Green and Glassie: Kayaking the National Seney Wildlife Refuge in the UP of Michigan

Last week I explored the UP of Michigan with a group of family and friends. We were camping,kayaking, and site seeing. We had a excellent time!

On Saturday we decided to take a kayaking trip down the Manistique River into the Seney National Wildlife Refuge.

We contacted the folks at Northland Outfitters Campground & Canoe Livery. They rent kayaks and canoes and also offer to let kayak owners launch at their location with
pick up at Mead Creek State Campground - which is 15 miles down stream.

Having someone pick you up downstream is a life saver ~Definitely worth $10!!!

When we arrived at Northland Outfitters we unloaded our kayaks and headed for the office. Once we completed the necessary paperwork off to the river we went. We arranged to be picked up at 6 pm (5.5 hours from drop in) - since we were a large group we figured we would be dilly dalling our way down the river.

The trip was amazing!!!

Breathtaking Beautiful!!!

The river was extremely curvy. Beautiful waterway. I saw two beavers - both swimming.

One swimming regularly and the other swimming on his back with a piece of wood in his mouth.

The river has a very nice current - it keeps you moving. Lots of trees in the water - which was great for testing our kayaking skills.

I highly recommend that you bring with you some bug spray. The mosquitoes are the size of small birds! Okay maybe not that big - but they are big! I was fine as long as I keep moving. The minute I stopped my kayak - here came the mosquitoes and they were hungry!

JR in his new kayak!

JR ~ myself (blue kayak) ~ Mary ~ Holly

Take out was at the Mead State Campground. We planned to be picked up at 6pm - but the trip went faster than expected. We arrived at 4:45pm. Jen called Northland - they arrived to pick us up at 5pm.