The 19th Century Verlen - 4

"My clothes for this tour consisted of a complete suit of grey flannel for use in the boat, and another suit of light but ordinary dress for shore and Sundays. The 'Norfolk jacket' is a loose frock-coat, like a blouse, with shoulder straps, and belted at the waist, and garnished with six pockets. With this excellent new-fashioned coat, a something in each of its pockets, and a Cambridge straw hat, canvas wading shoes, blue spectacles, a waterproof overcoat, and my spare jib for a sun shawl, there was sure to be a full day's enjoyment defiance of rain or sun, deeps or shallows, hunger or ennui."

Curious about the Cambridge straw hat I went looking on the Internet and sure enough I found a Cambridge Straw Boater Hat at a place called Urban Excess in England. It is a stiff, flat top straw hat with a wide brim (and a black band) specifically for boating on a river. They are priced at 12 pounds (whatever that is in $). I decided I had to have one but they were out of stock.

Verlen always wore a Tilley hat. Son Jim does, too. They are the very best.

Having been successful hunting for the Cambridge straw hat I decided to try the Internet for the Norfolk Jacket and sure enough there it was complete with illustrations. "The principal feature of the Norfolk is the shoulder construction that made it easier to raise a gun to bear on a bird." Two thoughts: MacGregor was a famous shooter and the same action back would have made the Norfolk suitable for paddling.

You can get a genuine English-tailored wool Norfolk jacket for about the price of a kayak.

As for canvas wading shoes, I wore L.L.Bean canvas canoe shoes on my 1948 trip in a wood and canvas canoe in Western Ontario. I still have them.

MacGregor's thousand miler put him and his Rob Roy on the following European rivers:Thames, Sambre, Meuse/Maas, Rhine, Main, Reuss, Aar, Ill, Moselle, Meurthe, Marne and Seine. Lakes: Titisee, Constance, Untersee, Zurich, Zug and Lucerne. Plus six canals in Belgium and France and two expeditions in the open sea of the English Channel.

On my big drafting table in my "Map Room" I have spread out old National Geographic maps and an old British Bartholemew Atlas and am trying to trace his travels. Although the rivers and lakes haven't moved during the last 144 years the international borders have. Since he wrote his book European borders have changed and changed again thanks to wars and their aftermaths. The Franco-Prussian War, World War I, World War II and the collapse of the Soviet Union all resulted in border changes and new and different countries where he traveled. Trying to trace Velen's travels in detail can be difficult but at least the effort isn't complicated by such changes.

Historically, consider that while he was making his fun preparations in England the Civil War was raging here. Also consider that 5 years after he paddled in France and what is now Germany there was a war going on there, the Franco-Prussian War of 1870.

I am always amazed at the amount of map work Verlen must have done to lay out his trips. Like I am trying to follow MacGregor's route, I have been trying to follow Verlen's and Steve Landick's route on the Ultimate Canoe Challenge using "Google maps".

More on that later

The 19th Century Verlen - 3

Son Jim put the new Bell Rob Roy 15 in the Grand behind my house Sunday and paddled to Grand Ledge. Maiden Voyage. Great weather. He experimented with wooden paddles; straight, bent and double bladed. Also double bladed composite. Tried raising the seat level with a boat cushion. He loves it. Pat Harrington went along in his genuine 1983 made-in-Oscoda Sawyer Sglass Summer Song, shown below with the Rob Roy.

Robin Barfoot shuttled. She argued that the Rob Roy should be called a kayak. I insisted that since MacGregor, Verlen, Bell and I call it a canoe she should too. I don't know whether I converted her.

I sat on the end of the dock at the JC Boat Launch in Grand Ledge with a beer in my hand (furnished by Robin) commenting and observing like I used to do for Verlen when he was paddling behind my house.

Back to Verlen and MacGregor. I emailed Phil Peterson Sr., author of All Things are Possible, asking him how familiar he thought Verlen was with John MacGregor and his Rob Roy canoes and his travels and books. Phil responded, referring me to page 63 of his book for the only words he wrote on my topic: "Verlen even ordered a Rob Roy out of Denmark, but it wasn't big enough for their needs. Though well designed and built, neither he nor Jerry (Cesar) felt felt it was big enough to carry what they needed." Phil goes on " I believe it was the Rob Roy episode that made him and Jerry elect to build their own boats. I am almost certain Verlen had read MacGregor's books. I don't believe there was anything available on canoeing at the time that Verlen didn't read. I do remember a conversation he and I had in his basement one time when he said he liked the looks of the Rob Roy, but it simply wasn't enough boat for how he planned to use it."

