Friday, December 03, 2010
Argentine bridge on Lovejoy Road now open
is now open for traffic after 8 year closure.
It is located between Sheridan and Duffield roads and covers
a 70-foot span over the river.
http://www.mlive.com/fenton/index.ssf/2010/12/lovejoy_road_bridge_in_argenti_1.html
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Monday, June 21, 2010
Clearing the Shiawassee River near Argentine, Michigan
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http://bit.ly/BirdRoad
A large crew (over 30 people) came out mid-June to clean up and clear the river towards Bird Road.
Some ran chainsaws while others picked garbage and took down brush, aiding paddling recreation in the area.
It will take some diligence, perseverance and motivation to nibble away at the fallen trees blocking the river.
It's great to see people taking an active interest in maintaining such a great resource in Genesee County.
Keepers of the Shiawassee are always looking for volunteers, chainsaws are always welcome.
-look for the group on facebook
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Saturday, April 24, 2010
Kayaking 40 miles in one day on the Shiawassee River
http://bit.ly/ ArgentineToCorunna Geo-tagged, dated, and mapped
http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/577443260canNMX
( Nice clean high resolution pics from the trip )
Google Earth and Panoramio
http://www.panoramio.com/user/4402540
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Kayaking Shiawassee River: Argentine,MI to Corunna,MI
I trust everyone had a wonderful Earth Day.
Steve H. Willi G. and I sure had a full one. Our Shi-trio Started 6:00
AM to spot a vehicle in Corunna MI. We then started at our last finish
point at McCaslin Lk. Rd. in Argentine. With an extra special amount of
gear to handle a variety of possible conditions we launched at 8:45.
The weather was clear sunny and brisk. It was almost 30 deg. when we
hit the water. The great news was tempered by the fact it wasn't
perfect news. There were 20 trees down blocking our path on the first
segment going to Byron. This was so much better than the hundreds of
trees I observed 2 years ago. Having lots of fun scooting under trees
or hopping them we made slow but steady progress. It took until noon to
finish the first 8 miles. If we can find just a few volunteers this
will be opened up to the less adventurous paddler.
After a quick lunch in Byron learning history from the residents and
spreading the word of the State Heritage River Trail we were off. The
portage needs some work but isn't worth more than minor complaints. We
found the confluence of the main branch and the South branch of the
Shiawassee and traveled up stream on the South branch just to say we
did. The last tree we had to hop was about 10 feet after the river
joined. At this point the Shiawassee changes from an intimate little
meandering stream to a full fledged river. Although blockages do occur,
mostly the trees that fall into the river don't reach the far bank
leaving a good passage. We sped past the launch point at Byron H.S. and
Headed North towards Walnut Hills Campground the next access point. At
this point we were making great time, (Willi will post his data
sometime.) so we sped past and headed for Geeck Rd. Park. This proved
to be a bit longer stretch than our energy reserves could easily
handle. Catching lunch #2 respectfully on the shore of some private
wooded lot a mile further we found the park. Onward we cranked. The
entire segment from Byron to pas I69 has moderate to fast current.
After Geeck Rd. Park more and more gravel and stone geology started
giving us minor white water or swifts. Just enough to make you pay
attention but not enough to be dangerous. This was quite fun. Not to
far past Newberg Rd the Shiawassee Town (Shiatown) pond starts ending in
a very nice park at Shitown. Time for another snack and a little bit of
playing at the base of the dam. This could be fun at moderate to high
flow rates but we did not have the proper safety gear. I'd want
helmets, throw bags, heavy skirts, and competent partners to handle this
stuff at high water. The next segment to Vernon and on to Corunna is a
long quick paddle. We were starting to run low on energy and muscles at
this point. Shiatown was about 32 miles into our trip. More moderate to
quick current was welcomed and stayed with us up to the gravel mine a
mile and a half from Corunna. They have a concrete road across the
river! Willi and I were so tired by this point we struggled to crawl
out of our boats to cross the road. It was after that we noticed you
can pass on the left. We new there was little energy, brains, or
motivation left. The sun was setting and we were getting cold. Steve
had gone ahead to get his van at the park in Corunna past the dam.
