6 Day Solo Float Trip 140 Miles on Michigan s Au Sable River 1080p 30fps H264 128kbit AAC English

Six days, over 140 miles, one canoe, one dog, and one of Michigan's most legendary rivers. I'm setting out near the headwaters of the Asobel, starting in tight brushy water, barely wide enough to paddle, and if everything goes right, I'll follow this river across Michigan all the way to Lake Huron. Along the way, I'll be camping on its banks, fishing for meals, paddling through storms, reservoirs, portaging dams, and enduring whatever else conditions decide to throw my way. Come on, bud. The canoe's loaded down, folks. Ollie's ready. I'm ready. Two years ago, we did a trip from the headwaters of the Big Manistee River, which is just a few miles down the road from where we're at right now. We traveled over 180 miles, headed west, all the way to Lake Michigan, but this time, we're doing the twin sister trip. We're at the headwaters of the Asobel River, and over the next six to seven days, we're going to be traveling about 140 to 150 miles headed east all the way to Lake Huron. I'm so excited for this trip. The canoe's loaded down. It's a beautiful day. We're going to get loaded up, and it's time to begin our journey. Maya and I are going to miss these guys. We're going to get into some adventures on our own this week, but we're going to meet them at the shore. We are officially off, folks. Already, I can see the first section of river here is very narrow. It's very fast and technical. There are a lot of sweepers, a lot of fast water chutes. I'm going to have to be on my game, that's for sure. You can see how narrow this section of river is, but as we travel downstream farther and farther, there will be multiple different tributaries and branches that connect to this main stem of the Asobel River, and in a few days, we're going to be traveling through a real powerful river. It's a mosquito war zone in here. We're going 100% beat. They're assaulting. That's a big boomer right there. Oh, no. This is such a helpful tool for me fishing. My double blade oar just broke. Well, it's starting to get late, so I'll probably pull off at the next spot I can find, but the mosquitoes are absolutely horrendous. I have a feeling we're going to get eaten alive tonight. The bug war zone has began, but we have a spot to camp tonight. I'll be able to find a nice flat spot in here for sure to get the tent up, so I'm going to get working. It's chow time. Well, today was a great first day of this adventure. We covered a beautiful section of river and didn't see a single other person the entire day. Now, tomorrow, I'm assuming at some point, we'll be passing through the town of Grayling, which will be the first major milestone on this trip, but as you can see, we have a nice camp set up here, and I'm very thankful we found this patch of open woods because down by the water where the canoe is, the mosquitoes are absolutely horrendous, but up here, they're not so bad. For dinner tonight, we're going with a little MRE action. We're keeping it simple, and I didn't bring any fresh food on this trip, so if we're going to eat some good fresh meals, we're going to have to catch them. We're cozy in the tent. We're going to get some sleep. We'll see you first thing in the morning. Well, we're all packed up here. We're ready to set sail and leave this campsite behind. Let's see where the day takes us. This morning, I was woken up by a deer blowing right next to my tent. There's not a cloud in the sky. We have a strong hot coffee. Life is good. Well, we're starting to get down into some residential sections here, so I have a feeling Grayling won't be too much farther. I came floating around the corner back there and saw that doe standing in the middle of the river, and then as I floated past, I caught a glimpse of a newly born fawn in the brush. I didn't want to stop and harass him, so I just left him be, but that was pretty cool. Well, back there at the end of that rapid was the first big river feel of this trip. When we came out of that chute, we were sucked into a huge whirlpool hole. We just made it under the I-75 bridge, and you can already see how much bigger this river has became. We're just coming through downtown Grayling. On my left, we have the Crawford County Jail, and on my right, it looks like we have a golf course. Who thinks I should go up there and just happy Gilmore one with the canoe paddle? We just pulled off at this public park in downtown Grayling to stretch our legs and use the bathroom, and right off to my left here, we have the Fred Bear Memorial, who is a world-famous sportsman and archery hunter. He was truly an iconic outdoor figure, and it's pretty special for me to be here right now because throughout my life, he has always been a hero of mine. Well, right at this bridge, we have a drop here, and it doesn't look like I'll be able to run down through. It's pretty steep and bony with a lot of big boulders, so I think I'm gonna have to portage around. Well, it's pretty loud back