What a great day! The first event of 2021 for the Women Paddlers of Southeast Michigan, organized by our founder and my dear friend, Christy. I was hoping it would be warmer, as the forecast at one time said it would be in the low 70s today (Saturday) but it only reached the mid 60s. Sunny though!
I got on the freeway and promptly was stopped in standstill traffic as, unbeknownst to me, 3 lanes went down to 1. Sigh. After exiting the first chance I got, I was able to let Christy and Cheryl (traveling from Jackson, MI!) know I was on my way, via phone and Facebook. Then upon reaching my destination, I realized I had GPSed myself to the wrong place, the boat ramp from within the campground. Not a kayak in site! I checked the Facebook event (reading is fundamental!) and rerouted Google Maps to get me to the address Christy had provided in the Facebook event. Doh!
This boat ramp was down a dirt road that was very narrow in spots and had some decent ruts as well! But it was woodsy, rural and AWESOME. I soon found my way to them and we made our introductions.
The boat in the background had just launched and I loved how it was framed in this shot! This was a surprise, I could barely see the screen in the sunlight so I just aimed my phone at us and hit the shutter a few times. After moving our vehicles and dipping our toes into the frigid water, we were soon on our way, into the wind.
Once out of this shielded area, we paddled hard across Proud Lake to get to a section of the Huron River. It was choppy in this wind! Small waves hit the bow of my boat periodically and splashed my chilly bare feet that were trying to dry.
We soon made it into the river and found shelter from the wind. We passed an amazing house as the river curved to the left just around this bend. I didn’t even get a pic of the house, I was too enthralled with the boathouse and the deck up top! My heart..
A riverfront slice of heaven with these two amazing, ancient willow trees.. We would pass some incredible houses today, but this would remain my favorite.. Just past the trees, on the riverbank, was their fire pit.
I tried to steer clear of this family of swans, but they didn’t seem to mind the passing traffic.
In the distance, I saw a truck go past over the river and thought, we’re going under a bridge! Soon, I would realize, nope, we’re actually turning around! It was a dam, with fencing, rocks and a No Trespassing sign. I didn’t look much harder to find a way to portage around it. Christy determined from her GPS watch that it was South Commerce Lake on the other side. Later, after returning home, I checked my Huron River Water Trail Paddler’s Companion but this section was not documented. The beginning of that adventure (Proud Lake to the Detroit River) starts in the opposite direction of which we came today!
We started back the way we came, this time WITH the current. Yay! Cheryl looks happy!
As does Christy!
I’m not sure how we got on the topic of air fryers, but we began talking about all the wonderful things that could be made with them. We had planned on our traditional ice cream stop after our paddle, and our stomachs were growling with the talk of air fried goodness. And brownies. And ice cream. And our favorite breakfast cereal from our childhoods. Haha.. Great conversation.. 🙂
It was time to trade the flip flops for socks and shoes and I was SO glad I brought them. The sun was setting and the temp was dropping. My thoughts went back to a November paddle last year that our friend Pam came out for. My feet were frozen through two pairs of wool socks and rubber boots. Upon returning from our trip, I immediately hobbled back to my car and sat with the heat blasting on them for a while. I had to laugh when I saw Christy and Pam cautiously peering at me through my car window. (Are you OK?) After thawing out my feet, I walked back to the river for my boat. It was snowing and ice had already formed on it! Brrr…
The setting sun reflected off the water as we paddled our way back across Proud Lake, this time the wind had died down a bit.
I took this pic of Cheryl in the sunset, not realizing at the time I would catch her right in the middle of the sun’s reflection.
Back on shore, we made our way to our vehicles and the much appreciated, very clean vault restroom. For being quite a ways back in the woods, down a road that looked like a a two track at times, this was a very nice facility! I expected it to be more rustic, with limited facilities.
So here is our route, about 3 miles charted using the RunKeeper app. Not sure why it shows me doing a beeline on one of the trips. Must have been a weird satellite anomaly.
We loaded up, and thanks to Google’s “dairy queen near me” we began our navigation to our celebratory stop. Here is a shot of part of the road. There were parts that were narrow for only one vehicle and I was thankful I didn’t meet someone coming the other way!
To my delight, the Walled Lake Dairy Queen was able to make me a mini banana split Blizzard, not on their menu, but the most diet friendly choice I had. It was delicious!
We chatted for a bit after our ice cream and then parted ways, thankful for a great day, great conversation and paddle season just beginning.