Michigan City to LaGrange, Open

7-20-2013

Trail Maintenance on the Michigan City to LaGrange

            A small group of us paddled upstream from the LaGrange access to remove logjams.  The group consisted of four river guides including Wes Hopper, a professional arborist with Urban Forestry; Dale Sanders, WRC board member; Jeff Sojunour and myself.  Keith Kirkland, the WRC director of outreach joined us on the water. Our equipment consisted of a large and small chainsaw, bow saws and loppers. We regretted not bringing a pry bar.

 Temps were in the 90s with partly cloudy skies. The river level was at 5.5 feet and clear enough to see the bottom. I called the translucent green appearance of the water “green tea clear”.

            We paddled upstream to the first log. Most of us used bow saws and loppers to clear only enough room for a trail while Wes cut the larger logs with a chainsaw.  We wanted to create a trail through this area, not alter it. We agreed most wood should be left in the water to avoid changing the course of the water. The branches and logs slow the river’s speed and prevent erosion. I’ve heard stories of the canoe rivers that gullied out over decades of use. I would like the Wolf to remain a meandering river with gently sloping sandbars.

            Wes demonstrated his skill with a chainsaw by removing a large, horizontal hickory tree from the river channel. He cut underneath first, changing angles when needed. Then with a few small cuts on the top of the log, the hickory collapsed. Small methane bubbles gurgled to the water’s surface as the large tree sank in the silt.

             We worked upstream and reached the point where the last downstream crew had stopped cutting. The canoe trail from Hwy 7 and Indian Creek in Michigan City to the LaGrange access is now clear. One still needs the skills to maneuver around obstacles, but paddlers should no longer have to drag their boats over logs. 

            Sights of interest included large based cypress trees with knees that rise to form a palisade like barrier along the banks. Jeff pointed out a cypress stump that issued water. It looked like a clear spring, but it was most likely runoff from a nearby slough.

            This section is about six miles long, and flows through open grasslands before following a distinct channel into a mixed forest. The put in access is the Hwy 7 bridge over Indian Creek. Parking is limited so it is safer and more convenient to leave  most of the vehicles at the LaGrange access.