there, but we completed our portage, and I wanted to say just how iconic and famous this river is. The Asobo River is probably the most famous iconic river in all of Michigan and one of the most famous in all of the United States. There's a canoe marathon that takes place on this river, and I believe it's one of the longest ones in the world. It happens every year, and it's known as the International Canoe Marathon here on the Asobo. We have our first main tributary meeting the Asobo River here. Well, just behind me, we have another tributary feeding the main stem here, and the river is really gaining size. Well, we've just passed Burton's Landing, which is where the flies-only section of river begins, so for the next waves, we won't be able to keep any fish, and we won't be able to fish with lures, so I'm probably going to push through this section. Now, I do plan to do a good amount of fishing on this trip and some fly fishing, but I would really like to keep a fish for dinner, and I have to make my distance while I can, so I'm gonna have to pick and choose wisely my spots, and I'm gonna keep pushing for now. We have another big tributary connecting to the main branch here. Keeps getting bigger. Well, we have been putting the miles behind us. We just made it to the wakely access point, so we are finally through the flies-only section, and now I'm gonna make an MRE because I am starving, and I haven't ate anything yet today, so it's time to refuel. I'm a little delirious right now. It's time to do a little fishing this afternoon. I was in the boat. We got a fish on, baby. We got a fish on. Brown on. Just slammed it. My GoPro wasn't running. Oh, first fish of the trip in the net, baby. We're going into a log jam. Well, if I was closer to my campsite, this would be a perfect one for dinner, but I still want to travel a ways, so I'm gonna let them go. I have to take a minute and show you this. Look at how big this river system is now. It is wide, and it is flowing. I cannot believe where we started today from where we ended up. I'm gonna go down a little bit farther and find a spot to camp. So far, I've just caught the one brown. I've had a few other follows from smaller fish, but I'm not looking for numbers. I'm honestly looking for a trophy-sized brown that's over 20 inches because I know this river has that potential. You just gotta put in the work, so that's the goal. I just saw a big brown trout rise on a fly just off from our spot here where I'm gonna camp. I have a beautiful spot in the Huron National Forest, and I'm gonna get set up, then we're gonna go dry fly fish tonight. Are we gonna go dry fly fishing tonight? Are we gonna catch a big brown? Are we gonna get a big old brown trout? Yeah, get a ball of scratches. So the plan right now is I'm gonna have my dinner here, and I'm gonna start hunting these trout. I'm gonna wait for a bug hatch to start, and if it does, we're gonna be able to hear trout feeding on the surface, and then we'll go after each individual fish that is feeding on a bug hatch. Now, this isn't for certain. There might be bugs, there might not be bugs, but we're out here, and if they do hatch, we're gonna be ready. Well, so far there has not been a bug hatch, and I have not heard many fish feeding, but I'm gonna start fishing anyway and see what we can do. I just heard a good size fish feed, so I'm gonna go try to put a play on it. There's a beaver smacking his tail just off from the boat here as well. He's probably gonna come up again. Fish, fish, fish on. Fish on, baby. Fish on. Oh, he's jumping. Oh, he's jumping. We got a fish on, baby. Oh, beauty. Yes, yes. I got one, buddy. I got one. There is nothing quite like catching a trout on a dry fly. I'm gonna send this guy back home, but we have a beautiful brown. I just swallowed a whole mouthful of mosquitoes. Look at this right here. This is what we're matching to catch these trout. Look at my fly, and look at the real deal. I have a fish feeding right out in front of me. Here we go. Lights off. Fish, fish on. Fish on. There we go. Fish on, baby. That's a fish. That's a nice fish. A nice fish. Oh, it's going nuts. It's going bananas. Come on, buddy. Oh, he's in the net. It's a monster. It's a monster. It's a monster. It's a big one, baby. Yes. Oh, my gosh. Well, that, folks, is the fish I was hoping to catch on this trip. Beautiful brown trout. I'm gonna get them back in the water. There she goes. Back to our home. I really can't say how thankful I am to have landed that fish here tonight, and I'm just smiling ear to ear. Well, good morning, and welcome back. The last two mornings, I've had deer as my alarm clock. This morning, I heard one walking up. It walked up to probably 10 yards behind the tent, and it took off through the woods and then stood back about 40 yards and just started blowing at me for probably 10 minutes, and if you don't wake up to that, you'd probably sleep through a tsunami, so I am up and at it. I'm awake, and the day is alive for us here. I slept in a bit this morning, but