January 2010 - A Winter Paddle on the Shiawassee River

Written by Doug Lanyk -

Great day all. Saturday Jan . 23rd '10 was a spectacular day to go for a paddle.
Jimmy, Kieth, Willi and I left Holly for Fenton just after noon. It was
a challenging start. Jimmy put his canoe near the launch and went back
for another load of gear. When he returned the canoe was down river.
The melting snow was quite slick. Willi was a nice guy and did a quick
recovery from his kayak.

Then I made a mistake involving Kieth (a novice).
We tried a controlled seal launch in my canoe. Oops!
Kieth went for a swim in the ice cold Shiawassee River at Waterworks Park.
He was worried that his sopping wet condition was going to screw up the
plans for the day. The cold water was quite the shock too. He never
imagined doing a polar bear plunge. 5 minutes later we had him in dry
clothes and were launching once again. What a trooper.

We saw quite a few water fowl, and a selection of other birds. The deer
were easily visible against the snow field, and one poor muskrat was
frustrated when he couldn't find his den. We chased him down the river
for 50 yards. The ice shelves were at multiple levels above the river.
I think that was evidence of several ice dams occurring in the past
couple of weeks.

There was 1 tree down forcing a short portage,
otherwise the river was clear. The low water levels did expose a lot of
bottom bumpers to give us many surprise jiggles. YeeHaw. The small
pond half way down the river was surprisingly clear of ice. We all
pitched in to break the ice blocking our way,.Many thanks to Willi and
Jimmy for cutting a path for the big green canoe.

Get out and paddle.Doug.

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The OS Systems Spirit Drysuit

The OS Systems Spirit Drysuit

I own the Spirit drysuit and have used it to extend my paddling season to all 12 months of the year here in Michigan.
Since absolutely NO water gets in via latex wrist and neck seals , you stay nice and toasty warm inside.
The breathable fabric isn't insulated, so you'll need to wear a baselayer like Capilene or PolarTech underneath.

Ice Breaker Paddle

Hi All;

I'd like to organize a paddle down the Shiawassee From Holly to Fenton,
on Sunday the 16th of March. The river will be very high and the water
quite brisk. The end of the trip may have some Ice on the Fenton Mill
Pond, so we may have a short walk across the ice. I'd like to launch at
11:00 AM from Waterworks Park in Holly. It will be a 3 to 3 1/2 hour
paddle. Just in case I'm bringing a chain saw and other emergency gear.

Headwaters Trails Inc. is putting a down payment on the future public
access point in Oakland County. We have 7 months to raise the next 10K
to buy the property. So I will be doing a sales pitch as we pass the
property. I'll even throw in some goodies donated by concerned
business's.

Give me a shout.
Douglas Lanyk
248-634-4551
dslanyk@earthlink. net


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Flood Stage Paddle - Trip report - Wed. Jan. 9, 08

Doug Lanyk posted a Shiawassee River trip report Wed. Jan. 9, 08
on yahoo based local paddling groups :
SKLAKE@yahoogroups.com,
Headwaters-trails@yahoogroups.com,

What a wonderful day on the water. 3 of us got our boats wet at
waterworks park leaving at 11:30 today. Two solo canoes and one white
water kayak composed our flotilla. The water was past flood stage and
4" higher than my scouting trip yesterday. The 15-20 mph . breeze in
our face was a little distracting at first, but was effectively screened
by the trees when we got that far. It was kind of strange paddling over
peoples lawns with the river being 3 to 10 times it's normal width. The
current was brisk but very manageable with very few tricky spots. Most
of the culverts and bridges automatically brought you to the center and
spit you through. The three tubes at the railroad are a little on the
short side. My companions being new to the river opted for the portage
over the tracks, while I squeaked through. There was at least an inch
clearance at my bow and stern with a very manageable current. The
islands near the Holly Treatment plant had navigable water on both sides
for a change. Shortcuts were available on a lot of the oxbows the full
length of the river. Where the worst of last falls tornado damage
happened there were two logjams and several downed trees. Not an issue
today but they will be when the water goes down. I did make a path
trough the only jam I couldn't paddle over or around. the beaver dams
were either fun or totally out of play. All and all a wonderful day on
the water. The land temp was 43F and the water 40F.

Have a wonderful day.
Doug.