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Traverse Area Paddle Club

Remember: all TAPC outings are listed on our event calendar and are color coded using this scheme:

 

Small Inland Lakes   

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Difficult Rivers 
Clean-up Trips 

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Trip Reports

July 5 Betsie from County Line to Homestead Dam

John Heiam | Published on 7/5/2021

Participants: John Heiam, Lois Goldstein, Marlene Puska, Wayne Andersen, Will McCord, Jacqui Morgenstein, and Pam Lassers

 

Although July 5th was an official holiday, and part of a three day weekend, we saw no other paddlers on the river until we were within a half mile of the take-out. The river level was down almost two feet from its normal summer flow. This made for a lot more maneuvering as we had to avoid many shallow gravel bars. We also encountered a large number of trees in the water, but only one had to be moved to allow us to pass. This is not a section of river where you can sit back and just float down the river. There are very few cottages along this section of the Betsie, so there was a real wilderness feel to this trip. Three of the participants had never seen this section, and they were all impressed by how pretty it was. I love all the small cold creeks that enter from cool shaded ravines in the forest. Wayne picked up the most trash, but we all made a contribution to improving the landscape.

Photos by John
One of the many small streams entering the river

The crew is rearranging some logs (note: we never remove woody debris from the river)

Wayne makes his way down the river

Lois and Pam on the river

Will picks up a piece of litter, while Wayne continues down river

Jacqui enjoys her first trip of the year, after returning to the States a few weeks ago