I am really looking forward to this day, and I can't wait to start floating. He says, you're not leaving without me. The river's starting to widen out. It's slowing down, and it's braiding out into all these different channels, so I'm assuming we're getting close to mile reservoir. Well, I see our first pontoon. I'd say that means we made it to the reservoir. Blow me. We got a tailwind. Yeah. We have a tailwind. It's the first tailwind I've had in about three years. Just kick back and relax. I see our first dam right in the town of Mile. This is our second big milestone. Well, this is the first time I've ever been in the town of Mile. As you can see, it looks like a beautiful small town. I met a few locals here fishing around the dam, which is always nice to see, but now our canoe's portaged, all of our gears repacked, and we're ready to set sail down our next stretch of river. Let's see if we can catch dinner. Oh, there's a fox. There's a fox on the bank right here. There's a big fox on the bank right here. I couldn't get a shot of it, but that was pretty cool to see. You know what they say, scared bait don't catch fish. Right, folks? Fish on. Oh, just stuffed one. Oh, what is it? Ollie, stay in the boat. It's a walleye. It's a walleye. Are you kidding me? It's a walleye. We're going to have walleye tonight? We have a walleye. We just stuffed a walleye. He's going to be close to keeper, but I think we're going to have walleye tonight. Yeah, boy. Yeah, boy. Yeah, boy. He's just over 15 inches, and that's going to be a fish for dinner tonight. Well, we are now entering a long stretch that flows right through the heart of the Huron National Forest, and the river down here now is even more beautiful, I think. We have big high banks that are filled with old white pines, cedar, hardwoods, spruce, and I've already saw two deer, a fox, and caught a walleye, so we're off to a good start. I'm going to go up and see if I can set up my camp up here. Looks like a nice spot. Oh, yeah. This is a beautiful spot. Look at this. My mouth is watering right now, thinking about having that walleye and rice for dinner, especially after all the MREs the last couple days. Oh, good. Did you see that jump? Oh, my God, dude. You are the man. I'm going to skin every piece of meat off this fish I can get. Let's get them cooking. We'll go olive oil, fish, and lemon pepper. Fresh walleye and rice, baby. I am so grateful for this day. I'm so grateful for this meal. It's been an incredible trip so far, and to be able to enjoy a fresh walleye with rice on the banks of the Asobo River is truly a treat. I'm going to enjoy this meal, and then we're going to go give it one more round of dry fly fishing tonight. It's so delicious. I can't explain how good this tastes after only eating MREs the last few days. I stayed up for a bit to see if there'd be a bug hatch, but there was really no hatch to speak of. It's a cold, clear night. The temps are probably in the mid-40s right now, and every star in the sky is out. I did enjoy the evening, though, and I'm looking forward to tomorrow, but if nothing else happens tonight, I'm going to get some sleep, and I'll see you first thing in the morning. Well, good morning, and welcome back, folks. I slept in a bit this morning. It's about 8 30. Those late nights of trout fishing sure wore me out, but I'm ready for another big day today. My goal today is to push down and get below the Alcana Dam. I believe that's how you pronounce it, but it looks like it's about 30 miles from where I'm at right now, so I'll have a good chunk of river ahead of me, and then we'll paddle through another reservoir and portage over our second dam. That's the goal. Well, it's starting to feel like a true expedition here on day four. My arms are feeling it, and I'm assuming I'm getting down near the Alcona Reservoir now because the river's starting to flatten out. It's becoming wider, and I'm starting to see some swamp countries, so I'm going to let the river float me down for a bit so I can rest up. I'm going to hydrate, and then we'll begin our paddle across the reservoir, but as of right now, I'm assuming I'm going to have a pretty stiff headwind as I cross it. I see a pontoon and a power line, so we must be getting close to the reservoir. Well, it should have been a nice four-mile paddle across turned into about a seven-mile paddle. I looked at my map when I first got out here, and I put it away. I thought I was going in the right direction, but I started following a channel that took me too far west, and I didn't realize it until it was too late, but I'm back on the right track now. I see the dam, but I definitely used up a lot of energy on that, and I am worn down with this heat today, but I'm going to get portaged over, and then we'll keep heading downriver. Each dam we pass feels like we unlocked a new level. We're going to leave this one behind and keep heading downriver. We've just arrived at a nice spot to camp tonight. It's about quarter after eight right now, and I am exhausted. I