Previous late season Manistee overnights - 2003 | 2002 | 2001

Photo Album!

Thrown a hat in:
Doug Buckbee, Matt Hash, Mark Shinaberry, Todd Swenson, Scott Borchelt, and Nick Kline.

Paddlers and Campers.  2004 has been a great year - and its not over yet.  Collectively we've stroked over 700 river miles - That's more than double from last year.  We have one more good opportunity for a late season float.  November is far too busy with deer hunting and Thanksgiving to plan a trip.  So we are looking at the first two weekends in December.  This note is intended to find out who will be joining us for a cold float - perhaps a two day float with camping on the river Saturday night - during one of those first two weekends in December.  A good choice would be a 30 mile float down the Manistee - fishing for steelhead as we go - from Tippy Dam down to Rainbow Bend.   Camping for the night at the old Indian camp before Bear Creek Landing.  This is a beautiful float - only Mike Eberle and Saginaw Paul have paddled it so far.

Details
We will converge on Friday night at the Marshall Farms to check equipment, gather wood for the weekend, and camp for the night. Early Saturday morning, we will drive to Kaleva for breakfast, then to Coates highway in Brethern on the Northside of the river to Tippy Dam. Here we will unload all of our vehicles, then shuttle vehicles down to Rainbow Bend for our pickup on Sunday morning. We will put-in at Tippy as soon as the shuttle vehicle returns with the drivers. The plan is to have individual canoes for each paddler - so we can easily pack all the gear, wood, and warm clothes we will need for the weekend. This will include a dry bag in each boat with a complete change of clothes, a towel, and fat wood in case we need to start a fire to warm up a swimmer. We won't know how cold the temps will be until the weekend arrives.

The steelhead fishing starts immediately at Tippy. We will float the first few miles dragging spawn bags and wigglers behind us. We'll also spend half of the time re-tying snagged hooks. I may bring my shotgun to hunt for squirrels along the oak filled riverside. About 6 or 7 hours into the float, we will arrive at the old Indian campground. We'll empty our boats, set up camp, and enjoy the evening protected from whatever elements are blowing in from the west. Its a short 3 hour ride to Rainbow Bend on Sunday morning. We'll discuss food later.

Last Modified: February 11, 2003 10:29 PM