This past weekend while I should have been at home studying for my finals beginning Monday I jumped on the opportunity to split up to the the Porcupine Mountain Wilderness right here in the good ‘ol Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The Porkies, as many call it, is a beautiful dramatic landscape full of old-growth trees and a variety of rock formations. The prize jewel and my main goal driving me to this area is the Black River.

The Black River is made up of an extremely abusive conglomerate rock that is just dying to shred your gear apart if you’re not careful. But the rock is the reason why such amazing features can only be found here. The first falls you will reach after a short half-mile hike in called Conglomerate Falls. This one is a fun slide that is very straight forward and easy to run multiple laps on by hiking right back up the big rock in the middle of the river. You’ll want to feel warmed up before heading down if you plan on dropping into the Gorge.

Here is Tommy Gram on Conglomerate

Potawatomi falls should be scouted before heading up stream to Conglomerate as getting out above would be a pain. This marks the entrance to the gorge.

Potawatomi falls is a long slide finishing off with a 15ish foot falls. Scout really well or follow a friend off. Knowing where exactly your line is once you’re down in there is tricky because the river is very wide with no major markers to set up. This drop is a case of “boats bigger than it looks” make sure you’re good and forward going off the final lip as you’re carrying tons of speed and the impact can be hard. Also worth noting you do not want to go off the right side of the lip as there is a rock ledge just under the surface.

Here is a screen shot while editing the video from the day. Me, Potawatomi.

The eddy right below Potawatomi fills with a thick foam.

Below the gorge tightens up even more with large vertical walls on both sides. “Birth Canal” awaits the eager right above the lip of Gorge Falls. Birth Canal is the site of “Boomer’s Beat Down” from Nate Hebeck’s Toxic Waters film. It serves it up pretty good. Luckily it is a very easy portage and still offers the ability to run Gorge Falls. Gorge falls is a perfect 25ish footer with a sloping lip and a small flake near the bottom that offers a last chance to get your bow up. At higher flows the boil line can be huge on this falls with a cave-like eddy on river left you wouldn’t want to go in.

Screen shot from Gorge Falls

Many people will put in below Gorge falls and run through to Lake Superior. From here the scenery is gorgeous and the whitewater less committing with the exception of Rainbow Falls. There is many smaller rapids leading down to Sandstone Falls, scout if you don’t have a guide and always be aware of wood. Sandstone Falls is a fun spout with a lateral at the top.

More boogie water follows with fun slots, boofs, and twisting rapids. Our trusty guide Steve is shown here on S-turn.

Just when you think the river has exhausted it’s power and only flat water awaits you will roll up on Rainbow Falls. Rainbow is definitely one of the nastier looking falls I’ve seen. Pictures don’t really do it justice as to how much is really going on. It starts with a big wide lip, lots of flakes, a cave that would mean absolute death, and of course the perfect line just left of center. Scout this drop on river right. It’s easy to have safety waiting below in the pool. My line went great and I was really grateful to have a fresh SnapDragon Skirt on to keep me dry upon impact at the bottom.

That night it started raining at around 9pm and kept on strong throughout the night. At some point it turned to snow and we woke up with around 3 inches at our camp site. This was my first weekend sleeping in my new rig and I was pumped with how well everything is turning out. I’ll post some more photos on how I’ve converted this thing into the ultimate kayakers rig once I have all the final touches done.

After thawing out in town at the local diner and throwing our drysuits in the dryers at the laundromat we were ready to get back after it. We headed over to the Presque Isle river. The most popular section of the Presque is the final mile. Each year it hosts the Jim Rada memorial Race, a grass roots race in memory of a great man that pioneered the whitewater on the shores of Lake Superior. Mark and Steve showed up in the morning with aspirations to hike in and run the total Presque. Usually this requires a dirt road that takes you most of the way there and then a 1-2 mile hike. On our particular day the gate was closed right from the beginning. We decided to be cool and hike the full 6 miles in to the river while pulling our kayaks thanks to the snow. Unfortunately, we failed epically and took a wrong turn somewhere. We ended up on Copper creek, with barely enough flow to get down. With the thought of hiking any farther in the rain we decided to put on and followed it until we ended up joining the Presque below all the substantial drops we had aimed for.

The lower mile has 4 main drops. The first has a long bumpy slide runnable on the far left, there was a log in the line on the falls river right. The second drop has a staircase style falls on river left or a slide and boof down the middle. The 3rd slide seems to be the main event. Manabezho Falls. This river-wide 25 footer has a spout on river left that is most commonly run. With flow on the low side, Mark and I opted for the center line which is a tricky boof as the lip gets pretty shallow for a stroke. All in all lines went great. To finish it all up there is a fun chute down the left channel leading you to the beautiful beaches of Lake Superior.