could also eat the house down, so we're going to get this canoe unloaded, get things set up, and then get some food on. On that first day, to be honest, I really wasn't sure how the weather was going to go, but you couldn't ask for a more beautiful afternoon once again. It's been an incredible sunset. Looks like we're going to have another star show tonight. I have a nice fire set up here with my tent right on the river. Once I got everything set up, I just took about an hour, sat down, and just enjoyed the scenery and caught my breath. It was a big day today. I'm not sure exactly how far we traveled, but if I had to guess, I'd say it was somewhere around 40 miles. We are right down here at the bottom of our stretch. We're about to enter the Loud Reservoir tomorrow morning. It's only about maybe a mile or two away. Then we're going to have a long push tomorrow through multiple reservoirs and portaging over multiple dams, so tomorrow's going to be a grind day. Today was a beautiful day. It was a little bit of a grind though, especially when I got lost in that reservoir, but we made it. I'm very proud to be here right now. I'm going to get some food on. I think we're going to do barbecue pulled pork sandwiches for dinner. It's just canned pulled pork, but I brought along some custom flatbread. I'm going to toast this up over the fire, and we're going to put these babies together. This is going to be so messy. It got a little carried away. We're going to have to salt this with a fork. I just pulled a forecast on my inReach because I have absolutely no cell phone service, which is very nice. It looks like we could have a chance of rain throughout the day, and it looks like tomorrow we could have some drama with thunderstorms. We're going to have to see how it all plays out, but I'm looking forward to finishing out this trip strong the next two days. Hopefully, by the end of tomorrow, we'll be paddling through Lake Huron. For now, we're going to get busy, and we have our work cut out for us. That coffee tastes mighty fine this morning. This is my favorite day to canoe. It's cool, it's overcast, and it's not windy. We're just entering the Loud Pond Reservoir. Reservoir one down. Let's knock out our first portage. Right now, we're coming through Five Finger Reservoir. I see Five Finger Dam, and now we have a headwind. I'm just entering the Cook Pond Reservoir, and I believe this one's going to be twice the distance of the reservoirs we paddled this morning. By far our biggest one yet, so I'm going to get pushing. I just put out a Rapala behind the canoe. I'm going to see if we can pick up some groceries on our way down through. Just hooked up a fish, baby. Oh, it's a little bass. I was hoping it was a walley. It's a little bass. Look at that big monster. I just put my line out, I caught that bass, and I heard thunder booming off in the background, and I'm starting to feel some rain, so I'm going to try to push to this dam and get suited up or take cover if I have to. I finally see the dam. That was a long paddle across this reservoir. This is a big one. We made it off just in time. Here comes the rain. Fish on, baby. Fish on, baby. We got a fish on, baby. That's a fish on. Oh, it's a fish on. Oh, it's a nice smallie, baby. This is going to be dinner right here. If we can get them. Oh, we're having a fish dinner tonight. Ollie. Oh my gosh. Don't get hooked, buddy. We're having a fish dinner tonight, baby. Oh, that's going to be delicious. All right. This sure beats the heck out of an MRE. I'm not a big fan of eating largemouth bass unless you catch them out of cold, clean water, but smallmouth out of a river are absolutely delicious, and we have groceries. Hop in, bud. Let's go. We just finished our portage over Cook Dam, picked up some dinner, and now we're leaving her in the dust. Oh my God. That was a big fish. Oh, she got slammed. Oh, fish on. Fish. I don't know what this is. It's decent fish though. He's putting up a fight or he's in weeds. If it's not in weeds, it's big. Oh, it feels big. It feels big. It's a big pike. Oh yeah. Ollie, stay in the boat. You got to stay in the boat, It's a nice pike. He's trying to get me in wood right now. Ollie, stay in the boat. It's a nice pike. Ollie, stay in the boat. Ollie, stay in the boat. Oh, he's in the net. He's in the net, baby. King of the rooster, and we have a feast tonight, my brother. Pike are one of my favorite eating fish. So what I'm going to do is release this smallmouth and this pike is going to have plenty of meat for myself at camp tonight. And I'm going to have a feast and I could not be more excited about it. Look at that big old boy in the rain storm. That fish is just over 32 inches. Now, typically I'd like to put a fish of that size back, but since I'm on a canoe trip like this, I really want to have a good meal tonight and that fish will provide it for me. I had a campsite booked here on foot dam reservoir and haven't had any service the last couple of days. So it's been hard to stay in touch with people, but Nicole showed up here and I get to hang out with her and Maya tonight. So pretty cool. Look at this. Maya's got the zoomies. