Marquette, MI – June 26, 2017 – 5 years ago, some friends and I decided to restart a tradition of some of our Fathers. We had heard stories of this group of guys who would take canoes and travel down the Escanaba River. A group of friends and I came together and decided we wanted to start that tradition again.
So 5 years ago, we threw together a half-baked plan to travel down the Escanaba, and we did it. It wasn’t a 100% smooth trip, but we survived and our trip has improved each year since. We even gave ourselves a nickname and dubbed ourselves the “Gwinn River Rats”.
Last year, about a week and a half before we embarked on the journey once again, I came down with some bad stomach issues and it forced me to miss my beloved trip. So once the last weekend in June came around this year, I was raring to go.
For our 5th anniversary, we decided we wanted to accomplish something we have been talking about since the beginning…making it to Boney Falls. The first year of our trip we made it as far as the Rock Campground. In the years since, we’ve set up camp about a mile or two downriver from the campground. But this year, we decided it was “Boney or Bust.”
Friday was a gorgeous day out on the river. With 7 canoes traveling the Escanaba and the water level on the river the highest we had ever seen, we would sometimes just all link up and let the fast moving river take us and we were still making great time. We made it to our first camp spot a couple of hours ahead of schedule, set up camp, ate some dinner, and had a great night.
Come Saturday, we knew there was some chance of rain showers scattered throughout the day. We got on the river at about 11am, and that’s what we initially encountered, just some light rain showers. I was armed with a garbage bag acting as a homemade poncho, and for the first part of the day that was working quite well.
But we had no idea what we were in store for.
At about 2 o’clock, after a brief stop for some lunch, the skies opened. The rain began coming down on us like we were crops under an irrigation system. Out on the open river in the middle of a torrential downpour while being semi-unprepared is not a spot I was hoping to be in. With about 2 hours left to Boney Falls, my partner and I decided to start paddling the whole way to try and make it there as fast as we could. My hands were so cold I didn’t want to take them off of my paddle anyway.
When we finally reached Boney Falls, a giant sense of relief came over me. Freezing and shivering, we decided to make a fire and wait for the rest of our comrades. When the whole group finally reached, about 2 hours later, we packed up and headed for warmth and dryness to one of our group member’s camp in Rock.
The River Rats survived another expedition down the Escanaba. And we already can’t wait until next year.
