The club outing to the Pigeon River was fantastic! The weather all 3 days was the best we could ask for...well maybe a little cold Friday night.
When Lance arrived at the Crooked Creek Campground Friday afternoon, Tom and Helen and their friends from the Toledo area, Bubba and Hwa, had already set up camp. Tom and Bubba have the same 15'8" Old Towne Roylex canoe. Mary and Eric and Steve and Coleen would be coming later in the afternoon. After introductions and camp set up, everyone piled into Tom's truck for dinner in Angola. As we passed one of the resting ponds on the wildlife preserve Lance noticed a nice sized flock of white birds on the water. We would later find out they were sandhill cranes. We decided on fish for dinner at the local VFW next to Booth Lake.
Tom, Helen, and Lance decided to canoe Friday afternoon, so the fish was taken to go. We headed down to Mongo Dam for a quick trip down to Nasby Dam. It was obvious that water was mainly exiting from the center of the dam rather than all the way across as normal. This was not too alarming as even with the recent rains, it was expected that the water would be low. We quickly unloaded and ran the shuttle. They were doing some construction on the Nasby Dam so there was equipment all around the dam and one of those plastic booms stretching 50 feet or so. We took a good look at our normal take out point near the dam and decided there was too much mud leading up to the take out and we would likely get stuck. We made our way up the service road until we found a decent area to take the boats out. We checked the depth of the water and placed some sticks and large bark strips just into the water to use for traction and keep our shoes from getting too muddy. Back to the Mongo Dam and onto the river. We could tell that the water was a bit lower than normal, but it did not seem exceptionally low. As we rounded the Trading Post Campground we saw a huge pile of leaves smoldering on the bank of the river. It was right next to where some campers were staying and they said the campground had set fire to the leaves but that they did not appreciate all the smoke. We saw numerous turtles that were not at all afraid of us, they stayed on their logs to get the last rays of sunshine. We also saw a Blue Heron and a couple of deer that looked like they became victims of the recent bow hunting season. We all enjoyed seeing the river bottom for the majority of the trip. Helen mentioned the huge number of small shells and Tom said he saw a few good sized fish as well as numerous minnows. We saw a canoe that looked like perhaps it was abandoned, until we saw a shiny new coffee cup in the cup holder. Lance said hello and we heard a whistle come from the nearby woods that did not seem to be a local bird so we decided that it must have been a hunter making good use of the canoe to get a bit more remote.
We were taking it slow and enjoying the trip. As we entered the Nasby Dam backwater we could first hear the dam, then we could see it, and we started edging to the left to prepare to take out. Imperceptibly, we came upon a mud island that was just an inch under the water. We could have backed out of it, but we decided to venture forth, figuring it was just a small blip to cross and we were just about in site of our take out spot. The little blip turned out to be a couple hundred feet of black stinky stick to ya mud. We were able to make progress, but only when the paddle was in the mud, there was no glide whatsoever. We tried poling with the paddles, we tried scootching, we tried cursing. There was not enough water to swim and the mud seemed bottomless so there was no walking to shore. We did eventually get past Mud Island to some deeper water and made it on in to shore at our spot. The bark and branches actually did help us exit the water with little mud. We loaded up the canoes and headed back to camp. Everybody was at camp now and it was just starting to cool down. We had a nice fire at Tom and Helen's campsite. Lance had to head back home as he forgot his CPAP so he decided to stay the night in Ft. Wayne.
The temperature Friday night got down to the mid 40's. There was no big push to get on the river until it warmed up a bit. Lance got back to the campground about 9:30 (with his CPAP for Saturday night) and Tom, Hele, Bubba, and Hwa had gone to town for breakfast. The others were enjoying breakfast at the campground. Mary had an injured wrist so she decided to get some exercise at Pokagon State Park, Indiana's fifth state park. Around 10:30 we headed upstream to the put in on 327. We thought we might paddle down to the Mongo Dam, but we would eat lunch at the Crooked Creek Campground for convenience and we would run the vehicles up to Mongo after lunch. If anyone wanted to stop at the campground they could, and the others could go on. Lance noticed on Friday that the little rapid on the river made by a dam reaching almost the width of the river looked like it might be tricky so we stopped to check it out on the way to the put in. It did look a bit tricky due to some rocks sticking out of the water and narrowness of the river, but was good to be able to get a look at it before we got on the river. We got things unloaded and everyone on the river by a little after 11:00.
People quickly decided "Excellent River" "Like Michigan, but closer!". The Pigeon is so intimate and secluded. There were numerous logs in the river that had a section cut out just enough to get a boat thru. There was at least 1 double S curve due to logs in the river, a couple tight squeezes, and overall a pretty good obstacle course. Everybody made it thru the little rapid no problem. I think everybody scraped the bottom a little bit. The heavier boats had to get out and walk a time or two. But with the warm sun, and slight breeze and cool clear water, everyone enjoyed the paddle. One of the highlights of the trip was hearing the flock of sandhill cranes chattering on the pond as we paddled by on the river. Something new this year was a sign on the first bridge saying the Mongo Dam was 13 miles from the first bridge, making it about 15 miles from our put in. I had always thought that trip was 11 or 12 miles. We pulled up to the campground and pulled out the canoes to go have a nice lunch. It was a fantastic day and the weather was perfect. Lance offered to run a shuttle after lunch or pick up paddlers from a take out prior to Mongo Dam. However, all of us had enjoyed our paddle, and were enjoying relaxing at camp, so we decided to stay at camp. There was also the possibility of running into more shallow water, and even another Mud Island in the Mongo Millpond. We took in the warm sun and nice breeze and good company the rest of the day.
Tom, Helen, Bubba and Hwa broke camp later in the afternoon and headed home due to prior commitments. The Saturday night buffet included warm cheese fondue with vegetables, fruit, and bread to dip. Steve brought a very good pot of chili, and Mary and Eric brought a version of pasta e fagioli that was probably better than Olive Garden's. We had a nice campfire and there was much interest in perhaps seeing the northern lights due to a recent coronal mass ejection. We didn't see any northern lights but the stars were great! During the evening, one of our camper neighbors was playing a harp. It was beautiful. We met the young lady the next day. She is a professional harpist and her mom is a watercolor artist.
The evening was fairly warm. Everyone slept well. Steve made a hot breakfast. Lance had the last piece of an apple pie and pumpkin pie that Hwa brought. We packed up and went home. The end.
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