New Year's Eve on the Ausable - 2008
Submitted by George Granlund
click to enlarge
Winter paddling!!!?? All it takes is the right attitude, some warm clothes, and open water. The open water is probably the hardest ingredient to find in Michigan on New Year’s Eve. For six or seven years the East Coast Paddlers have braved some of winter’s worst and made their annual New Year’s trip down the South Branch of the Au Sable River near Roscommon.
This year was no different with six of us sliding off of the ice shelf into the river at Chase Bridge. The snow was deeper, the temperature colder, and the river was higher than normal but Dave, Dave, Barb, Bob, Joe and George shivered our way through the ever-beautiful Mason Tract. There were few obstructions and most of the logs and rocks were submerged due to the big melt the previous week. We had lunch in the sunshine and snow at the “castle” and pulled out two and a half hours and twelve miles downstream onto another ice shelf at Smith Bridge. 2009—bring it on!!!
For more photos of the trip, see George's Picasa gallery.