Au Sable River Trip 2009

We started out on Tuesday, September 1st 2009 headed for Roscommon, MI. We had made arrangements with  Campbell’s Canoe Livery http://www.canoeatcampbells.com/ for a car spot at 10AM. We followed them to Chase Bridge where we were putting in. I stayed with the kayaks while Ken took the truck up to Smith Bridge where we would be taking out. This stretch of river runs through the Mason Tract.  A section of undeveloped land that was conveyed to the State of Michigan in 1955 by the late George W. Mason in a perpetual trust to insure it remains undeveloped. Undeveloped it is. We did not see any buildings for over 5 hours, except of course the George W. Mason Chapel.  In 1960, an open-air church, called the Mason Chapel, was completed to honor the gift of George Mason. It is the only structure left standing in the Reserve. The weather was fantastic, we stopped for lunch at the chapel and completed the trip in about 5  1/2 hours. Definitely, a day to remember.

We loaded up the kayaks and headed up to Penrod’s Au Sable River Resort ttp://www.penrodscanoe.com/ where we would be staying for the next two nights. Nice place! The cottages are so charming, they were custom built in the 1930′s. They are very well maintained and updated. We had a nice bathroom, heat and TV.The custom built furniture from the 30′s is still inside. , full size bed, undersized chairs and a really cute corner unit that gives you some storage and a table when opened. Towels, dishes, coffeepot, charcoal grill, picnic table and bedding were all furnished. We stayed in a one bedroom w/o kitchen. Cost was  $60 per night which I found more than reasonable considering how nice everything was.  They are very serious about it staying a quiet retreat, so if your heading up that way with a large group find somewhere more suited to that venue. If you and your better half are going up for a nice weekend of kayaking and want a quiet retreat to kick back and watch the river go by… Penrod’s is for you. Its beautiful and serene.

On Wednesday morning, Penrod’s gave us our car spot up to Wakely Bridge. We lauched from Penrod’s. There were allot more houses on this trip, but there were stretches of undeveloped land as well. We saw quite a few more people on this section as well.  My hubby left his gloves at one of our stops and a young man named Austin, paddled his butt off to catch up with him to return them. What a great kid! The weather was beautiful yet again. Saw allot of wildlife on this trip. Heron, Geese, Ducks, and we even had 5 deer cross the river in front of us which was awesome. The trip took us 6 hrs and 15 minutes and we enjoyed every minute of it.

On Thursday, we checked out of Penrod’s, bought a couple t-shirts from there store and headed out for Hartwick State Park. We hiked the Au Sable River trail. Three miles through the woods. It was quiet and beautiful. The hike was a fantastic way to end our Au Sable River getaway.