A Non-Indiana Adventure

Location: Benton Harbor, MI/ Paw Paw River

Well, like a lot of blogs done just for fun, it looks like I've neglected this one for a while. I didn't realize how long until I looked at the dates. I have been paddling some, but not near as much as I was, and not anyplace different from the trip reports I already posted, so I haven't been adding anything.

However, that has changed, as I recently got an unexpected chance to go paddling in Michigan. Since it  was an unexpected part of a trip completely unrelated to paddling, I'll include the back story:
We traveled to Benton Harbor, MI the week of July 12 to work with Harbor Habitat for Humanity. The first couple of days we worked on existing homes that are being rehabbed for eligible families. Wednesday we had one crew working on landscaping and cleanup around the Crystal Estates neighborhood that is all Habitat homes, built in 2008. The crew I was with worked on a new storage shed at the Habitat ReStore. We worked with Bruce and Nick, who are part of Harbor's "Thursday Crew" a group of retired individuals who get together every Thursday - surprise! - to work on various projects. The Thursday Crew had mostly finished the shed, but we were tasked with building a dormer on the roof. When we broke for lunch we asked Nick and Bruce to join us, and they accepted.

At lunch Bruce was sitting and talking with one of our crew, and he said "Bruce has kayaks". I had noticed a truck in the parking lot with kayak saddles mounted on the roof, but I didn't know who it belonged to. Of course finding out that Bruce was the owner meant we had more to talk about at lunch. Then he slid a business card over to me with a background image of two people in a tandem kayak, and said "I built that boat". Suddenly things were even more interesting, as I have a book on building stripper canoes, but haven't yet attempted to build anything. We talked a bit about trips and boats the rest of lunch, then went back to work for the afternoon.

Thursday morning we showed up to work, and with our group of six, and the Thursday Crew of about 10 it seemed like there were a lot more people around than Wednesday. Before we started working I jokingly said to Bruce that there were a lot of people around, so we should just go get his boats and go kayaking. He replied by asking what I was doing in the afternoon. Since we finished each day at 3, and all we had planned was dinner, I told him not much, and we made tentative plans to go paddling.

We were able to get everything arranged, and Bruce picked me up at the church for the short drive to the Paw Paw River. It flows southward to Benton Harbor, and empties into the St. Joe River near Lake Michigan.

Bruce brought his 16' boat, and a 15.5' Current Designs boat  - whose model name I can't remember - for me to paddle. He even loaned me water shoes, what  a great host!

We paddled upstream from a ramp at Riverview Drive and Grant Avenue. It's not on the aerial photos that are currently used by Google Earth, but it's there. The ramp was constructed as part of a development project that included a golf course, hotel, marina, and residential development.

Most of this trip was through the golf course, but it's well above the water in most places, so it didn't feel like we were in the middle of the action. And even though the Paw Paw has a decent current, it wasn't difficult to paddle upstream. We went about 1.75 miles upstream before it started to rain a little, and since the weather had been showing a storm on the lake before we left we decided to play it safe and head back. Once we got back to the ramp it wasn't raining, so we decided to go on downstream and have a look around.

Bruce had mentioned that the water level was high, and as we approached a railroad bridge downstream of the ramp it looked like we would have to duck to get under it. Since there was a moving train on it at the time it was a little intimidating to have that much moving bulk a few feet above our heads, but we made it under and went on. It is only a few hundred yards to where the Paw Paw empties into a channel that flows into the St. Joe, so we paddled east up the channel just to see what we could see.

There are several buildings along Main Street that back onto the channel, and most of them had boats tied up at slips. Bruce noted that it had been a while since there had been boats in that area, so maybe it was a sign of some economic improvement. One building in particular was interesting, it is an older brick building with the back being mostly industrial-looking glass. To the east side of the building is a large garage door that leads to a boathouse incorporated into the building - a pretty cool amenity, I think.

After poking around the marina at the new hotel for a few minutes and admiring some really large boats we decided it was getting dark enough that we should head back. After another duck under the bridge (this time without a train) we were back at the ramp. We got the boats loaded and ourselves in the truck just in time to miss the real rain starting to come down, so we were damp but not soaked.

Anr item of note is that there is a kayak livery right at the ramp. Instead of shuttling you just rent & return to the ramp. If I had known that sooner I might have been out earlier in the week, but then I would have missed the chance to paddle with someone local who was able to tell me about the area we were paddling through.

If you're in the St. Joe/Benton Harbor and looking for an easy paddle this is a nice one. And, you could also easily head downstream into the lake from the ramp. Bruce says the channel can be a bit rough with powerboats going in an out, even though it's a no-wake zone, but that it's not a bad way to get out into the lake.

Maybe next time...