3rd Annual Middle Manistee River Cleanup
August 3, 2019
Last year, this trip seemed endless and we were all exhausted at the end.
I found a halfway point called Chase Creek Campground.
There is no creek and no campground and the shuttle is 14 miles long each way
and very difficult over some really bad, dusty 2 track roads and I got lost
a few times and it took over an hour to find it but it does cut the trip in half.
The landing is at the bottom of some steep and rotten steps and the river
bottom there is clay and very slippery and sticky that doesn't
come off your shoes but it does cut the trip in half.
So we tried it anyway with only limited participant approval.
The river was beautiful, full, fast and really very clean for this section
that gets tons of use in the summer. There were not a lot of people
until we were getting finished.
We all had fun cooperating getting out some of the difficult trash.
Tom Auer wins the award for the most difficult extraction and
Ron Coyne gets the prize for the most trash found.
Here are all the lousy photos I took today. If you look closely,
you might see the mink I caught in a log jam getting a drink of water.
If I made a coat out of him, it would only fit another mink.
All Photos
We saw a little adolescent black bear during the shuttle ride in the morning.
That was exciting and the first one I have even seen in the woods.
I was very impressed at how very black he was.
We all agreed that cutting the trip in half as the right thing to do even
with the hardships included. It gave us all more time to eat lunch.
Respectfully submitted,
Norm Fred
BRCS