Speaking of the dam As we limped into town with the last of the day
lingering in the sky we noticed that there in nothing to stop you from
paddling over the dam except the roaring of the water. Don't do this at
night folks. We pulled out and waited for Steve to bring the van around
to load up Finish time 9:00 PM. Condition exhausted hypothermia, and
hungry. Distance 40 Miles.
The wildlife was not prolific but varied. Dear, beaver, muskrat, mink,
porcupine, a books worth of birds, amphibians.and fish kept us in
wonder. The fact that we saw maybe a dozen people all day was great
too. I would advise trying out all the sections of the Shiwassee as they
are varied and interesting. I will not advise doing 40 miles in a day
before the river is cleared.
One last note. We walked into the Wrought Iron Grill in Owosso at
10:30 We had been looking forward to a good meal at a known excellent
restaurant . The bartender advised us that the grill was closed (go
figure) and we should talk to the owner in the blue shirt. This
wonderful man interrupted his conversation with friends to listen to a
plea from 800 lbs plus of hungry men and helped us out. He figured out
a meal that he could make without trashing the whole kitchen, and came
out with enough food to stop even our ravenous apatites We had the
rapt attention of all the patrons as we explained how great a time we
had on the river. It was time to go home. I got into bed about 1:30 AM
this morning.
What a wonderful Earth Day!
Sincerely
Douglas Lanyk
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Kayaking Shiawassee : Holly to Argentine
Google Earth view - detailed gps map
Shiawassee River detailed gps map
Willi and I left Waterworks Park just after 8:00 AM. It was a clear
brisk morning with the temperatures in the high 20's The sun glinting
off of the frost was a preview of the beauty that we would see. The
water is very high! Beware the 3 tubes at this water level. I became
fully awake when I did a gear check in the middle tube. My equipment
for the day included my new Prijon kayak, my new drysuit, and the skirt
from my Dagger. The Prijon is a lot longer and narrower than my
dagger. When I tried to duck low and shoot the tube my control was
minimal. Between the high current and my lack of experience in this
boat I ended up practicing my half roll. The positives of the incident
are. My skirt held even if it is not a perfect fit, and my drysuit
works well. A little bit of pumping and chasing down a runaway thermos
put us back on the quest. There are several passable but annoying trees
down in the next 2 miles so it was a bit of a slog. For those who
want to explore you can go down several channels not normally open.
From Fish Lake Rd. to Fenton it was a smooth paddle. That may change a
bit with lower watter levels. In Fenton we picked up Steve for the rest
of the trip. Steve also thought swimming was a good idea. He tried a
commando launch below the Fenton dam. After a little bit of pumping we
were on our way. From the dam to Strom park is a wild and fun ride.
It's most of a mile of solid class II rapids. Be sure to duck at the
bridges. There are 2 trees down near Bush Park and another half a dozen
or so down behind the apartments. Two of which involve a portage. Lake
Ponemah was a high energy paddle. There was a steady 20 MPH Southerly
breeze and the associated white caps. We ordered carry out from the
Linden Hotel from Tupper Lake. This gave us a nice rest while sitting
in the terraces looking at the Linden water wheel. From Linden to Hogan
Rd. it was a great paddle, wide fast and smooth. Past Hogan Rd. there
were more trees down. We would have been portaging if is wasn't for the
flood. The waste water plant is having an issue. "The Digester process
has experienced an upset." is a quote from Joe Goergen from Genesee
Drain Commissioners office. In short at the moment it stinks. Once we
left the woods past the sportsmens club It was a smooth paddle for the
rest of the day. We pulled up at McCaslin Rd about 7 PM. It was a full
day. 21.8 miles with a lot of trees down. Time to fire up the chainsaws.
Doug.
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Shiawassee River : Holly to Argentine
Click on link above to see detailed individual photos in high resolution
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Friday, July 31, 2009
Linden,Michigan USGS gauges on Shiawassee River
The block house structure would require a considerable amount of work to make it usableand assure that the intakes
to the river are not plugged and are responding to the changes in water levels properly.
If this gaging site was to be used again it would be more economical to establish a new shelter that houses the monitoring instrumentation.
With changes in monitoring instrumentation technology the new shelter would be much smaller than the current building.
A panel box that would hold all the instrumentation would be about 1ft x 3ft x 3ft in size.
Establishment of a gaging station is somewhat site specific and for an exact cost a site visit is needed.
