# Paddling the Ocqueoc River in April



## burntcabin (Feb 23, 2013)

Hey paddlers. A group of us Michigan paddlers have wanted to paddle the Ocq for some time. We are looking at mid-April, putting in at the Sportsmen Dam & Resevoir as described in the Dennis/Date book Paddling Michigan Rivers. We plan on heading down to the Ocq Falls State Campground or nearby ~18 miles. I understand the campground is closed until 5/1. Any local knowledge about the lakes being free of ice in mid-April. Has anyone paddled it lately or at all and want to share any advice? Any info is helpful. Thank you much!

Scott


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## fisheater (Nov 14, 2010)

Scott,
Post a trip report please, I would enjoy reading it. Years ago when I was in my 20's I did pretty good on small pike if you are interested in fishing at all. 
When I was a kid we had a blast jumping off the falls, on a vacation. I imagine they were a lot bigger back then .
Regards,
Bob


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## burntcabin (Feb 23, 2013)

Thanks for the poke. I couldn't round up enough interested people to make the trip work so I decided on a road trip to scout out the river - bridges, launches, the portage at the falls, etc. Man was I shocked to arrive at the headwaters and find the lakes all frozen. There was a 15' ring of open water around the shore that we could have worked through to get to the open moving water of the river but it would have been dicey. One of those deals where the wind pushes the ice across the lake - shifting wind means shifting ice... no cell signals, very remote as you know.

So in one sense it was great that I did not bring up a crew of people only to find we would have to seriously consider a plan B - which we have done before on many occasions. We paddle all year long - every month - and frequently have reasons to shift plans. But the trip up was amazing. I camped on the shores of the Thunder Bay River one night, on McCullum Lake another night - and drove miles of dirt roads along the OCQ taking pictures and making notes.

We have moved our trip for attempt #2 to the first weekend of May. The OCQ SFCG should be open by then. A great take out after day 1 and a great starting point for day 2 to make it to the lake.

I'll post a report after that trip if it works out. These hard to reach and unpredictable rivers make getting the right crew together for the adventure part of the challenge!

Scott


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## burntcabin (Feb 23, 2013)

OCQ Trip report... Well, we had a very successful float. We did not cover as many miles as we had hoped. We did not make it to Lake Huron, but that's ok. We found the river deep enough where we touched only occasionally. And we only had one legit tree over the river we had to portage - it was between Millersburg and the campground. An easy portage. The river was high enough where a few of the low bridges required us to portage closer to our put in at Emma Lake. One I thought i could make it through and busted my seat when I hit the beam under the bridge so hard i thought i knocked it off its foundation, started to turn, but slipped under and made it through without too much trouble.
We saw a two or three dead deer in the river and 3 dead beaver. Something I've not seen as much on my travels. Lots of Muskrats - ducks. Lots of great wildlife. I noticed the Marsh Marigolds had not popped yet. Or the fiddle heads, or the ramps. I'm used to this weekend on the NW side of the state being a week or so farther along. But when I was up three weeks earlier, the lakes were all frozen still. So great progress in the season.
We had great weather this weekend - I'm not sure I'd want to paddle this beyond the next few weeks if we don't get more rain up there. The river is boney and shallow - Chipmunk falls was fun coming across it without much warning and for the first time, but I picked my run and made it through without too much trouble. Next month we will finish the river from the campground to the big lake.
Thanks for the info, guys!

Scott


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## burntcabin (Feb 23, 2013)




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