# Paddling the Ocqueoc River



## burntcabin (Feb 23, 2013)

A small group of us are planning on tackling the OCQ this weekend. We are hoping to paddle the entire river in two days - camping on Saturday night at the OCQ Falls SFCG. Anyone on this forum with paddling experience on the OCQ? Any advice?

Thanks in advance.


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## Scottygvsu (Apr 19, 2003)

Bring a chainsaw. I guarantee you’ll be the first ones to paddle it this year, so god only know what’s in the river.
Do you think you’ll make it from the falls to the big lake on Saturday?
If you hear any gobbles on your trip, lemme know will ya? I’ll leave some refreshments at a bridge or the weir for your trouble.


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## burntcabin (Feb 23, 2013)

We are putting in at Emma at the headwaters on Saturday morning and paddling to the campground on Saturday. Then from campground to Huron on Sunday. Its aggressive... but that's the plan. We will have parked a just in case truck part way each way just in case.


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## burntcabin (Feb 23, 2013)

Scottygvsu said:


> Bring a chainsaw. I guarantee you’ll be the first ones to paddle it this year, so god only know what’s in the river.
> Do you think you’ll make it from the falls to the big lake on Saturday?
> If you hear any gobbles on your trip, lemme know will ya? I’ll leave some refreshments at a bridge or the weir for your trouble.


I'll let you know about gobbles for sure!! I was up scouting the river a few weekends ago and saw more turkey than people. Looks like they survived the winter very well!


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## JBooth (Sep 21, 2009)

it's pretty narrow and shallow while you're still in the park. Pretty curious to see if you make it.


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## burntcabin (Feb 23, 2013)

JBooth said:


> it's pretty narrow and shallow while you're still in the park. Pretty curious to see if you make it.


LOL. So are we! We are skipping the falls area. And the recent rains should help with the shallow and boney water.


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## Scottygvsu (Apr 19, 2003)

burntcabin said:


> LOL. So are we! We are skipping the falls area. And the recent rains should help with the shallow and boney water.


Skipping the falls??!!! Chicken.


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## Boardman Brookies (Dec 20, 2007)

Never done that, cant say it cannot be done but seems difficult with as shallow as it is. But my only real experience is above and below the falls. Good luck and have fun!


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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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## Scottygvsu (Apr 19, 2003)

Thanks for the update! You couldn’t have asked for better weather.


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## eyedhitit (Oct 27, 2018)

View attachment 397519



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