#SundayPaddle: Huron River/Island Lake Part 2

Okay, so it’s Tuesday, not Sunday. And this trip took place a few weeks ago. And I’ve already posted about this stretch of the river in August of last year. LOL But, I will bring you back again with us as it isn’t quite the same trip.

Several weeks ago, a friend of mine and I paddled the Huron River from Island Lake to the Placeway Bridge. Below is the satellite photo of where we put in and took out. This is the same stretch my amazing niece took me on last summer. I was happy to have found the same take out spot and we left my vehicle after leaving our boats at the starting point with some trustworthy-looking people.

This is the same spot that has the rail system – it’s about 4 feet off the ground, you put your boat on it and push/walk it down the hill so you’re not dragging it on the gravel path. This time I successfully pushed my down to the end without dropping it between the rails and spilling the contents into the grass. With 10 people waiting behind me.

The dam is at the starting point and beyond it is Island Lake. If you’re coming downstream, this is where you’d exit Island Lake and portage around the dam.

You can’t really tell from the pics, but we really had a nice, warm, sunny day!

This was an extremely low clearance bridge, but you could make it under without ducking. And the water was low. I can’t imagine getting under this after a heavy rain.

We came across these two who appeared to be having a conversation. Funny, in my other post I also got a shot of a similar looking turtle, I wonder if it’s the same one? If I see him again I’m naming him. I noticed how different his shell was than the other so I Googled it when I got home. He is a soft shell turtle.

Down the river we came upon this Great Blue Heron. This was taken with my point and shoot and I zoomed in quite far. I did not expect it to turn out as clear as it did. This is for my friend Suzanne, over at mydangblog, as she recently shared a post about herons. (Also, I’d highly recommend following her blog – she cracks me up on the daily!)

We reached our ending point in just under 3 hours, that was without stopping, just casually paddling along. We were enjoying the day so much, we kept going for a bit past our end point, and decided just to paddle back upstream.

OMG.

The paddle back was a bit rough, not impossible, but you could not stop and rest or you’d just start floating backward. I think I got all my workout in just in that small section of the day.

Before we returned to our end point, I had to grab a shot of this creepy looking moss covered picnic table on the river bank.

Ta da! My Explorer can officially carry a 10 footer and and 8 footer!

We ended the day at Ritter’s in Brighton, a very popular custard place. Post paddle ice cream has become a tradition with my new group of paddling friends.

I was over the moon excited to see that they offer cake batter ice cream in their glaciers! (similar to a Dairy Queen Blizzard) It was a great end to a great day!