Wednesday, September 01, 2010

Last Night on the River (The Manistee)




You don’t find a much nicer place to camp. The Manistee makes a big bend to the left and on the outside bend, to the south, Hopkins Creek flows into our river. The creek creates a small delta with a large sandbar jutting out into the river. We set the tent up back from the river, on higher ground. Knowing the bugs were going to be bad there with the tall grass, so we set up our living room and kitchen on the sand bar, where we could enjoy a nice breeze and listen to the water rippling around us on all sides. After hauling in firewood, Jeff cleaned the fish as I built a fire and lit up the stove. Soon, rice was boiling, followed by a can of beef stew as we didn’t have enough fish for dinner. We’d caught plenty of fish in the morning but had let them go as we had miles to cover and no cooler in which to keep them. In the afternoon, we’d only caught two keepers. These I placed in foil, sprinkled with Dash and laid slices of lemons on top. As coals formed, I raked a bed of them to the side of the fire and laid the foil package on top, turning it once. Soon, we each had a nice appetizer, a trout a piece to go with our rice and stew. We burned the can of stew and another one of fruit out in the fire to keep the raccoons from playing with it during the night, then sat and watch the light drain from the sky. The breeze died and the smoke from the fire hung over the river. Slowly stars appear. We had a clear view of the northern sky, the constellations around the North Star. The Dippers, Queen Cassiopeia, King Cepheus and Draco the Dragon were all brilliantly displayed in the dark northern sky. We sipped brandy and whiskey and smoked a cigar. I ate some peanuts, tossing the shells into the dying fire. But mostly we talked. I spotted several meteors, one fireball streaked from high above down toward the river, covering ½ the sky. When the bugs started to find us, we retreated to the tent and the security of netting.


I slept hard and woke in the predawn morning. The air was still. It was warm and humid even long before the sun peaked over the trees. I went over to our kitchen sandbar and fired up the stove for coffee. Interestingly, I realized that I’d left the bag of peanuts by my chair. A ‘coon had been into the bag and had left a nice collection of shells on the ground, but had not eaten all the nuts… After oatmeal and coffee and a period of time to read, we packed up and fished out way down to the bridge at US 131. There, we loaded the truck and headed south, stopping in Cadillac for a late lunch.




A friend and I canoed the Manistee from Sharon Michigan to the US 131 Bridge. We put in late Sunday afternoon and came home Tuesday night.


12 comments:

  1. I've been wanting to get back into fishing. Of course, when I'm canoeing, I'm trying not to tip over or run into the bank.

    Thou art the knower of all things stellar.

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  2. You write great travelogues! You take me right into the midst of wonderful places. Beautiful photos.

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  3. really it sounds lovely...did not camp a whole lot through the summer...now that fall is coming onhoping to play a bit of catch up...the location looks beautiful...

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  4. I'll bet fish cooked over a campfire is tasty. The whole trip sounds wonderful.

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  5. Amazing the Coon left you some. Our coons are far more greedy it seems

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  6. I had a coon get into a bag of Jolly Ranchers once. He only took what he needed and left a neat pile of wrappers and a well beaten path between them and the shoreline about 15 feet away where he washed them before eating.

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  7. I'd join you in a minute... I've read that area is beautiful. Sometimes I tail a stringer with fish along behind the canoe if the water is cool enough. Dinner sounded delicious!

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  8. Sounds like you and Jeff had a great time, and the weather cooperated, even if the coon got a little stingy!

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  9. A night outside sipping brandy and whiskey and smoking a cigar, talking, watching the stars, the meteors and even a fireball! What a wonderful soirée!

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  10. i always get the feeling after reading your posts that I am missing so much by not camping. I tried last week but it rained every day...
    Beautiful pictures. love the one of the spider web

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  11. Some people have "outside" in their blood. There is no cure for that.

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