Mark P wrote: "Phil is right on, this is just about the same info I talked to Verlen about on the subject. I think the only major difference other than size of the canoe would be that Verlen added a rudder and used a single blade."

A later message from Phil said: "Mark's comment about 'Verlen added a rudder and used a single blade' is significant. These were enormous changes for an expedition canoe." Then he referred me to page 218 and all of Chapter 26 of All Things Are Possible for insights into Verlen's design strategies.

Next: Some of MacGregor's 1865 voyages on the rivers and canals of Europe.

The 19th Century Verlen - 2

The dimensions of the original Rob Roy used by John MacGregor for the trip described in his 1866 book A Thousand Miles in the Rob Roy Canoe were: Length 15', Width 28", Depth 9", Weight 80#. It drew a scant 3" of water.

All Rob Roys (there were 7) were clinker built* of white cedar and oak. Some were built by the boat builder Searles of Lambeth, London. The canoe for the Middle Eastern trip was built by "Mr. Pembry" of London.  Apparently the hulls were oak and the decks cedar. At least one survives in a British watercraft museum.

* "Clinker built" is a method of boat building in which the lower edge of each side plank  overlaps the one below it. This is also known as "lapstrake." Properly done there is no need for glue or caulking.

Like MacGregor, Verlen was not satisfied with his first craft and kept modifying them. Unlike MacGregor, he didn't have someone else build them for him.

J. Henry Rushton, the world-famous builder of canoes in Northern New York in the latter part of the 19th Century built canoes patterned after the Rob Roys. From the "Louisville Commercial" August 2 1876: "The Rob Roy Model is a boat of oak or cedar fourteen feet long, twenty-six inches wide, about nine and one-half inches deep, and, as all canoes, pointed at both ends, with much sheer and very slight curvature. In a canoe of this sort, weighing about seventy pounds, MacGregor has been cruising hundreds and thousands of miles, on both continents, for years."

Substitute "Loon" for "Rob Roy", "Kevlar" for "oak or cedar" and "Kruger" for "MacGregor" and it could be an article from a 1976 newspaper.

In Rob Roy on the Jordan MacGregor goes into great detail about where everything was stored in the canoe including his pistol and holster on the right side of the cockpit and his brandy bottle on the left. I'll have to ask Valerie where she and Verlen kept theirs.

The name Rob Roy comes from Robert Roy MacGregor, an ancestor of John. He was a famous Scottish folk hero and outlaw of the early 18th century, sometimes known as the Scottish Robin Hood. He was usually known simply as Rob Roy.

The 19th Century Verlen

In memory of my late wife Elaine I have purchased a Dave Yost-designed Bell Rob Roy 15' KevLight decked solo canoe for my son Jim (also in memory of Elaine I bought daughter Karen a Pongo 140 kayak for the use of her large sons at her cottage on Black Lake and I'm going to buy her a Pongo 120 for herself).

I don't know how many of you are familiar with the Bell Rob Roy, but it is kind of a lightweight, shorter version of the Kruger Sea Wind that weighs in at about 40# and has about 8 or 9 fewer layers of Kevlar. It is a beautiful watercraft. I bought it through Ron Sell of Unadilla Boatworks on the Huron River near Dexter. Ron is a Bell dealer. We will be displaying the Rob Roy at the Quiet Water Symposium next March 7 at Michigan State University. 

The point of this email is to alert you to the story of the Englishman John MacGregor who developed the original Rob Roy canoe and paddled versions of it for thousands of miles in Europe and the Middle East and wrote three books about these adventures. The parallels and contrasts between his story and Verlen Kruger's are very intriguing to me and I want to share them with you-all. If you are already familiar with MacGregor and the original Rob Roys, stop here.

John MacGregor lived from 1825 to1892. Verlen's life span was 1922 to 2004, thus they lived just a century apart. But while Verlen grew up a sharecropper's son, MacGregor's father was a General who fought against Napoleon. MacGregor had a degree in mathematics from Trinity College in Dublin and studied patent law at Cambridge. Verlen was a plumber's apprentice and plumbing contractor.

MacGregor toured Europe, the Middle East, Russia, North Africa, the United States, Canada and Siberia for pleasure. Verlen toured places like Texas, Japan and Korea thanks to being an Army tanker and a P-51 pilot in the Army Air Force during World War II.

MacGregor's fame as a canoeist came more than midway through life. Likewise Verlen didn't start canoeing until he was 41. Without question, they were the preeminent paddlers of their times.

