For this video, the Au Sable River was glorious! It was almost 13 miles of pristine clear water that was super fun to paddle. My friend Jim worked the bow of the tandem Mad River Revelation 17′ canoe while I worked from the stern. This year, we were in sync and almost flawless in our team paddling. We saw a few fish, Ducks, Ducklings, Geese, and Cranes were plentiful. Bugs were not a problem at all. Our paddling and steering teamwork was a real confidence builder for the faster Sturgeon River in an upcoming paddle perhaps as soon as next year.
My friend Jim and I have paddled every July for the past five years. Together, we have paddled the Pine River that empties into the Manistee, portions of the Manistee, the Pere Marquette, the Platte, the Jordan, and part of the Au Sable River. The first three years, we camped on the side of the river for multi-day paddling. The last two years, we have paddled back-to-back day trips for day one and day two. Last year, we paddled the Manistee and Platte Rivers. This year, we paddled the Jordan and a section of the Au Sable River. Next year, we would like to do the Sturgeon and Black Rivers in back-to-back consecutive day trips or the remainder of the Au Sable River camping on the river bank.
This section of the Au Sable did not have any information available on web and YouTube searches. This video may fill a void providing information and a look at the section of the river from Batterson Road south of Frederick to the middle of Grayling. When I called a local outfitter in grayling that sells outdoor equipment, I asked about the conditions of this section of the river. They advised to not paddle it and stick with the starting point in Grayling. I continued to ask questions and they said that the river was shallow in this part and there would be several low points and tree falls that would need to be navigated. It turned out that there were were some low points that required floating the empty canoe over, but not a large number. I would say that if you wanted to paddle the entire Au Sable River, this section should not included. Maybe even include further upstream from Batterson Road Bridge!
Trip Summary: Total Time = 5 hours 25 minutes. Moving Time = 5 hours 7 minutes. Distance = 12.7 miles.
Here are the links if interested in doing a similar trip. Click below:
Check out the video below for the ride and thank you!
