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In the past several days, I've been asked about the Huron's 104 (navigable) route through Michigan. This is a great visual showing the upper, middle, and lower stretches. #100milesonthehuron #huronriver #canoe #paddling #SEMichigan #eriebound @huronriver @mimetroparks

A post shared by Meredith Nickerson (@100mionthehuron) on Jan 26, 2020 at 5:55pm PST

The Route

First and foremost, can I give a shout out to the folks at the Huron River Watershed Council for their work on the Huron River Water Trail?  From a planning standpoint, they have done such a good job building resources to support a trip like this.  Not only have I purchased copies of their waterproof river map, but their online, interactive map is fantastic and embeddable, as you will see below:

So, with all of these planning resources, what is our plan?

We are going to use the recommended 5-day trip plan, which seems very reasonable given my experiences on some stretches of the river.  It is well thought out and paced, and should be totally doable for our crew.  Here is the current plan:

Day	Starting Point	Ending Point	Float Distance	Float Time (approximate)	Portages	Camping
1	Proud Lake State Recreation Area	Island Lake State Recreation Area	14.63 mi	4.5 hrs	2	Canoe campground at Island Lake State Recreation Area
2	Island Lake State Recreation Area	Hudson Mills Metropark	22.7 mi	6.5 hrs	1	Canoe Campground at Hudson Mills Metropark
3	Hudson Mills Metropark	Dixboro Dam	20 mi	6 hrs	4	Spend the night at home - no campgrounds in the Ann Arbor area!
4	Dixboro Dam	Lower Huron Metropark	17.42 mi	5 hrs	3	Walnut Grove Campground at Lower Huron Metropark
5	Lower Huron Metropark	Pointe Mouilée, Lake Erie	27 mi	6.5 hrs	1

Some of this trip will prove to be quite familiar to me, while other sections will be entirely new!  I plan to write about my experience with familiar sections in later posts, and have plans to scout out some of the new portages and campgrounds before making the trip in August.  Stay tuned for more!

Welcome to the Adventure

Barring major catastrophe, illness, or misfortune, we have a date for our epic adventure.

We are going to take a canoe and paddle it the entire length of the Huron River!

What does that entail? 

Here are the statistics, because I'm a bulleted list kinda gal:

• 104 miles of river (technically 101.8 actual river miles), which we'll just round down to an even 100 for the sake of this blog's name.
• It will take us 5 days and 4 nights to complete this journey
• An estimated 28 hours of paddling
• 11 portages, most over dams
• Varying water conditions, from swift river to occasional class II rapids to the flat backwaters behind dams
• This stretch of river has been recently designated as a National Water Trail!

Why are we doing this?

We have brainstormed a variety of goals for this trip, and here are some ideas that we're chewing on right now:

• To raise awareness of the Huron River and promote its use as a recreational resource
• To highlight the newly-created Huron River Water Trail
• To raise funds for the Huron River Watershed Council, who does great work for the Huron and were
  instrumental in developing and promoting this new Water Trail
• To help educate my own students and their community about the Huron River
• To create art (written and visual) based off of our journey

When are we going?

Mid-August, 2020

In the months to come, this blog will serve as a space where we can share our thoughts, our journey, and ultimately, our grand adventure.  I keep using the words "we" and "our", because I am lucky enough to be planning this trip with one of the most amazing paddling and blogging partners that I could ask for: Heather Friedli.  Heather is my former roommate and teaching partner from our days in YMCA Storer Camps' Outdoor Education Program, and all-around marvel.  She's thru-hiked the entire Appalachian Trail, paddled solo in the Boundary Waters, and is an AMAZING and accomplished artist.  Seriously, stop what you're doing and go look at her gorgeous artwork.  Heather has graciously offered to co-author this blog with me as we get ourselves prepared for this journey.

It looks highly possible that we're going to have some other amazing folks joining us for the trip as well. Old camp friends, family members, and even coworkers have expressed an interest in joining us for a leg or two of our adventure.  I'm already feeling such community support for this project, and it reminds me just how lucky I am to have so many amazing people in my life.

Speaking of amazing people, I plan to give many (but probably not enough) shout-outs to my dear husband and son, who are giving me the space and time to pursue this crazy dream of mine.  They will be holding down the homestead while I do something big for me and my community, and that kind of support at home is something that not every woman is lucky enough to have.

So here we go, folks - thanks for joining us on this adventure!