Bug Smacker

This is our first trip down the Rifle River. We put the kayaks in at Moffatt Bridge. We then traveled down the river to the Outdoor Adventures Rifle River Resort. The resort is located at the Melita Road Bridge.

The river where we launched our boats is about 50 feet wide. The water is 1 to 2 feet deep at this point. Several places along the way during our trip were shallow enough to cause our kayaks to drag bottom. However, at no point did we need to get out and drag our boats across the rocky bottom of the river.The entire trip took about 3 hours. We did some floating and an average amount of paddling.

This has been our richest kayak trip to date. We left McMasters Bridge at 8:30 am. The temperature outside was in the mid 50’s with a small breeze. The weather was perfect for a ride down the Au Sable River. The river here is about 60 feet wide and 2 or 3 feet deep.

There was absolutely no one else on the river but us and a couple of fishermen in a rowboat the entire morning. The only time we come across anyone else is when we got to our destination at Parmalee Bridge. This place was a mad house. There was a constant flow of traffic trying to get to the river and dump people in.

During our trip we encountered a lot of wildlife this morning. More than ever before.  We saw a Bald Eagle, a Marten, Ducks, a Great Blue Heron, Hawks, Geese, Fish, Turtles and even a White Tailed Deer. This was a very productive trip.

Some people run their business as if it were a pleasure for you to be doing business with them instead of the other way around. You know the kind of place where they act like if you don’t like it, then just take a hike. You wonder how (and why) anyone with this kind of disposition would be in a business that deals with the general public.

Yesterday, we got the opportunity to do business with such an establishment. The place was Duggan’s Canoe Livery in Harrison, Michigan on M-61. The guy running the place is Phil Duggan and he is quite a character. This nut job is hell bent on running his canoe livery into the ground. This is very sad since he could have a very lucrative little business.

It all started with us pulling into his parking lot. Some old man came running over and started screaming at us for parking in the wrong spot. We should have pulled out and left at that point.

I found who I assume was Phil Duggan and let him know that we were in the market for a couple of boats to rent. I also asked him if he would be interested in making a couple of extra bucks by letting the rest of us park there. He very abruptly said “no”. Puzzled I asked him if he was sure. He said that we were not allowed to stay there unless we all rented from him. Since he didn’t want my money I simply put it back into my pocket. His loss.

I then asked where his boats were going to be put in at. He said near the place we were going. I asked if he could just let them out with us. In an irate tone of voice he simply said that I should stop trying to get him to change the rules. With this guy’s nasal passages starting to flare, I decided it was time to go.

We had a wonderful time on the river until we got back to Duggan’s. Since the majority of us didn’t rent from them, we got out across the river from the place. The two boats we rented were returned to Duggan’s. This is when the guy who I again believe was Phil went ballistic. He was screaming that it took us way too long to get back and he was tired of waiting for us.

We were informed that we would not be getting our deposits back. We asked how he could keep our money. After all we did return everything that we had rented. This guy whipped out the paper we had signed when we rented the boats and forced it into our faces. It now had written at the bottom of the paper in ink “be back by 5:30”. This was not there when we signed it earlier.

We tried to complain. We also asked for a copy. At this point we were instructed to leave his property or he would call the cops. Once again we were more than happy to oblige.

On the way home we stopped to pick up some meat to grill. I ran into the butcher. I asked if he ever heard of Duggan’s? He replied “yes”, in fact his daughter was banned from the place for returning her canoe too late. I found this quite funny.

This whole ordeal is very sad. It is really too bad that what could be a very nice little business is simply going down the toilet. Excuse me as I flush!

On Saturday most of us gathered to take a trip down the Muskegon River. After all, that was the biggest reason for choosing the place we were camping at. In all, there were a total of 13 of us who chose to go. The day couldn’t have been any better. I wouldn’t have missed this for the world.

According to the maps we were looking at prior to going the trip should have been around 2 hours long. How wrong we were. The entire trip from Church Bridge on Pine Road back to M-61 took almost 4 hours. We even picked up the pace a bit towards the end.

We did encounter a setback prior to entering the river when I realized that I had forgotten the paddles to both Terri and my kayaks. My bad!

Other than the length of our trip becoming a bit long, the river was just right. The current speed was good. The depth was ok as well, with only a couple of shallow spots where we had to drag bottom. The width was also good for the amount of people we had together.

After a long hot day with tempatures in the mid 90′s we decided to take a ride down the Shiawassee River. Since we are staying at the Showboat Park we knew we would eventually find ourselves on the river and this evening was the perfect time.

The river was a bit low with a few obsticles along the way. The pace was very relaxing. We saw plently of wildlife including: Blue Herron, Ducks, Baby Ducks, Turtles and Eagles. We even saw fish that would jump an easy 6 inches out of the water just in front of our boats. It was really cool to see! I am so mad at myself for forgetting my camera back at the RV.

This was one of the most enjoyable trips we have had on the Shiawasse.