MacGregor's books pertinent to this tale are A Thousand Miles in the Rob Roy Canoe, The Rob Roy on the Baltic and The Rob Roy on the Jordan, Red Sea and Genesareth. The illustrations in his books are his own.

Books about Verlen and his adventures are One Incredible Journey by Verlen and Clayton Klein, Valerie Fons' Keep It Moving, The Ultimate Canoe Challenge by Verlen and Brand Frentz and Phil Peterson Sr.'s All Things are Possible. 

MacGregor and Verlen both called their craft "canoes" though MacGregor used a double bladed paddle while Verlen used a single bladed paddle with a rudder. Both could be rigged for sailing. Both slept in their canoes when convenient or when circumstances demanded.

MacGregor was 6'6" tall.  The dimensions of the Baltic Rob Roy were: Length 14', Stem to beam 7'6", Width (6" abaft of midships) 26", Depth from top of deck (at fore end of well) to top of keel 11", Outside depth of keel 1", Depth at gunwale 8 1/2", Well (cockpit) 32"x20", Weight 60#.

Verlen was maybe a foot shorter than MacGregor. The dimensions of the Loon which he paddled on the 28,000 mile trip (from the Introduction to The Ultimate Canoe Challenge) are Length 17', Width 35", Cockpit about 5' long. Weight 60#.

Here are the dimensions for the Sea Wind which evolved as improvements from the Loon (and Monarch). Verlen used the Sea Wind on the two-continent trip with Valerie: Length 17'2", Over all width 28.5", Width at 4" waterline 25", Middle depth 13.5", Cockpit 20"x87", Weight 63#. These specs are from the Kruger Canoes website. I am surprised at the difference in width between the Loon and the Sea Wind. Perhaps Mark P. can enlighten us.

The dimensions of Jim's Bell Rob Roy are: Length 15', Gunwale width 20.5", Maximum width 28.5", 3" Waterline width 25.5", Cockpit 18"x63". Weight 35-40#. He is 6'3" tall.

To be continued.

Ultimate Kruger Challenge - Report #6

Brian Weber's Kruger Canoe Adventures blog is being continually updated. By my count the eight "Pro Boaters" have made it to the Harvey Bridge as have the two Florida paddlers. Mark is going on down to Lake Michigan and I think two or three more with him or behind him.

Correction on my 1949 trip down the Manistee, it ended at the US 131 bridge, not M31.

The car we used to get to the river from our home in Watervliet was a 1946 Chevrolet, one of the first off the assembly line after GM started building cars again after World War II. My brother paid $900 for it new. Gasoline was 27 cents a gallon and graduate engineers earned $300 a month.

This trip took place 14 years before Verlen took up canoeing............

Word from Coach

Word from the Coach (via email)

--- On Sat, 10/3/09, Larry Hoff wrote:

Hi Jim,

This is exciting. Not sure you are still up, but I will be watching Toby's spotter for a couple more hours. May have to get one of those things. Tell Dan, in my eyes he's the champ in this challenge. I know it had to be bad for him to leave. Tell him I know Verlen is very, very proud of him.

These's guys are the best. I feel very honored to have been able to meet them this spring. I can say the same about you and your son, Jim and daugther Karen. You've done well my friend.

Coach

Ultimate Kruger Challenge - Report #5

Saturday night. There is no joy in Ann Arbor but they are happy in East Lansing.

The Manistee 100 miler is underway. You can follow it on Toby's Spotter. There is a link to it on my blog www.thetopoligist.blogspot.com,

Dan got sick again and is off the river. His wife has picked him up. Mark is doing the 7 mile portage solo and is going to put in the Manistee and go all night. Hopes to "reel in" Toby. Jack is going to join Dan's nephew at the M72 Campground and go down the Manistee tomorrow.

I am reminded of a trip down this same stretch of the Manistee 60 years ago. My late brother Dick and I spent two days paddling down the river, ending at the M31 Bridge. Our canoe was an 18 ft Old Town OTCA built in 1921. It was the same wood and canvas canoe my other brother John and I had used for our long wilderness trip in Western Ontario in the summer of 1948.

Two things stand out in my memory about that long ago Manistee trip. The first is that we froze our butts off trying to sleep in World War II Army surplus blanket sleeping bags.

The other is related to the fact that in those days you could drink safely from the river. I was on my hands and knees taking a drink of the cold, clear water when I heard this tinkling noise upstream. I could hardly believe it but there was my brother urinating in the Manistee with this big grin on his face. I resolved to get back at him but he never gave me the opportunity.