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Well, camp is all set up. We have a beautiful spot right on the water and this is actually a hiking campsite here to be able to camp on any of the reservoirs. I've been traveling through the last couple of days. You have to have a permit and reserve these campsites well in advance because they are in high demand and you can't just camp wherever you want here. So with that said, we get to enjoy this beautiful spot tonight and I'm looking forward to getting some food on. My arms are sore. I am tired. It was a long day, but it was really a great day. So I'm going to get this fish cleaned up, get a fire going and start cooking. I have a big bag of boneless pike flays. Well, thankfully the rain has let up for us this evening. As you can see, the sky's breaking up and it's turning out to be a beautiful night. We have a hot fire going. I'm going to get our fish seasoned up here. I'm just going to do the classic camp olive oil, lemon, pepper, and salt. Seems to be delicious on any fish that you can bring back to camp and this pike today was truly a gift. I have peanut butter stuffed marshmallows. Peanut butter stuffed marshmallows? Yeah, and this is my s'mores kit. We have peanut butter stuffed marshmallows with Reese's peanut butter cups and graham crackers. This is taking s'mores to a whole new level, but it's the best s'more I've ever had. Well, good morning and welcome back. The rain has finally let up. It's probably about 10 30 right now. And when I woke up this morning, I woke up at five. It was pouring. Woke up again at about eight 30. It was pouring with thunderstorms, but now it looks like we have a break. So I'm going to get camp packed up here and hopefully I'll be able to make it all the way to Lake Huron today, but we're going to have to see how the weather plays out. The canoes loaded down and we're ready to set sail one last time, but I'm going to have about eight miles to paddle to cross this reservoir. We'll have one more dam to portage and then about 12 to 14 miles of river before we reach Lake Huron. If all goes well, we will complete this mission, but hopefully the storms will let us pass because it definitely looks like there's a good chance we could have thunderstorms and maybe even severe thunderstorms come through at any time today. Let's complete this mission. We have two loons. We have three loons feeding on fish right here. We have a beautiful golden eagle right there. That is a golden eagle right there. A hundred percent. Look at this guy. You do not see golden eagles very often in Michigan. It's the second one I saw this year. The Esabal is not going down without a fight. I finally see foot dam. One more time buddy. Good boy. We're in the home stretch. I just passed the lower whirlpool access site. We definitely have a thunderstorm chasing us. I don't know if we're going to get hit, but I'm ready to pull off and take cover if I have to. I'm getting down near the town of Oscoda now and somebody's grilling hamburgers. My stomach is screaming. We're back in flat water again, so we're getting close and as you can see the rain starting. I'm just trying to beat it before it gets too bad. I can smell the finish line literally. It feels surreal, but we're just coming through the town of Oscoda only a few hundred yards away from Lake Huron. Anybody need to go to the bank? I can see some small rollers coming up the river channel right now, so I'm assuming Lake Huron is pretty rough, but we're going to get a look here in just a moment. I can see Lake Huron. Look who's on the bridge up there. Yeah baby! We have officially completed our journey. We paddled the entire Asobo River watershed and it truly feels like a big accomplishment. I am very proud of this adventure. I hope you enjoyed this episode. I'm just going to take this in for a moment here because it feels pretty surreal to be here right now on the shoreline of Lake Huron. The river started small, a narrow ribbon of water twisting through the woods barely wide enough to float a canoe with sweepers, log jams, tight corners, and brush hanging over both banks. But every mile it changed. It carried me through quiet mornings, hot afternoons, storms, wind, fatigue, and long stretches where all I could do was keep paddling. I camped along its banks, cooked meals beside the water, caught fish when I needed them, and somewhere in the middle of it all, this river gave me one of the biggest stream brown trout of my life on a dry fly. I paddled through towns, past old bridges, historic places, and sections of river that have carried generations of people before me. For six days the Asobo was my road, my campsite, my challenge, and my home. By the time it finally opened up and carried me toward the big water, it didn't feel like I had just floated across Michigan. It felt like I had lived inside the river's story, and now I was a part of it.