Pine River News and Conditions 03/07/2011

Date: 3/07/2011

River Conditions:

WOW!! Below is what the river looked like in front of the house seven weeks ago. Lots of shelf ice. And anchor ice flowing happily downstream. During that cold spell there were a number of places where the river was frozen all the way across. Amazing how it changes face day to day, season to season. One thing is for sure, I consider myself the luckiest person on the planet to be able to witness it every day.

Words cannot describe its beauty, or the magic of being able to live on its banks. But I'm still going to try by sharing what happened Saturday. Val was downstairs baking cookies when I hear her yell, "Eagle out front." I jumped away from the computer in time to see a mature bald eagle ten feet from my office window, clutching a freshly caught trout while banking a turn away from the house and back toward a basswood perch it loves to fish (and eat) from just upstream of our place. In fact he, or another, is back in that perch as I write this. Last week, some guests in our vacation rental home, who were here to paddle for a few days, got to watch one of our eagles drop into the river, catch, then fly away with a trout. Two weeks earlier, a couple from Missouri, here to house shop in the area, got to witness the same. Pine River Magic. We are so blessed.

But back to the River Conditions: Yesterday, I took the photo below which shows the valley still dressed in snow. And whitetail deer. But the ice is gone, the sun is headed our way, and it won't be long before the Pine will be warmly welcoming you back. It's usually the latter part of April when I do the requisite safety work of moving any river blockages to the side to allow for paddlecraft passage. I'll post it right here when that work is done. So do stay tuned. And in the meantime, get crackin' with your plans to come on up and let the river charm you, romance you, heal you,......like it does us every day.

Pine River Water Flow Conditions

A SHOUT-OUT to the Best Friends Northern Michigan Rivers Have Ever Had

Words can't express the gratitude we hold for a dynamic group of River Saints from the Traverse Area Paddle Club. These folks are River Angels Extraordinaire

Each summer they facilitate dozens of river clean-up outings on rivers across Northern Michigan. They live, breathe, and literally bleed for clean rivers. It is physically exhausting toil, it requires devoting days of discretionary time, and certainly there is significant cost in the necessary travel. Undeniably, there is great satisfaction in the work they do, but make no mistake, it is butt-kicking work. It only takes a few minutes to thank these folks for their legacy of clean, smiling, dancing, welcoming northern Michigan rivers. Please do just that and please think about joining them on an outing, or otherwise supporting them. Learn more about these great folks at http://www.traverseareapaddleclub.org

Reminders for folks paddling their personal craft: If you are bringing your own craft, you will need to buy USFS Parking Passes @$5/day, $15/week for your vehicles. Also remember that from May 25th to September 3rd, you must obtain river-use permit(s) from the USFS. Permits can again be reserved through the US Forest Service Baldwin District Office for $2/craft. Call 231-745-4631 to check availability and reserve your permits. Or you can visit the Pine and Pere Marquette River Permit Policy Page on the USFS Web Site .

An interesting statistic …..24% percent of our rental guests actually own their own craft, but find it much cheaper and easier to rent ours. Why? It's easy and it saves you money. When you rent from us, we pay for your boat permits and parking passes. And the bigger upside is that not having boats on the top of your vehicle significantly improves your gas mileage, it saves you from having to load them, unload them, risk losing them, shuttle them around while here(or pay us to do your shuttle), and then wash them up and put them away when you get back home.

Please Remember: Alcohol and river-sports are a destructive mix. For safety, social, and resource protection considerations, please wait until you're off the river and off the road, before partaking of any alcohol. Please also remember that Styrofoam packaging or coolers, glass, water balloons, and firecrackers are prohibited on the river. Thanks for preventing litter by using your litter-bag and making sure all cargo is securely tied to your craft.

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