger's help. Whew, lucky me, being at the right place at the right time!!!

PADDLERS: Nancy & John Briggs, my guests, Barb & Mike Rodenberg, Mark Workman & one more, all in kayaks except for me (Sara). When I arrived at Veteran's Park for the paddle, much to our surprise, we had an extra paddler, Gail Hastings, who had thought she had registered early on, but had never received the email confirmation. No problem. We all agreed we wanted to paddle all the way to Deadstream, so shuttled there, found a driver to bring us back, and plunged in for a sunny afternoon together. The water level was higher than normal again, so covered the gravel bars. We scared up a blue heron & a pair of wood ducks, one whose life was claimed by a duck hunter & his tracking dog, as we paddled by. I know he could hear us coming around the bend, so was surprised that he shot it almost right in front of us. Mark & Gail were paddling well, in spite of recent shoulder surgeries. And, Nancy & John completed their third paddle today, high & dry! A delightful & mostly uneventful afternoon, admiring the sunshine on the riffles & solitude in the cedar swamp, with friends!

Duck hunter & dog with wood duck on river right

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