The Old Town still exists. Restored by Scott Barkdall of Skywoods Canoe, it resides at a fancy "old money" cottage in the Les Cheneaux Islands in the UP.

I might miss some sleep tonight with friends still on the river like like I did when Charlie was suffering solo up the Huron in the spring of 2008.

Ultimate Kruger Challenge - Report #4

The Bradfords' time from Lake Huron to Lake Michigan: 3 days 13 hours 25 minutes. Amazing and congratulations from your awestruck corespondent. Their performance has inspired me to spend time on the Internet looking into racing canoes and canoe builders, the annual AuSable Marathon etc, a phase of canoeing that I haven't paid much attention to heretofore.

The Tres Amigos have been having a tough time. Dan got sick. Mark hoofed it into Mio for medications etc. Wind and rain in their faces and cold. As I said yesterday, the AuSable is proving tougher than the Huron was last spring during the Ultimate Hugh Heward Challenge from Detroit to Chicago. Yesterday's latest report has Dan doing better. Mark's Spotter showed them maybe 10 miles east of Grayling.

The 100 miles-on-the-Manistee goes this morning, starting time about 7:30 AM. Toby Nipper has arrived from Florida to participate. The start is at the M72 campground west of Grayling, the finish at Mesick.

Ultimate Kruger Challenge - Report #3

Cell phone call from Dan Smith this morning...bad water conditions...behind schedule...frost on the tents...but still happy to be out paddling. A true acolyte of Verlen Kruger.

Late evening check of the Kruger Canoes blog shows that the Bradfords have made it all the way down the Manistee. The Tres Amigos have gotten through the Mio Pond mess. Mark P. says this is tougher than going up the Huron last spring.

Coach finished his Wisconsin River trip

I got a message from Coach yesterday (Tues Sept 29) that he was back from Branson and headed back to the Wisconsin River. His plan was to drop his canoe and gear at Muscoda, drive his car to a park about a mile down the Mississippi from it's confluence with the Wisconsin (Wyalising State Park), then hitch hike back to his canoe.

I got another message this evening (Wed Sept 30) that he had put in and had finished paddling down the Wisconsin. He arrived at the Mississippi about 2:15 PM then spent time trying to find the right channel to get to his car. Confusion at the end but success overall.

He will render a final report and send some pictures in a few days. He sends his regards to the Ultimate Kruger Challengers.

So he has done it (and by himself). All the way from headwaters at Lac Vieux Desert at the edge of Michigan's UP to the Father of Waters. As I predicted he turned left at the Mississippi but he did not head for New Orleans. A gutty performance from a man who has earned my ultimate respect. In my prime I don't think I could have kept up with him.

He and his performance reminds me of that old joke about the guy who was proud of always doing things the hard way. One time his son asked how he was conceived. The father replied proudly "Standing up in a hammock!"

Ultimate Kruger Challenge - Report #2

I'm sitting here feeling sorry for the Challengers. They have been facing more brutal canoeing conditions than anyone I know since Charlie Parmelee started upstream into a tough current on the Huron River at the end of March 2008....in the snow.....after a cold night's semi-sleep....in the snow..

I am following closely Brian's Weber's reports in Mark P's "Kruger Canoe Adventures". www.krugercanoes.blogspot.com

Team Bradford made it to Grayling last night, having passed the Tres Amigos early on. There are pictures on the blog of their new racer. It is one mean looking skinny black Crozier canoe named "Bushwhacker". They are now doing the 7 mile portage up M72.

The Tres Amigos (Mark P., Dan Smith and Jack Murgatroid) have not yet reached Mio Pond where they face a nasty walk after they portage the dam since the DNR and/or Consumers Energy decided to pull down the pond level 8 feet for dam repairs. That is apparently affecting the AuSable's current also. Yesterday's brutal headwinds and rain made for a tough day but I understand they had a good fire last night and slept good.

Be sure to look at the new Spotter displays. Mark's Seawind and the Bradford's "Bushwacker" are both sending signals which allow you to chose backgrounds of maps, satellite images or "terrain", the latter being very good for tracking waterways.

Chuck Amboy is hustling the newpaper Grayling Avalanche for coverage. He has issued a "press release". We are going big time!

Ultimate Kruger Challenge 2009

The Ultimate Kruger Challenge 2009 is underway.

