The Saint Joseph River Trip - South Bend to Niles (Dowagiac River Junction) - Installment Three

     As mentioned in the last post, one item was not on the "checklist" and therefore was left behind; the still camera, but a "flip video" camera did make the trip. As also mentioned, once I figure out how to get that video off of the disc and onto either the computor hard drive or to a Utube link where it will be available, because that video details the actual trip. Please note that all distances (statute miles) and coordinates are from Google Earth.
     Since one can be as Spartan as possible or as wordy as possible in giving trip information; here then are the Spartan parts; 1) Launch from river left 41 deg 43' 42.91" N / 85 deg. 16' 06.51" W - paddled 7.60 statue to Niles Dam. 2) Portage out river right (clearly marked by DNR) at 41 deg. 48' 56.74" N / 86 deg. 15' 37.00" W. Very long portage (0.54 miles) but good surface. 3) back in water at 41 deg. 49' 17.48" N / 86 deg. 15' 22.57" W. Good current. Paddled 2.10 miles to junction with and up just a bit of the Dowagiac River. 4) Camped on sandbar on Northside of Dowagiac at 41 deg. 50' 43.41" N / 86 deg. 15' 55.06" W. because strong flow of and log jam on the Dowagiac prevents us from going further upstream to Nub Lake Campground, which is only about 1/2 mile away.
     Note all the gritty detail is there, but it doesn't tell the full story, the personal anecdotes of each person.
     Here are my notes from the journal.
The crew Dr. Jerry, Leo, Thomas, Joseph (the navigator) and Paul (the expedition chronicler), all from one clan and yours truly.
The canoes; boat 1- 16'4" Pelican Bayou, boat 2 - 14'6" Old Town Rockport
Gear in boat 1: 4 sleeping bags, 2 back packs w/ personal items, 1 tackle box, 1 small tent, 1 two burner propane camp stove, 1 propane lantern, 1 two wheeled canoe dolly, 2 collapsible containers with cooking utensils (2 pots, 2 pans, 8 cylinders propany fuel, bug spray, insect repellant, firewood starter, machete, axe, shovel (entrenching tool), 3 life jackets, 1 floatation cushion, 1 fishing rod, 2 bed roll pads, and other stuff = all of the above estimated at 150 lbs plus three people estimated and known at 190 lbs, 90 lbs and 150 lbs for a total of about 580 lbs.
Gear in boat 2: 2 sleeping bags, 1 collapsible container with 5 gals. water, first aid kit, 1 large tent, 4 back paks, 1 large plastic container vegetables (8 lbs bag of potatoes, 2 large onions, 6 heads of garlic, 1 box "boil in the bag" rice, 1 box spaghetti, cooking oil (olive oil), salt, pepper, toilet tissue, paper towels, dishwashing detergent, 2 lbs of carrots, 1 bag of apples. 1 ice chest with perishables which changed from day to day we purchased provisions along the way. 1 1/2 dozen eggs, 2 packs of bacon, 2 packs of sausage = the above estimated at 90 lbs, 3 people at respectively 160 lbs, 110 lbs and 70 lbs for about 430 lbs.
    We hit the water at 12:10 PM with yours truly in boat 1 together with Thomas and Joseph. Good strong current carrying us along really nice. Not much effort required for paddling but some for steering. The bow paddler almost gets us in trouble as we go under the second bridge, he is paddling hard to get us to the middle of bridge span, not realising that he is in fact turning us sideways to the current and we are being carried at full speed toward the right pier and knowing that the foundation would be considerably wider than the pier and not know how far underwater it was it caused a moment of tension and some words to the effect that one should pay attention to the task at hand and also understand "cause and effect". Canoe 2 experienced the same situation.
     At 1:46 PM we cross state line into Michigan. We see numerous turtles and blue herons along the way. The boys are enjoying the paddle and the sights. We stopped for lunch at St. Patricks Park and ate bratwurst w/ tortillas. (something about the Mexican heritage)
     Somewhere along the way some of the boys decided they needed to answer a call from nature, so we stopped at an island in the river which is now known by this group as "P" Island.
     It is 3:30 PM and we have reached to "portage out" point upstream of the Niles Dam. We scout portage which is very long and somewhat difficult because of going uphill a part of the way. Canoes are unloaded, brought out of the water, placed on dolly, loaded up as much as deemed safe for the dolly and three people take off with canoe 1. We do note a low tire on the dolly, and no means of pumping it up. After some huffing and puffing we get to "portage in" position and the canoe is again unloaded and removed from the dolly and the dolly is sent back for canoe 2.
     What is taking them so long to get 1/2 mile. We decide that someone should go and see if they are having trouble moving the second canoe with the gear. They were not, unless you call picking berries and eating them as trouble. A considerable delay was caused here. Eventually the second canoe arrives and part of the team is tasked with putting the canoes back in the water and reload them in the same fashion as they were while Joe and I go to our "predetermined" grocery store (see planning St. Joseph River Trip post). Here we buy some meat for dinner and some juice to have for breakfast.
     At 5:36 PM we are back in the water (folks, it took 2 hours and 6 minutes to portage - way too long). We are now headed for Nub Lake Campground.   At 6:50 PM we are at the junction of the Saint Joseph and the Dowagiac Rivers and we encounter a very strong head current trying to go up the Dowagiac, making almost no progress. This may have been a blessing in disguise because just after 7 PM we come to a solid log jam across the river and that is the end of our paddling for the day. Fortunately there is a sandbar on the north side of the river, with a large dry portion, large enough to hold two tents, so we decide to camp there for the night (probably trespassing on private property). We build fire with dried drift wood, set up tents and get dinner going. Dinner is boiled potatoes and carrots with stewed onions and meat. Everyone eats well. Since there is a good waterflow right next to us there wasn't much discussion about who would do the dishes. There was, however, a good deal of discussion as to who would be responsible for finding a suitable spot and dig the latrine since we did not make it to our planned campsite which would have had showers and flush toilets. Such is life. All turned in early being tired after the portage and the hard paddle against the current.
     Sometime much later after the trip I received an email from one of the members of the Michiana canoe guys gals group stating they had cleared the log jam but had also seen where our campfire had been.
     Observation made; the Old Town Rockport, being lighter, did a much better job of going against the current than did the Pelican. Does this mean that for fishing the pelican will remain but one will have to invest a much lighter canoe for canoeing? Perhaps a higher power will have to be consulted; I can hear it now "we do not need two canoes".
     Our speed was actually good for the first paddle segment; 2 hrs 20 min for 7.60 miles (about 3.3 miles per hour) considering that we didn't attempt to set any speed records here and we had 5 inexperienced paddlers in the group, but most of the credit will have to go the Saint Joseph River and the current.
     Day two will follow in the next post.