It was off to the water this weekend for the 3rd annual Chippewa River float in Mt. Pleasant. Doke and I got our rowing in this weekend for sure. Both of us had Friday off so we floated on the Cedar River near Gladwin before meeting Mike on Saturday. We were expecting a casual, fishing float but the Cedar was an extremely large female dog. There was no let up on that river. It had a decent current, many rocks, many turns, and down trees crossing the entire river (see picture below). We had to do quite a bit of limbo dancing out there. One tree, however, took us down. That is such a crappy feeling of knowing you are going down and can't do a darn thing about it. We did plastic bag the vitals pretty well and didn't lose anything so besides a wet ass the rest of the ride, all was well. By the time the float was done, I was feeling it pretty well. That river doesn't give you much time for lollygagging. 
Compared to Friday's float, Saturday on the Chippewa River was a cake walk. We did the kayak angle this year with the odd number in our party. They worked out great with just enough room available for our soda pop coolers. With the Central Michigan football team playing a home game that day, there wasn't a soul out on the river except us. Our 3 1/2 hour float became closer to five when it was all said and done but with the ideal weather, there weren't any complaints. Greg again was top fisherman. Besides one decent one he had though, there wasn't much on size out there.
A great time with some good people.
Trail Head
