Memorial Day promised to be a nice one, but the wind and clouds made for a chilly start! I woke Kaboom, we got around and then packed our lunches, water and all the kayak goodies…another day on the river was in store for TR&T w/K! The plan: find the HIGH 5’s cache series! The HIGH 5’s is a new series of kayak caches placed in a scenic stretch of the Raisin river not far from our home, these came out on my birthday, May 5^th! Now, picture the allure of these, I was gifted my kayak a few days prior to my birthday, Kaboom was gifted his the day after my birthday and a new series is out waiting for visitors! Well, we’d practiced our river skills and felt ready, so off we went! First though, a stop at the store to return and replace the two-piece paddle I had bought, it wasn’t very strong or I was just a brute, but it “failed” on the last trip when I ran into heavy current on the St. Joe River and I couldn’t chance having it completely fail on another river tour! The exchange went as hoped and we were on our way toward the park featuring the caches when it dawned on me…I forgot to load the caches into my PN-40…D’OH! Oh well, we could simply have a FUN day exploring the river instead!

We unloaded at a bridge somewhere between Adrian and Tecumseh Michigan, then, after removing the duckies which were still hanging out in Kaboom’s kayak, we loaded up and put in at 11am! As with the St. Joe, we chose to go upstream so our return trip would be a nice leisurely float down again, why work all the way back? The Raisin is a deeper river with a slightly faster flow than the St. Joe, but we weren’t having any problems paddling against current and fighting through small blockages! The river was still well above normal stage and we found a few shortcuts along the way which made for interesting and fun experiences, we tend to make things trickier than needed at times, but this is by design (trust me, we never take the easy way on anything lol)! Somehow, we usually found a way through or around the obstructions without having to exit the kayaks!

After a few hours, we found ourselves at an obstruction which called for us to exit the crafts, so we opted for a nice lunch and rest, 2 hours, almost 2 miles at an average of 1 mph, not bad considering the existence of the obstacles and the swiftness of the current! Sandwiches and Pop Tarts were on the menu again, we scarfed down a sandwich each, then a Pop Tart, then KAboom had a second Pop Tart (growing boys need their sustenance) before we packed up and headed on, KAboom pushing me off before loading up and pushing off himself!

After a good bit of paddling and a LOT of fun, we rounded a bend and something caught my eye….but what was it? Looked like a cat to me, a larger cat like a bobcat or lynx? I think I remember Tod telling me they lived in our region, but don’t recall ever seeing one…until now! Even now, it was merely a fleeting look before the animal darted off through the underbrush, we HAD to land and scope out the area for tracks!
 I realize these pictures aren’t the greatest, but here’s the tracks left behind, clearly a good sized cat!

Back on the river and still heading upstream, we’re having a great time exploring the many coves and tributaries along the way; we’re also a bit quieter now, hoping to spot more animals! It wasn’t too much further when we were rewarded with the sighting of a pair of deer! At one of the blockages at the start of our trip, I came within maybe 10’ of an unsuspecting deer which, upon KAboom’s excited outcry, hastily retreated…KAboom was much quieter while alerting me to these two! It was still sheer luck that I was able to capture a few pictures like this one… and this one of
the larger deer walking into the river! These pictures were especially difficult due to the current and the distance we needed to keep in order not to spook the deer away! I allowed myself to drift back onto a blockage which was a live tree (note the leaves in the foreground of the first picture).  Farther up, we were
able to capture this picture of a pair of mallards which were quite timid; they kept a big gap between us. This was the best I could do as I had to really zoom in while trying to keep my moving kayak in position!

Not far from the deer sighting, we turned around as it was now 5:30pm; we’d made it 5.48 miles upstream, our average had stayed at 1 mph!! The reason we stopped was due to an extra large and impassable blockage!! Now, yes, it took us 6 hours to make it this far, but we knew it would only take half that or less to return, so we weren’t in too big a hurry and even played a bit of “duck pass” with a few of the duckies we brought along lol! However, the current made for a VERY fun downstream trip; we were soon traveling upwards of 6.6 mph as we attacked the river!  Even with stopping to eat at the same place we stopped for lunch, we made the return to the starting point and was completely packed and on the road again by 8pm, another GREAT and exciting kayak adventure!! Along the downstream trip, we spotted and planned an exceptionally dangerous and adventurous 5/5 cache location, the final (only accessible by kayak) would be about 25’ up a large tree leaning over the river! Known for loving to place challenging (to us) caches, we can’t possibly pass on this opportunity! What could be better, a fun river tour as well as the chance to bag a 5/5….life at its best!

Remember to always PAY ATTENTION! Whether on the river, in a car or out caching, what you fail to see could be dangerous!

Rod

 Team Rod & Tod w/KAboom
The Cachestalkers

By Rockin Roddy