Just Two Male Nurses on a Fall Color Tour Down the AuSable

Trying to get one more good kayak trip in before the freeze-out. I chose to do the Ausable river. It runs West to East across half the state near the city of Grayling

Below is the Itinerary. The plan was basically to head up about 11am and kayak 2 hours to campsite. Kayak 5 hours the second day then camp at rainbow Bend and close out the final day with 2 hours to Parmalee Bridge

The Itinerary:

 Download Ausable Kayak

It worked out pretty well in the beginning as Rob and I both got cancelled from the work the night before leaving, which helped out as the original plan was to get home from work at 8am, sleep 2 hours and then hit the road.

We arrived at Borcher's Canoe Livery. The owner drove with us to the end of the trip to leave our car and shuttle us back to the start at the trip at their home base. It was Chilly and overcast. We were able to make the campgrounds before the skies opened up

 

We had a fire going pretty quick. Rob was all decked out in his new REI gear. Much better prepared than our previous kayaking trip. It started downpouring and left our fire with just some hot embers. We sat around drinking airplane bottle of Crown Royal for a while before it got too depressing and I headed into my tarp tent for some sleep. I got a little wet but not too bad. The last couple trips I have been getting wet and started to reconsider my tentless approach .

I woke up and it was still dark out. I figured it was maybe 5am or something cause I felt pretty rested. I looked at my watch and it was 11pm! I made sure to wake Rob up and tell him it was morning and to start packing things up.

Picture above of the big dumb animal trying to get into a small plastic container. The rest of the trip followed without evet except nonstop rain and me in my altered state falling out twice. This blog would be longer but i am having major editing issues with this program tonight!

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Darren Hitz

Darren Hitz

Explorer, Storyteller, and Blogger

I have been writing this blog for almost 20 years. After owning and operating a travel company, reconnecting with the outdoors, I now spend a majority of my time exploring both off the beaten path and well worn tourist adventures.

“I saw in their eyes something I was to see over and over in every part of the nation- a burning desire to go, to move, to get under way, anyplace, away from any Here. They spoke quietly of how they wanted to go someday, to move about, free and unanchored, not toward something but away from something. I saw this look and heard this yearning everywhere in every states I visited. Nearly every American hungers to move.”
― John Steinbeck

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