Winter Paddling Trip 2009

We decided to do a winter paddle trip as a cold weather shake down run to help get us ready for the upcoming Ultimate Hugh Heward Challenge. Originally we intended to do the trip on the Big Manistee River, but with the huge amount of snow on the ground in Northern Lower Michigan, we opted for a more southern waterway with less snow and easier access. The start date for the UHHC is April 17th, starting on the Detroit River, we want to be sure that we have a good handle on gear preparations just in case we start with cold, snowy conditions, this was a good warm up for any such conditions.
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We put in below the dam in Grand Ledge, temps were in the mid to low 20's and a few of our rudder cables were frozen inside their channels, a quick warm up next to the shuttle van's tail pipe exhaust and a few quick kicks of the foot pegs and we were on our way. Often in the winter our rudder cables will freeze up and we have to work a little to get them thawed, we've tried countless different methods to either prevent this or solve this and depending on what we have to work with we can sometimes get delayed a little first thing in the morning. When all attempts fail we shove off anyway and revert back to the labor intensive paddle strokes of our for fathers, fun as they are, it does take more energy and in these cold conditions energy conservation was paramount.
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Once on the water we had a nice two hour paddle down to Deer Camp Island. During hunting season, back when Verlen traveled these same waters, he often headed down river from his home in Delta Mills, over the Grand Ledge Dam portage, and on down to the island to meet the Smith brothers who have a very nice encampment set up for use during the autumn deer hunting season. Verlen did not hunt then, but used the time instead to get a good 30 miles in over a few day period and visit with a bunch of good friends. I don't deer hunt much either, so I joined Verlen a few times on his yearly pilgrimage down and back up this great stretch of river. It was always so much fun to follow Verlen up river. Before I met him I never really gave much thought to traveling up stream in my canoe. All of the trips I did were headed downstream with a shuttle issue either before or after the trip. After meting Verlen and learning this great art of upriver travel my shuttle concerns were solved for ever.
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This trip had us going downstream only, which was good for the intended purpose, a good test run of our chosen cold weather sleeping, clothing and cooking systems. A big reason we choose Deer Camp Island as a base camp was because we knew there was already a large stockpile of dry firewood available which would add to our comfort in the possible subzero temps forecast for the next 3 days. Brian was planning on trying out a canvas tent and titanium wood stove combination to see how they worked and if it could somehow fit into our winter paddling/camping arsenal.
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Brian was driving over from Wisconsin and met us on the water closer to the island, before long everyone was set up and we had fresh venison kabobs on the grill. The set up of the canvas tent was much quicker than I expected it to be, in fact I sat down by the fire to warm up a bit and before I knew it Brian had the entire rig set up with smoke billowing out the 4” stovepipe. When Brian first suggested trying out this rig I kind of thought it was lame, but after seeing the ease of set up, the fairly compact size and an open invitation to join him as a bunkmate I had a total change of heart. I figured since we will be retracing an historical route soon and we don't plan on re-enacting it as far as gear is concerned, now was my time to sleep in a floor less, leaky tent.
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Those guys in the old days really must have been a lot tougher than we are now, it's hard to imagine the cold, wet conditions they put up with in their travels, I'm so thankful for my modern day gear. The canvas tent/wood stove combination, I think, is a bit heavy and bulky for average expedition paddling, but for use in a base camp type situation or to help make less experienced campers more comfortable it is a great choice and I would not hesitate to use it again just for those reasons.
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The next morning we were up and on the water at the crack of 10:30. Again it took a couple of good pushes to free up the frozen cables, if we were smart we would have done some rudder maintenance the night before. Our plan for this day was a 16 mile paddle down to Thompson Field canoe launch, the future site of Verlen's bronze statue. The snow started just before we put in and fell off and on during the three or so hours we took to get downriver. We will be paddling down this stretch of river during the UHHC along with those taking part in the 55 mile Hugh Heward Challenge. I've always loved this section of the Grand River, it passes through the Portland State Game area and in parts passes tall banks with huge towering trees and lots of wildlife. We saw lots of deer, a few hawks, a fox and even a Bald Eagle graced the sky out in front of us a few times.
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We had a prearranged shuttle waiting in Portland that took us back, up river from our base camp and we then paddled a few miles back down to Deer Camp Island. We snacked on venison roasts all evening and swapped lots of stories about past trips and heavily discussed the UHHC. So far we have only 4 confirmed participants and there was 2 of us along on this trip. I do think however that the conversation helped inspire a few others to seriously consider taking on the Challenge and going along for what is going to be a great trip.
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The next day we decided to stay right in camp and enjoy the warmth and security of the nice campfire. The snow and wind started to pick up about 10 am as the temperature started to fall. The four of us that were up quickly gathered all available tarps and fashioned a very nice blue polypropylene tent over the fire. We ended up getting a few inches of snow during the remainder of the day and into the night and the tarp system proved to be a great asset in keeping everyone comfortable.
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The next morning we were planning on breaking our camp and paddling again the 16 miles down to Portland, but with all the snow and subfreezing temps the river really started icing up. So we decided to get out of the water closer to the island. The spot we chose to exit the river was all uphill and it took a great American built truck to help portage all our gear up to our waiting vehicles.
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Even though we did not get all that many paddling miles in on this trip we all considered it a great success. There are always so many lessons found within a cold weather adventure. Getting out in the cold and testing equipment and personal cold weather skills is so essential in the successful and safe completion of winter water trips. It also makes those warm weather trips that much more enjoyable and easy.
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There is talk of another Winter Training Run yet this year, we will let you know as soon as it is planned.
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Paddle paddle - Mark