Here is Stephen Smits on the 1st slide of the lower mile.

The views on Lake Superior are some of the best you’ll ever see. A great way to finish another awesome weekend paddling in the U.P. \

SYOTR

Spring came for a very brief moment here in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan last week, though it has now turned back to snow. I woke up with the sun over Lake Superior and snapped a quick shot from the breakfast table on my way up and out the door. Ready to start working the rust off and start paddling again.

This year I am determined to catch the rivers in the U.P. This is my 4th spring living here and I have managed to kayak only a dozen times. When rivers reach runnable flows they get there quick and usually only last a few days. My luck I’m stuck in class, working, or already heading back to CO. This year my priorities are in line and I was able to sneak up to L’Anse for a couple great days of kayaking.

L’Anse is a small town with only 2,000 people right on the shores of Lake Superior, about an hour from Marquette. With no local kayakers living in the U.P. I was lucky to catch up with a group that makes the migration north for the weekends. These are very dedicated boaters making the 10 hour + drive from Illinois, Chicago, Wisconsin, etc. to hit up the U.P. goods. The L’Anse area is one of the first drainages to fill in with The Falls, Silver, and Slate River all within 15 minutes of town. If you ever wanted to just show up and meet a group the best place to begin looking is the Hilltop Restaurant right off the main highway. You’ll surely see some kayakers chowing on the famous Hilltop sweetrolls. I opted for a half and saved the rest for my sugar buzz on the drive home.

This particular Sunday morning came right after some serious rain accumulation and we decided the Slate River would be a blast with some flooded banks. The Slate is exactly that, a slate rock river bed with an abundance of long slides and fun small ledge boofs, ending with Slate falls, a fun 20ish footer. You reach it by driving into town and taking a right at the main stop sign intersection. Following Skanee rd east until you pass over the Slate river where there is a pull off and plenty of parking. Check the flow from the bridge. You want it to look high from the bridge. I was on this river a couple of years back with marginal flow and it was just abusive on the gear. Here is “Frogger” dropping in on the first slide of the Slate.

Me on the first slide, stolen from Mike Croak’s flicker account. Thanks!

This shot also stolen of Mike Croak’s Facebook page, thanks Mike, Tommy on Slate Falls.

For more on the Slate you’ll have to wait until I can put together the video as I didn’t take anymore pictures down through. Always give yourself lots of time on this one as wood is always an issue. Wear your dry suit because you’ll be getting out and scouting ALOT. We watched logs come in behind us and fill in drops as we were sitting in the eddy below. (NOTE: the root ball in the bottom gorge has washed out and is no longer on the right side of the bottom drop but down and out of the way)

Monday the Falls came in and of course I was in class. By the time I got back up Tuesday morning it was too low. Thankfully the Silver River was nice and high reading something around 9′, I think. The Silver is broken down into two sections, the Upper and Lower silver. Each on it’s own is worth the drive but linking the full run together makes for an awesome day. The upper section is a little more continuous and committing. Both sections have every river characteristic from small ledges, holes, slides you name it. The lower does have a few miles of flatwater though that you just have to suck up and push through.

The most notable sections of the upper are Hail Marry, a 3-section twisty set of rapids in the beginning and the Cabin section at the end. Here is Tommy Gram entering the first section of the Hail Mary.

And then Exiting

The Cabin section is a more committing set of drops with a couple of holes that require a good boof stroke to get through, especially at higher water. As in the name, there is a cabin on river right at the entrance to this drop. On our particular day it even dished out a bit of carnage with Tommy exiting his boat, but all gear was recovered and he was fine thanks to a fast bag toss from Ryan. No photos but video will be posted later. In 2009 a Houghton local, Richard Honrath, lost his life paddling here. His gloves and throwbag are left hanging on a tree in his memory.

The cabin section brings the end of the Upper Silver. Pass under the bridge and enter the Lower. Here the river is slightly more tame, keep it straight and you’ll probably be fine. The river passes through a nice miniature gorge keeping the flow deep with lots of ledges, holes, and slides. Again, wood is always an issue so look before you leap around here.

The Silver ends at Silver Falls campground, a great place to camp for free and also a good spot to meet other kayakers. To reach the campground take a right at the “boat access” sign off Skanee Rd. east of L’anse about 10 minutes.

Tommy’s boat with a little added rocker after his swim.

Sorry there aren’t a ton of photos of the run, trying to keep focused on video but it’ll be worth the wait. More snow fell all weekend so there should be another couple weeks of chasing flows here in the U.P. A couple days of boating at a time is such a tease. I can’t wait for my last 2 weeks of school and that really expensive piece of paper in my hand. May 1st begins the launch of the 50/50 Vertical Challenge and it can’t come soon enough.

SYOTR