The Challenge, a project of the Verlen Kruger Memorial Association, is to paddle and portage all the way across the Lower Peninsula from Lake Huron to Lake Michigan starting at the mouth of the AuSable River at Oscoda. The Challengers will go upstream on the AuSable to Grayling, then make a 7 mile portage-on-wheels via Highway M72 to the Manistee River where they will put back in and paddle the rest of the way to Lake Michigan, a total of 271 miles.

The "Tres Amigos" - Mark Przedwojewski, Dan Smith, and Jack Murgatroid - started up the AuSable yesterday afternoon about 4:30 with the intention of finding a high and dry campground before the storms hit. A message from Mark at 7:15 PM said they had pulled off and set up camp.

They are paddling Kruger Seawinds. Mark P. has a new Spotter on his. You can follow their progress on Mark's Kruger Canoe Adventures blog, of which Brian Weber of Wisconsin is the Blogmaster.

Bob Bradford and son Mike in their tandem racing canoe planned to start this morning. A message from Bob last night said they saw "three bums" heading up the river. I'm trying to find out more about the Bradfords' canoe. They also have an active Spotter.

I think there is a 100 miler in-one-day on the Manistee on October 1 involved with all this. I'll let you know when I get it straight.

No word from Coach yet after his Branson trip.

Coach is off the river

On Sunday Coach went to the Packers game then returned to his takeout place at Prairie du Sac. Stayed in a motel. He was pleased that he had no more dams to portage but was concerned about low water.

Monday he paddled to Muscoda. I don't have details. Camped out Monday night. Woke up at 4 AM. Raining outside. Also raining inside since he did a lousy job of re-water proofing his old fly. He got soaked. I'm thinking of taking up a collection to buy him a decent tent and fly and a Verlen Kruger-type comfortable mattress.

Here is how he described some more of his miserable day Tuesday: "I did not have a confirmed ride back to Prairie du Sac, so I hid all my gear in some brush and went to a local gas station to see if anyone stopping for gas would give me a lift. The first person took me about 10 miles. Then at another gas station I got a ride for about 20 miles and at a third I got a ride back to my car. I quickly hurried back to Muscoda, packed up my stuff and headed for my sister's all the time thinking how I was going to finish this trip." Then he tells a garbled tale of missed phone calls and wrong dates but he finally got home and went to Branson, Missouri, as scheduled.

On the way home from Branson he intends to put back in the river and finish the trip to the Mississippi. I'm afraid he will turn left and head for New Orleans.

Coach on the Wisconsin - Day 6

Coach reported to Karen Friday morning. He talks fast and we have trouble spelling some Wisconsin names but here goes.

He spent the night near the Petenwell Dam. On Friday morning, as planned, he biked around (rather than paddling/portaging each) three dams with one trip when he arrived at Wisconsin Rapids downstream of Stevens Point. After the third dam as he was about to put back into the river a native told him the channel he was proposing to put into led not to the river as Coach had believed, but yet another dam. With that information Coach abandoned the river route and bicycle portaged about 9 miles to Nekoosa on roads that ran along the river.

He put back in the river south of town and paddled downstream into the Petenwell Flowage - I think the second biggest reservoir on the Wisconsin. As he was standing in the water to enter his craft, a passerby advised him to "Get out!" of the water because what he was standing in was a toxic algae bloom. Once in, it was an easy paddle across the flowage.

He planned to go through the Wisconsin Dells (Portage, WI, approx. 300 mile mark) but we do not yet have a report.

A recent story on NPR about toxic algae blooms.

Coach on the Wisconsin - Day 5

When he arrived in Stevens Point last night Coach did not stay in a motel as planned. Instead he ended up camping after dark in some park. Awoke this morning to find he was laying next to a "No Camping" sign in a wet sleeping bag. Four more dams yesterday plus he wasted an hour not realizing he was circumnavigating a large island. He thought he was still going downstream until he saw the same two fishermen for a second time. I'm confused just trying to describe it. Maybe it is because he Emailed me directly instead of using the Karen connection. In a late morning call to Karen he said he was looking at maps of what he was facing downstream, the second largest flowage on the entire river plus 3 dams at Wisconsin Rapids. Thinking about wheel portaging all three in one long trip. We will have to wait for the next report to find out what he decided. There may be an interruption coming up since he says he's going to go to the Packers game Sunday.