The installation with all the instrumentation would run between $21,500 and $23,500.
This would include all the instrumentation, data logger, pressure transducer, and re-establishing the original datum.
Stage and discharge would be collected on a 15-minute interval transmitted by satellite and
available to the public on the "web" near real-time.
This would be a one-time cost for gage installation.
There would also be a yearly operational cost of $15,500.
This would cover developing and maintaining a stage/discharge rating, record processing,
quality assurance of data, data transmission and publication.
If the data need was something less than a continuous record station, such as peak flow only or stage only
these cost figures would change.
Please feel free to contact myself or Steve Blumer (spblumer@usgs.gov) if you would like to discuss
the re-establishment of this gage or have any additional questions.
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Russel J Minnerick
U.S. Geological Survey
Grayling Field Office Chief
rjminner@usgs.gov
989-348-8291 ext 10
FAX 6866
| From: | James R Nicholas/WRD/USGS/DOI |
| To: | spblumer@usgs.gov, rjminner@usgs.gov |
| Date: | 07/31/2009 08:33 AM |
| Subject: | ********_____ USGS gauges in Linden, MI on Shiawassee River___________************ |
USGS Michigan Water Science Center
6520 Mercantile Way, Suite 5
Lansing, Michigan 48911
517-887-8906 (w)
517-881-2436 (c)
fax 887-8937
mi.water.usgs.gov
Sunday, July 19, 2009
***__ New section Shiawassee River CLEARED ___****

Shiawassee River Heritage Trail
You can now paddle from Fenton's
-----Paddlesports is exploding in popularity, it’s cheaper than powerboating.
The secton of the river is now navigable via canoe or kayak-- -approximately 3 miles.
Takeout at US 23 is easy with great access making for a great scenic paddle.
Adventurous people could probably make it all the way to
Hard core paddlers could start in Holly at
Various teams used chainsaws to remove many large fallen trees and log jams.
A lot of debris and garbage was also picked up making the river a lot cleaner.
Even the fisherman will be happy as new habitat was created by
securing the logs via cable ties along the banks of the river.
The river is a lot healthier and will flow much easier now.
Recently over 100 local paddlers showed up for a canoe/kayak event starting in
Numerous townships and cities are CLEARING the
The river is currently navigable for 7 miles from Holly to Fenton via the efforts of HeadWatersTrails Inc.
http://www.headwaterstrailsinc.org/
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Grant Announcement--River Trail to Continue Downstream
At the Linden Millpond on June 10th, the Fenton Community Fund of the Community Foundation of Greater Flint announced a grant to continue interpretive signage downstream of Holly on the
http://www.mlive.com/fenton/index.ssf/2009/06/grant_money_has_shiawassee_riv.html
http://www.mlive.com/fenton/index.ssf/2009/07/postponed_shiawassee_river_cle.html
by Eric Fish | The Flint Journal
Monday July 06, 2009, 9:22 AM
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Friends of the
http://shiawasseeriver.org/activities/rivercleanup.html
The full River Cleanup will remove debris from the Shiawassee from Bancroft to
Saturday, August 8, 2009 9 a.m. to noon
Join the Friends of the
Can't join in on the August 8 cleanup ? Help out
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http://shiawassee-river.blogspot.com/
Willi Gutmann
Video documenting
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2888318540592134799
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yY6tT7U1j4c
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Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Fenton Area Paddlers
It is kayaking time again.
We will have a meeting at
Legends Sports Café on Wednesday, April 8 at 7:00pm.
Legends is located on Thompson Rd and US23. Join us in the planning of our weekly evening group and weekend paddles. We usually paddle a local lake during the week and go further a field on weekends, alternating between Saturdays and Sundays. We also need volunteers to plan weekend get-aways. Additional adventures are prompted by individuals notifying other paddlers for impromptu paddles from time to time. Do not worry if you do not have a kayak. Many regular paddlers have extra kayaks that those new to the sport can borrow.
Please join http://groups. yahoo.com/ group/Fenton- area-paddlers/
to find out about upcoming paddles
You can also call Maggie Yerman
(810-735-9570) or email her yerantmag@yahoo. com for more information.
Sunday, September 07, 2008
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Shiawassee River Trail gets longer
Doug Lanyk - HeadWatersTrails__Vice-President



