DAY 33 to WindyCity, August 1, 2019

TenaCity to WindyCity Runyak

August 1, 2019

Flint to Chicago DAY 33

CLICK ON MAP AND ALL PHOTOS T O ENLARGE

Prelaunch at the end of Keystone Rd

I picked up Kate at Meijer in Birch Run and we drove to Burton Landing. She dropped me off there for my 5.4 mile run to Stephan Bridge Landing. After the run we drove to my paddle finish of last week, Keystone Landing. Keystone is 1.4 miles downriver from Burton where I ran from earlier.
The paddle plan of the day, since current is strong at Keystone last week, was to try to get halfway to Grayling which was 8 miles upsteam, leaving one more trip to get to the M72 crossing where the portage would begin the following trip.
In Grayling M72 crosses the river twice, once downtown and again upriver northwest of downtown . It was the second crossing where my days on the AuSable would end.

Private bridge near Louie's Landing

I was stopping every half mile and letting Kate catch up. At 1.5 mile I stopped at this dock (above) to wait and felt something moving on my ear. It was a worm and it freaked me out. It looked like a stick, even having a green bud at one end. From researching only thing that came close was the caterpillar of the Common Gray (wiki link) moth.

It was at 1.5 miles, past Burton Landing, that the river flattened out and the paddling became easier. Before that it looked as if 4 miles or halfway to Grayling would be all we could manage. Also helping us was a short 275 foot portage that would cut off 0.75 mile. I knew of it before approaching because of seeing it on the Google Maps days before (see above map). I figured even if we had to blaze a trail it had to be faster. It turned out that there was a path that others paddles have been using.

End of shortcut path where we re-entered after portaging.

Once 4 miles had been paddled with not much extra effort we changed the plan. We'd go for the whole shebang, 8 miles. Biggest problem, the back paddle to vehicles at Keystone would take too much time. I came up with the idea to pay one of the canoe liveries in Grayling to transport one of us back to get the van.

Approaching I-75

Beneath southbound I-75
Passing I-75 seemed like a quite a milestone. It was the third and last time we'd paddle beneath it. The first time was on DAY 1, Flint to Flushing, the second time DAY 5, north of Saginaw undergoing the Zilwaukee Bridge.

Past I-75 and watching Kate

Once we passed the freeway the current speed sped up.

Once we made it to Grayling, we first stopped at Penrods canoe livery, asking about a ride back but got shotdown. After several minutes at the next livery, Borchers they agreed but it was pricey, $25. It had taken four and a half hours to get to Grayling, figuring it would be 3 hours of paddling to get back Kate agreed to pay it. We could have split the cost, but I've saved her at least that much in gas in recent months, so she was fine with it.

Downtown landing at M72 where I had to portage to the west side. 

Leaving Kate at Borchers I paddled onward, I still had near 2 mile of paddling left. The closer I got to downtown M72 crossing, the stiffer the current became. It was because of the dam at the crossing.

Where I relaunched on the west side of South M72 Crossing

After relaunching the backwaters of the dam was like Stump City. I paddled hard knowing it was the last mile of ever paddling the AuSable the wrong way again. It was still against current and 22 min/mi.

A site for sore arms. The bridge at the north M72 crossing, where my 120 AuSable mile upstream expedition would end.

On the bridge I drank a celebratory beer, given to me by Kate for the occasion, Boreale, something she picked up on her recent visit to Quebec. The picture of Green Snake on the bridge should have included Swiftee, who was back home, for he was used a couple of the 17 days on the AuSable.