All photos on Mostly Muskegon
Today’s surprisingly warm morning inspired a run up the south branch of the Muskegon River.
The return trip wasn’t quite so idyllic. An unexplored crossover to the north branch included fast water around blind corners into an old stand of trees. At least those were passable. The next run ended abruptly at a chest high log completely blocking the river. Way too much excitement for the early hour.
The entrance marker at Muskegon’s Terrace Point marina before this morning’s sunrise.
Just east of this Muskegon River bridge, is a small offshoot that appeared to be a possible connection between the south and north branches. After marshaling the nerve to try it, the breakout turned into a really fun run that did connect, taking several miles off last week’s route.
It didn’t take long to spend those saved miles.
Heading west down the south branch, another seeming shortcut between the two branches was irresistible – and a complete dead end, an excellent remedy to unwarranted overconfidence in navigational prowess.
Check out the “one step forward, two steps back” procedure in this map of the trip.
You’ve logged a lot of paddling hours when your plastic boat springs a leak.
A long run on the Muskegon River yesterday seemed way longer when the old Perception started taking on water. Ten or twelve years of rocky rivers finally opened up a hole in the keel just below the rudder. Pulling her out to dump the additional ballast became increasingly tough, but not as tough as paddling with the rear storage loaded with 40 -50 pounds of H2O.
Assuming that the warranty may have expired – during Bush’s first administration – the saw horses came out for a Saturday afternoon of TLC. Besides the hull patch, the old girl got a new rudder cable and a seat repair.
Muskegon Lake during a cloudy sunrise earlier this week.
Saturday’s paddle was up the South Branch of the Muskegon River to the North Branch and then back down river to the lake.
The differences between the two branches were really surprising. The run east had loads of shallow sections, no houses, no people. After turning back west, there are great little fishing cabins along a seemingly deeper river. That is, you’d never guess that the two are part of the same system – and only a short distance from each other geographically.
Here’s the entire run…
Paddling on the Muskegon River this morning.
Arcus forecast “mostly cloudy” – and Arcus is rarely wrong. But, this time…
This morning’s fog along the Muskegon River made for some very wet webs on the walk home.
This morning’s sunrise on the Muskegon River.
Berries in a weedy parking area on one of the undeveloped sides of Muskegon’s Watermark Building.
The White Lake channel in Muskegon County, Michigan on the morning of July 5, 2013.
Here are a load of bike trail flowers from the first half of summber 2013. Clicking on any of them should open a slide viewer.
…number nine…number nine..from this morning’s paddle on White Lake in Muskegon County, Michigan.
A very damp leaf from a recent walk on Muskegon’s Lakeshore bike trail.
A dewdrop-covered leaf on Muskegon’s Lakeshore Bike Trail.
This morning at the Heritage Landing boat launch in Muskegon, Michigan
This is from that rusty old railroad bridge just north of the Causeway.
A buoy on White Lake in Muskegon County, Michigan on September 26, 2012.
The Muskegon River just before the storm clouds rolled in yesterday morning.
Friday morning at the corner of Third and Merrill in Muskegon, Michigan.