Coach on the Wisconsin - Day 4

Noon call from Coach. He is at the Rothschild Dam on the south side of Wausau. That means he paddled late again because he is far beyond yesterday's goal of getting south of Merrill. He camped at Gilbert Park on the north side of Wausau. If you are following Coach on Google Earth or Google Maps you will see that the river and the highways are never far apart on this stretch. He had to portage five dams yesterday. He says the dams are driving him nuts since it takes so long to get around them. The portages are 1/4 to a mile long and he's glad he has his traveling junkyard folding bike portage rig. He's dreading the portage at the paper mill at Mosinee where he hears he will have to call the mill and wait for an escort to arrive and take him across their property. I sympathize. I looked at the papermill complex on Google Maps Satellite. It's a big and complicated beast. The Wisconsin is an industrial river many places. Also spectacular other places. The weather is a bit cooler and he has a tail wind. He plans to stay in a motel at Stevens point tonight (River Mile 205).

Coach on the Wisconsin - Day 3

Noon call from Coach from Tomahawk. He said it was absolutely gorgeous there. I assume he meant the river and environs not the town.

Last night he camped in the woods at Kings Dam upstream from Tomahawk. That means he got through Rhinelander yesterday afternoon and portaged the dam there. He says he has portaged "5 or 6 dams" which also means that he has lost count already. There are 26 total on the whole river.

He hoped to portage 3 or 4 more today and get south of Merrill which is River Mile 138. Then he intends to slow down a bit. He didn't say how late he paddled last night. Karen doubts that he will really slow down. We'll see.

Merrill is about as far south as Northport at the top of the Leelanau Peninsula (the "Little Finger") in the Lower Peninsula.

Coach on the Wisconsin - Day 2

Another call from Coach just before noon today. He said it was a long night. Ended up throwing his sleeping bag on somebody's dock. He has gone through the Rainbow Flowage (pictured above - they call backwaters behind dams in Wisconsin "flowages") and has made the portage. The Rainbow Dam is about 12 miles southeast of the town of Woodruff, my favorite Wisconsin town. Lovely warm day, no breeze yet, nice lazy river. Intends to make Rhinelander this afternoon.

Coach on the Wisconsin River - Day 1

Coach called Karen at noon to say he was on the river and paddling. He had first put in at the US 45 bridge because he had been advised that the first five miles was impassable but then he ran into some canoeists who said that it was fine so he pulled out and went back to the beginning at Lac Vieux Desert. He put in at the dam and is now going downstream.

I looked for the dam on Google Maps and Google Earth. I couldn't positively locate it but there is a nice photo of the beginning of the Wisconsin on Google Earth. I entered "Lac Vieux Desert Wi" to search.

Coach called again at about 8 PM. Said he was getting close to Eagle River. Beautiful day, nice winding creek, great weather, trees changing, nice current. Sounded like he was going to keep going. He doesn't pause to smell the water lillies.

Coach on the Wisconsin River - Preliminary Report

Larry "Coach" Hoff plans to launch his Kruger Seawind expedition canoe on Lac Vieux Desert (from French for Lake of the Old Clearing or Old Garden) on Sunday September 13 2009 and go all the way down the Wisconsin River to the Mississippi River by September 22. As usual, he will look like a traveling junk yard with his folding bicycle portaging rig stuffed in behind the seat.

Coach, shown here with his gear during the 2009 Hugh Heward Challenge. Nancy Anderson looks on.

Lac Vieux Desert, the head lake of the Wisconsin River, is a relatively large and shallow lake which lies astraddle the UP/Wisconsin State Line southeast of Watersmeet. It's drainage area is one of only two places in Michigan in the Mississippi watershed. (The other is in the Lower Peninsula in Berrien County at the Indiana border.) Thus if you put some used beer in the woods up there it will eventually flow into the Mississippi, down the big river past St. Louis and New Orleans and end up in the Gulf of Mexico....a long trip.

The Wisconsin is that state's longest river at 430 miles, some 160 miles longer than the Grand, Michigan's longest river. Quoting from Wikipedia: "It flows south across the glacial plain of central Wisconsin, passing Wasau and Stevens point. In southern Wisconsin it encounters the terminal moraine formed during the last ice age, where it forms the Dells of the Wisconsin River. North of Madison at Portage, the river turns to the west, flowing through Wisconsin's hilly Western Upland and joining the Mississippi approximately 3 miles south of Prairie du Chien. Although the river was originally navigable up to the city of Portage 200 miles from its mouth, it is now considered non-navigable beyond the lock and dam at Prairie du Sac."

The Wisconsin exits Lac Vieux Desert at its southwest corner the promptly turns northwest almost reaching the Michigan border before it turns south again approximately paralleling US 45.

Coach anticipates some problems with low water at the beginning. We'll see whether he does the upper river by canoe or bicycle.