by Sara Cockrell
It was 30s in the morning but quickly warmed to 60s in the sunshine. Although I hadn't paddled the AuSable except once since I raced 10 yrs ago, the river hasn't changed much, and was fun to see some AuSable River Canoe Marathon racing friends, Garth, Ryan & Cheryl, heading out from Penrods too (1), in their sleek, light, C-2 (tandem) carbon fiber canoes. Along the way, we saw 7 race teams (one took a dump), 2 C-1 racers paddling upstream, 2 other kayakers (one took a dump), a drift boat, and 6-10 fly fishermen, so a good time to paddle, before the liveries open.
I've never been fond of the section from town to Burton's Landing, too slow, shallow & developed, but once we had lunch at Canoe Harbor, and paddled past Burton's (2) the current picks up, gets a little deeper, and fewer homes on the rivers' edge. From there, it seemed too short to Stephan (3), only 2:30PM, where our group loaded up & headed out to join Lois & John for ice cream in Grayling.
Since it was going to be such a gorgeous spring day, and it's a long drive from TC alone, with the cost of gas so much higher, I had planned in advance to spend the rest of the day hiking all or part of the Mason Tract, along the South Branch of the AuSable nearby. Mike & Barb decided to join me, and we enjoyed an 1.5 hr hike out & back downstream from M-72 & Smith Bridge, comparing favorites from our NZ adventures, theirs a yr ago, mine last month.
The 64th Annual AuSable River Canoe Marathon, July 26-31, from Grayling to Oscoda, the longest non-stop canoe race in Northern Michigan and the World's Toughest Spectator Race:
1) the site of the ASRCM sprints for position on Thurs & Fri before the race start on Sat,
2) the first ASRCM feed by 9:40PM on the last Sat in July,
3) the first cut-off time during the race at 11PM.
Lois & John in tandem canoe, Sara & Bob in solo canoes, 10 in kayaks:
Dean & Diane, Mike & Barb, Marv & Marlene, Tracie, Linda, Karen, and Tom